Monday, August 3, 2009
hmmm.. hmmm... what shall i write about now.. its 2 in the morning.. on holiday and too tired of watching too much tv, my eyes hurt. tomorrow i will do some dancing. cart wheels, rolls, jumps, phobias (just one actually).... i have/had a huge phobia about doing this flip/roll on the floor.. so scared i was that i would snap my neck and that i'll be dead in a second, that i would slow the rest of the gang cos i was SCARED!!! hahaha.. but hell, it was scary. eventually i got thru it, not like i had a choice cos Rathi just wouldnt quit! so after over a year, we're doing her workshops again, n it brings back memories and phobias.. for Div its the cart wheels... Mei Mei has massive bruises after each session. Nishah will start her first week, tomorrow. hmmm....
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
ponders...
three years back on this very same day, was my big day. my arangetram. what do i remember of it? lets see..
1. practices.
starting early morning. i would walk around the lake/park to get ready mentally for the day ahead. rehearsal by myself with recorded music would start at 9. then on alternate 2 days, Jaya akka or Guna anna would come and watch (i suspect they came to keep me company) then sometimes, i would have morning rehearsal with my musicians (BAVANI, JAYA KA, MASTER). Break for lunch. Rest for abit. start on mym own at 3.30 again. an hour or so of that, then rest up again. around 7 i would get ready for rehearsal with the full orchestra (bavani, jaya ka, master, thava anna, shashi anna & arun). that would usually take about 2 hours. sometimes i would take class. but i always went home not earlier than 9pm.
2. people
master - was constantly there. was it scary? no. was it stressful? hell yeah! more than everything, it was soothing. i would dance better when he was around. a few words of praise would keep me pumped for days. i think he somehow could sense my wanting. so he was generous with it, more than i've ever seen before. times i would would never ever forget. those are times he'd given solely to me.
musicians - never had any problems with them. they came, they did their thing, played/sang full heartedly, blessed and came again for me. i would like to think that anyway! =)
mom - as usual she was silently doing her part. she let me be and she knew that i needed the space to walk on my own without external disturbance. to think about it now, the whole thing feels like i was on a pilgrimage. being the lively person that she is, she in a way did the socializing and marketing that i needed to do, for me. not in a typical 'my daughter's show is coming up so pls come' but elegantly..
aunty uma - now i have to mention this lady. she was the producer for Sutra until some years back. and she was Darn good at it. so once Vid (her daughter) finished her arangetram a year before, talks of mine came up. and she did it like she wud have for vid, maybe more than that. an arangetram is no joke, the expences are equavalent to having a wedding (a big one). but my parents didnt have to put in anything. the sponsors came pouring in. aunty uma one day brought a huge, n i really mean, HUGE box and said i have to finish it all. it was full of food! energy bars, yogurt, nuts, raisins, cookies, chocolates, name it.. it was in there! idea behind this? i was disappearing. i didnt have to worry about a single thing besides my dance. aunty uma, my mom n master took care of it all!
girls - of cos they were there! where else would they be? not because they had to, but because they wanted to. at times when i needed a break, they were always there..to cheer me up and keep me going!! of cos on the day itself i had to just dance n remember my speech!!
3. the repertoire
we usually given repertoires that reflect our personalities.. and until then i hadn't figured out which 'category' i was in.. the graceful kind or the strong kind.. my repertoires? had both.. beautiful beautiful compositions! the more i practised, the more i fell for it.. one wud think it'll be boring if done too many times..
ok i'm sleepy! shall continue some day i feel like reflecting again.
1. practices.
starting early morning. i would walk around the lake/park to get ready mentally for the day ahead. rehearsal by myself with recorded music would start at 9. then on alternate 2 days, Jaya akka or Guna anna would come and watch (i suspect they came to keep me company) then sometimes, i would have morning rehearsal with my musicians (BAVANI, JAYA KA, MASTER). Break for lunch. Rest for abit. start on mym own at 3.30 again. an hour or so of that, then rest up again. around 7 i would get ready for rehearsal with the full orchestra (bavani, jaya ka, master, thava anna, shashi anna & arun). that would usually take about 2 hours. sometimes i would take class. but i always went home not earlier than 9pm.
