The stage is one addictive place. You perform once, you want to perform again and again. After last time’s performance got over, I knew it wasn’t the last time that I danced on the stage. I knew there was more to come. And it did.
Teacher’s Day – does it mean anything nowadays? nope. But it was still an opportunity for me to go up on that stage once again. Perhaps the last one in this school. And so one day, while sitting with my friends after the exams had got over, I made the decision to perform yet again. It took me a while to rope in all of them (we’re a group of 5), but ultimately my offer was one that was hard to refuse. So all of them agreed.
Like last time, this time too, the journey was more memorable than the destination. We had our fair share of fights, ego hassles, and what not. And I knew it would happen because after all, this time I wasn’t dealing with smaller kids, these people were my peers, my friends. I couldn’t possibly yell at them like they were below me. So I had to think of various different ways to tackle them without jeopardizing the dance (which was very difficult, if I may add)
Our choreography was much more complex this time, 5x number of formations, and 100x speed of steps. Halfway through the song, and half of us would already be panting. But we had set a goal – it had to be a breakthrough performance. For me, it was not just a performance, it was much more than that. I really don’t know how to explain it in words.
We decided to do something different this time. So we shifted base from ‘semi-classical’ to ‘semi-western’. I’m not very confident when it comes to the western style of dance but this time round I had my jazz training backing me up (yay!) so throwing in western steps was easier. Also, our costumes were pretty simple. In fact, they wouldn’t even qualify to be called ‘costumes’ because we wore simple kurtas and leggings.
Talking of clothing, that was a controversy in it’s own. Our teacher in charge, Ms. ‘Nut’ Kaput, was completely against what we had decided to wear. She said she didn’t want our ‘curves’ to be highlighted on stage (layered with some unwanted and nasty comments on me) and hence we should not wear leggings. Also, in order to avoid cheap comments from boys, we should wear ‘duppattas’ to hide our assets. Um, I had a better idea. Why couldn’t we just wear burqas?
Anyway, I was extremely hurt by her comment, so I decided to rebel against her by not wearing exactly what she had asked us to wear. I informed everyone and we came to a mutual decision that salwar and duppatta would make us look like clowns on stage, and that we would wear leggings and no duppatta would be taken on stage. Even though, she gave us a good scolding before we went on stage, neither of really gave us a fuck. She was just a ‘loser’ teacher, anyway.
And then, we performed with all the energy we had in us. I could feel that it was going well. After having performed quite a few times on stage, I’m no longer afraid of looking at the audience. Their faces excited me even more. It was super fun dancing because all of us were bubbling with energy and excitement. I think 10 seconds into the song, and all of us had already overcome the nervousness.
I left immediately after the performance got over, but my folks who stayed back told me that they received a lot of compliments from various teachers and students alike. I wish I was there to personally receive some of them, but I’m glad everyone like it.
Ultimately, I had a blast this time! and would I perform again, if given a chance? Hell, yes.
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