I’ve wanted to start taking some classical Indian dance lessons for over a year (just never got around to it last year – and honestly don’t think I would’ve appreciated it as much then anyway) – and After breakfast I took the opportunity to go observe Sindhu giving a private Odissi dance lesson to a fellow Yogini. It was quite lovely to watch – and I was amazed that they are private lessons! She gives 1 ½ hour lessons for 300 rupees per session, or about $8.00 – not shabby! I told Sindhu I’d really like to take some lessons with her – so we agreed to meet tomorrow from 4:30-6:00pm. This week I’ll be meeting with her in the evenings, but she will have morning spots opening up next week. Some people work with her six days per week – I’m gonna start with three – likely Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11:00-12:30 from next week on.
Once I left her home I ran some errands with Girish – the more exciting of them was the trip to the city to buy a one piece bathing suit (I did leave a two piece here last year but it’s seen better days). I would have preferred a two piece, as the primary purpose for going to the pool is for getting some much needed sun – and do a little swimming – but the two piece suits they had at the store were atrocious! The one pieces they had at the store really weren’t much better – most of them with frills and bows and all kinds of interesting stuff (not)…I opted for the most appealing of the options given…
Once I returned to Tina’s I got in about twenty minutes of reading before I met with a group of people who go to a local school twice per week to teach conversational English to grade school students. They meet on Mondays and Thursday at 1:30pm and we discuss lesson plans for the day – then we make way to the school (only five minute rickshaw ride from Tina’s) and spend a little over an hour with the kids. Today was my first day volunteering – and while I honestly didn’t know what to expect – I had such a wonderful time. Jake, a lady named Dot, and I were given a group of six girls and six boys. We spent today working on colors, pronouns, and clothing. Jake spent the duration of the hour working with the boys, and Dot and I worked with the six girls – Dot spent most of the first thirty minutes writing words and drawing pictures on the board – I was the luckier of the two of us b/c I actually got to really interact with the girls – speak to them and ask them questions. Three of the girls obviously understood more than the other three – although they all did really well. I made sure (I actually couldn’t help my enthusiasm) to tell them they did well when they were able to put sentences together and ask me questions. They already knew a little English (truth is that they can read some simple English – they are learning that in school – but they really aren’t taught how to speak it – so this is such an exciting experience for them and for us foreigners!) One of the bigger challenges of the first part of the lesson was to explain what to say to someone if they didn’t understand. For example, wanted them to be able to tell us when they didn’t understand what one of us said to them…It took a few minutes – but soon three of the girls seemed to get it (I was rockin with excitement, joy, and appreciation)…One of the girls smiled – I said, “Ok, so if you didn’t get what I just told you what would you say to me?” She said, “I do not understand, please can you repeat?” “YES!” I said so loud and excitedly. Dot and I then opted to split the girls up as well – Dot stayed up front with the three girls that seemed to have more difficulty – and I took the other three in the back of the room. I spent the last thirty minutes of the class conversing with the girls – to the best of both of our abilities. I know a little bit of Kannada so I was filling in here and there with that in addition to English when they asked me questions. They were excited to see I knew even a little – although I explained I only knew a little. We asked each other many questions – and it helped me to see just how limited their conversational English really is. Many things (topics) I wanted to bring up simply weren’t possible b/c they don’t know the English words for many things (for example birds – as we started to talk about animals they liked and they really like birds – know a lot of diverse names for birds in Kannada but not English). Oh I learned sooooo much today – had such a good time, and can’t wait to do it again. I never could’ve imagined that this experience would be so fulfilling and fun at the same time! For the month of September we will only be working with the kids once per week – Monday – I am a little bummed about that.
When I returned from the school, I was able to relax for a bit before heading to the India song house to watch the show. It was absolutely gorgeous to watch Sindhu Kiran dancing – she is so strong yet also so graceful. I took many pictures – but they simply don’t do this dance or her grace justice – I do hope that they can give you some idea!
It is said that Indian Classical Dance is the most gorgeous compliment to yoga - for yoga is the reflective meditation, and Classical Indian Dance is the Expressive meditation. Both are said to bring a profound connection to the object(s) of ones devotion - I am very excited to embrace this new experience!