2. people
master - was constantly there. was it scary? no. was it stressful? hell yeah! more than everything, it was soothing. i would dance better when he was around. a few words of praise would keep me pumped for days. i think he somehow could sense my wanting. so he was generous with it, more than i've ever seen before. times i would would never ever forget. those are times he'd given solely to me.
musicians - never had any problems with them. they came, they did their thing, played/sang full heartedly, blessed and came again for me. i would like to think that anyway! =)
mom - as usual she was silently doing her part. she let me be and she knew that i needed the space to walk on my own without external disturbance. to think about it now, the whole thing feels like i was on a pilgrimage. being the lively person that she is, she in a way did the socializing and marketing that i needed to do, for me. not in a typical 'my daughter's show is coming up so pls come' but elegantly..
aunty uma - now i have to mention this lady. she was the producer for Sutra until some years back. and she was Darn good at it. so once Vid (her daughter) finished her arangetram a year before, talks of mine came up. and she did it like she wud have for vid, maybe more than that. an arangetram is no joke, the expences are equavalent to having a wedding (a big one). but my parents didnt have to put in anything. the sponsors came pouring in. aunty uma one day brought a huge, n i really mean, HUGE box and said i have to finish it all. it was full of food! energy bars, yogurt, nuts, raisins, cookies, chocolates, name it.. it was in there! idea behind this? i was disappearing. i didnt have to worry about a single thing besides my dance. aunty uma, my mom n master took care of it all!
girls - of cos they were there! where else would they be? not because they had to, but because they wanted to. at times when i needed a break, they were always there..to cheer me up and keep me going!! of cos on the day itself i had to just dance n remember my speech!!
3. the repertoire
we usually given repertoires that reflect our personalities.. and until then i hadn't figured out which 'category' i was in.. the graceful kind or the strong kind.. my repertoires? had both.. beautiful beautiful compositions! the more i practised, the more i fell for it.. one wud think it'll be boring if done too many times..
ok i'm sleepy! shall continue some day i feel like reflecting again.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Its June!
May came.. and left. But i had a good summer. a really hot summer but definitely one spent well. Alarippu to Moksha saw yet another smooth-run-well-organised show from Sutra. i was really proud of the Bharata Natyam kids because all that shouting didn't fall on deaf ears! they were good and rose up to the occasion. i suppose all that work and stress was worth it after all!
It felt great to perform with all the girls again! Jan, Nish, Mei Mei, Rathi, Div, Gami, Geethika.. Don't know when that's going to happen again. AtoM also saw Jan's last performance before her voyage. it was an emotional performance for us all. But not the end, not the end!
Odissi by the junior students saw some new talents to look out for. Some coming out really well and overall a happy note to end AtoM 09!
Next 2 weeks of summer was spent with someone very dear to my heart, my love. what did we do? nothing! time was spent talking, cooking, driving, watching some inspiring movies, driving again, more driving, some work, some sorting out, planning, and basically just chilling. i didn't really want to do activities so it was perfect. i do count my blessings for having parents who understand and Karthik's parents too. I'm glad i went. though i should have done it sooner but no regrets. but chennai was hot!!!! so we ran off to Bangalore,Nrityagram and Coorg. that explains the many drives mentioned. met some great people during the road trip. Uncle Ganapathy and Aunty Jemmy. What inspiring lives the live ! at their age,(both in their 60's) they go around kayaking, mountain climbing.. name it la.. so Karthik n i are aiming for that.
aah well, now its back to classes and Sutra and the challenges and friends! the girls(darsh,vini, anu, mich, darshni, karthika) are back for holidays and its time to catch up again!!! can hardly wait! ohh and my final year! but i intend on having fun through it all!
May came.. and left. But i had a good summer. a really hot summer but definitely one spent well. Alarippu to Moksha saw yet another smooth-run-well-organised show from Sutra. i was really proud of the Bharata Natyam kids because all that shouting didn't fall on deaf ears! they were good and rose up to the occasion. i suppose all that work and stress was worth it after all!
It felt great to perform with all the girls again! Jan, Nish, Mei Mei, Rathi, Div, Gami, Geethika.. Don't know when that's going to happen again. AtoM also saw Jan's last performance before her voyage. it was an emotional performance for us all. But not the end, not the end!
Odissi by the junior students saw some new talents to look out for. Some coming out really well and overall a happy note to end AtoM 09!
Next 2 weeks of summer was spent with someone very dear to my heart, my love. what did we do? nothing! time was spent talking, cooking, driving, watching some inspiring movies, driving again, more driving, some work, some sorting out, planning, and basically just chilling. i didn't really want to do activities so it was perfect. i do count my blessings for having parents who understand and Karthik's parents too. I'm glad i went. though i should have done it sooner but no regrets. but chennai was hot!!!! so we ran off to Bangalore,Nrityagram and Coorg. that explains the many drives mentioned. met some great people during the road trip. Uncle Ganapathy and Aunty Jemmy. What inspiring lives the live ! at their age,(both in their 60's) they go around kayaking, mountain climbing.. name it la.. so Karthik n i are aiming for that.
aah well, now its back to classes and Sutra and the challenges and friends! the girls(darsh,vini, anu, mich, darshni, karthika) are back for holidays and its time to catch up again!!! can hardly wait! ohh and my final year! but i intend on having fun through it all!
Saturday, April 11, 2009
dilema!
choose A and i gain soo much n lose some (but its really important too!) ..
Choose B and i will be disappointed but i'll be politically correct!
can't it just be at different times?!
make life so much easier..
but where's the challenge then?!
so any takes anyone?? A or B??
Choose B and i will be disappointed but i'll be politically correct!
can't it just be at different times?!
make life so much easier..
but where's the challenge then?!
so any takes anyone?? A or B??
Saturday, April 4, 2009
woooow!
Yours truly cut her hair this day!
The plan has been there since, EVER. then like-its-meant-to-be, Nishah tells me about David. David the man!
I woke up today wanting to back out from the plan. but no, the brave me went ahead and met Nishah, we had lunch together, maybe to give me time to prepare myself.
With heart racing as a puppy chasing a cat, went into 'David's' n sat , the rest is history!
So from the length of 'almost-touching-bum' to shoulder. big big difference for someone who last cut her hair 11 years back. with the occasional trimming of cos!
So, yeah, a new look. i love it! THANKS NISH!!! for the birthday present & for my new look!
Friday, April 3, 2009
Side ur bread - continued
7/1/09
Wow! What a day. woke up at 4. Jan, Shan n i were the last to leave the hotel, everyone was already in the van waiting for us!!! then we get to the airport, TWO n a Half hour earlier then our check in time. Guna anne and master feel safe this way! =( Finally we reach Chennai. Guna ne, jan n i take an ambassador cab n we meet wid an ACCIDENT!!! our driver bangs into a motorcyclist and he drops on another car. all in slow-mo. everyone was FINE!! how bad can it be when u cant actually speed on the very-congested roads. so anyway, all these 'sibuks' start gathering(like in tamil movies) and start fussing!! Funny thing is, the motorcyclist says he's fine but they dun let go of our man! so he calls his cabby friend, who took us to the hotel. Had bath, lunch and headed to Mylapore, got stuff for sutra n came back. others went to lifestyle. Karthik came. Looked bad! i suppose the 'rest' didnt help. Went for rehearsal to Jayanthi akka's place. as usual, the first rehearsal with the musicians are not the funnest!! Master stresses a little too much which gets the rest of us worked up to, but guna anne's there to balance it up.. but after the rehearsal, master's in good mood again. =D
9/1/09
I woke up the last this morning. slept so well last night. went to Valli's house for breakfast. good stuff. Hung out at her place for awhile then decided to check if spencer's had the chudidar. no luck there as well. next stop, T-nagar to get make up stuff for the kids. came back n got ready for dinner at Savera. Saw Vivek, so GAMI WAS LITERALLY JUMPING!! haha.. went for the 'prestigious' party organised by Ramji. with no place to sit!! all the stupid foreign ballet dancers who were dressed in shorts and their stinky t-shirts were seated while ppl like PRIYADARSHINI GOVIND, Chetna & Ramli Ibrahim were standing leaning against the wall !! shows how much respect is paid for one's own culture and people. n how they lick the foreign arses! we left without making any fuss and master was in such a good mood!! went to amaravathi n guna ne, actually whacked!! the 6 girls shared 2 briyani's!!! came back n sort of packed. next morning went for Uncle Ilango's exhibition. =)
Venkata Suba Rao Auditorium
Beautiful beautiful hall! its new and really looks good! huge stage and big capacity. Benu was our organiser for this venue and made sure everything went smooth. guest of honour was Adyar Laxman sir and we danced to an almost packed auditorium. great stuff! felt really good! dat good feeling, dat fulfillment is to die for! Sandhya and Arjun came, they look really good together and absolutely suitable for each other! getting married early April. However the night didnt end as nice as would have liked it. not even worth mentioning, full of lies and crap! but talks like an innocent mouse.
18/1/09
We're in pondy!! anuty shenaz, uncle lalit, krtatma, uncle basu, aunty pallavi, mithun, n mishti... frens frens frens! more friends shobana, sashwath, mithi, shivani, .. felt real sticky but no water to bathe cos they were cleaning the tank or something.. today jan, geethika, krtatma, bubu n i went fishing!! hahahha the boys took us to a forbidden jetty and trued to pay the guards to allow us in, went but no fishing they said! walked around for a bit and went to the backwaters. krtatma was doing Baywatch stunts. really funny boy he is! been craving for puff bajji for past few days n when we went back, there it was, aunty pallavi n the girls made it and sent!!!=) such sweethearts! just hung out at the garden, lovely place!
21/1/09
Now in Hydrebad. not performing here because there's been a bomb threat so no public shows. so basically its sight seeing and shopping now n then. and the briyani stock-ups! hydrebad is kind of crazy. so manyyyyyy people and vehicles and little space! we lived in an almost 'getto' of Hyderabad i think where you just see men! hardly any woman walking on the streets! and the restaurant near the hotel separates men and women to different sections. very Muslim dominated area.
Wow! What a day. woke up at 4. Jan, Shan n i were the last to leave the hotel, everyone was already in the van waiting for us!!! then we get to the airport, TWO n a Half hour earlier then our check in time. Guna anne and master feel safe this way! =( Finally we reach Chennai. Guna ne, jan n i take an ambassador cab n we meet wid an ACCIDENT!!! our driver bangs into a motorcyclist and he drops on another car. all in slow-mo. everyone was FINE!! how bad can it be when u cant actually speed on the very-congested roads. so anyway, all these 'sibuks' start gathering(like in tamil movies) and start fussing!! Funny thing is, the motorcyclist says he's fine but they dun let go of our man! so he calls his cabby friend, who took us to the hotel. Had bath, lunch and headed to Mylapore, got stuff for sutra n came back. others went to lifestyle. Karthik came. Looked bad! i suppose the 'rest' didnt help. Went for rehearsal to Jayanthi akka's place. as usual, the first rehearsal with the musicians are not the funnest!! Master stresses a little too much which gets the rest of us worked up to, but guna anne's there to balance it up.. but after the rehearsal, master's in good mood again. =D
9/1/09
I woke up the last this morning. slept so well last night. went to Valli's house for breakfast. good stuff. Hung out at her place for awhile then decided to check if spencer's had the chudidar. no luck there as well. next stop, T-nagar to get make up stuff for the kids. came back n got ready for dinner at Savera. Saw Vivek, so GAMI WAS LITERALLY JUMPING!! haha.. went for the 'prestigious' party organised by Ramji. with no place to sit!! all the stupid foreign ballet dancers who were dressed in shorts and their stinky t-shirts were seated while ppl like PRIYADARSHINI GOVIND, Chetna & Ramli Ibrahim were standing leaning against the wall !! shows how much respect is paid for one's own culture and people. n how they lick the foreign arses! we left without making any fuss and master was in such a good mood!! went to amaravathi n guna ne, actually whacked!! the 6 girls shared 2 briyani's!!! came back n sort of packed. next morning went for Uncle Ilango's exhibition. =)
Venkata Suba Rao Auditorium
Beautiful beautiful hall! its new and really looks good! huge stage and big capacity. Benu was our organiser for this venue and made sure everything went smooth. guest of honour was Adyar Laxman sir and we danced to an almost packed auditorium. great stuff! felt really good! dat good feeling, dat fulfillment is to die for! Sandhya and Arjun came, they look really good together and absolutely suitable for each other! getting married early April. However the night didnt end as nice as would have liked it. not even worth mentioning, full of lies and crap! but talks like an innocent mouse.
18/1/09
We're in pondy!! anuty shenaz, uncle lalit, krtatma, uncle basu, aunty pallavi, mithun, n mishti... frens frens frens! more friends shobana, sashwath, mithi, shivani, .. felt real sticky but no water to bathe cos they were cleaning the tank or something.. today jan, geethika, krtatma, bubu n i went fishing!! hahahha the boys took us to a forbidden jetty and trued to pay the guards to allow us in, went but no fishing they said! walked around for a bit and went to the backwaters. krtatma was doing Baywatch stunts. really funny boy he is! been craving for puff bajji for past few days n when we went back, there it was, aunty pallavi n the girls made it and sent!!!=) such sweethearts! just hung out at the garden, lovely place!
21/1/09
Now in Hydrebad. not performing here because there's been a bomb threat so no public shows. so basically its sight seeing and shopping now n then. and the briyani stock-ups! hydrebad is kind of crazy. so manyyyyyy people and vehicles and little space! we lived in an almost 'getto' of Hyderabad i think where you just see men! hardly any woman walking on the streets! and the restaurant near the hotel separates men and women to different sections. very Muslim dominated area.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
dance
Am i what i am today because of dance or am i not who i should be cos of dance? there's a saying u don't choose the dance but it chooses you. =) then I'm definitely doing the right thing.
I say dancers have enormous privilege. the ability to shut off the external and find the fulfilling desire of the moment which is said to be Moksha itself. THAT feeling after a good show when u know u'll die a happy person after such a show! ahhhh.... =)
But i have more to give and much much more to experience and am so looking forward to it! so dear sweet life, keep be on my feet and dancing for as long as my body allows!
I say dancers have enormous privilege. the ability to shut off the external and find the fulfilling desire of the moment which is said to be Moksha itself. THAT feeling after a good show when u know u'll die a happy person after such a show! ahhhh.... =)
But i have more to give and much much more to experience and am so looking forward to it! so dear sweet life, keep be on my feet and dancing for as long as my body allows!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)