India Day 2 - Divinity Dance
Jet lag did not hit me until this day, so I didn't do as much.
Since I've been here I mainly sleep really hard for the first three hours, then off and on from there. I am usually wide awake by five in the morning.
Since I was already up bright and early, I went with Allison and Kodi to a prayer meeting with the women who work for the language school. Allison played a little piano while the rest of us prayed and discussed things God has been teaching us.
The plan was to ride with Alyssa on her scooter to a coffee shop and wait a while for Allison to finish nannying for the day. From there we planned to go to Dilli Haat (a craft bazaar and market) to do a little souvenir shopping. However, as the afternoon rolled around I suddenly got very tired and took a nap instead...a loooong nap that ended up killing my sleep the next night! Lol, whoops!
Allison woke me up and we took an Uber to see a dance concert. I read a book called Shiva's Fire by Suzanne Fisher Staples when I was about 12 years old; it was the first book I read that sparked my interest in India. The book was about a girl who devoted her life to learning classical dance. I couldn't wait to see how well my imagination matched up with true Indian classical dance.
The dance we saw was called "Kathak" by a single woman dancer, Vidha Lal. Here's a snippet I found about her:
"Vidha Lal, disciple of Geetanjali Lal, is a dancer of the Jaipur Gharana, who blends traditional Kathak with contemporary elements.Her brahmaris or spins in lightening quick succession have won her a Guinness World record for taking 103 spins in a minute."
The dancing was almost exactly how I would have imagined!! Most of the dances performed a story about one of the Hindu gods. Each movement had specific hand and feet motions...even facial expressions. Even though, I didn't know the stories, the theatrical nature of the dance let my imagination run wild. Oh, and yes, she did excellent spins!
She wasn't dressed as traditional as I would have guessed, but she was adorned in much jewelry, her fingertips were stained red from henna, and she wore thick bangles around her angles that jingled with every step.
On the side, the small orchestra sat on the floor. It onsisted of two drummers, some kind of accordianist, sitar player, and a man who sang and played cymbals. It took Allison and I by surprise whenever the dancer, shortly after a dance and out of breath, went over to a microphone and performed some kind of a rhythmic rap with the instruments. Haha!
After the concert we walked over to a diner and had breakfast for dinner. I thought was like an Indianized Perkins! Allison and I got a kick out of the pictures on the walls. Ah, but the bacon just didn't compare!! :)
Since I've been here I mainly sleep really hard for the first three hours, then off and on from there. I am usually wide awake by five in the morning.
Since I was already up bright and early, I went with Allison and Kodi to a prayer meeting with the women who work for the language school. Allison played a little piano while the rest of us prayed and discussed things God has been teaching us.
The plan was to ride with Alyssa on her scooter to a coffee shop and wait a while for Allison to finish nannying for the day. From there we planned to go to Dilli Haat (a craft bazaar and market) to do a little souvenir shopping. However, as the afternoon rolled around I suddenly got very tired and took a nap instead...a loooong nap that ended up killing my sleep the next night! Lol, whoops!
Allison woke me up and we took an Uber to see a dance concert. I read a book called Shiva's Fire by Suzanne Fisher Staples when I was about 12 years old; it was the first book I read that sparked my interest in India. The book was about a girl who devoted her life to learning classical dance. I couldn't wait to see how well my imagination matched up with true Indian classical dance.
The dance we saw was called "Kathak" by a single woman dancer, Vidha Lal. Here's a snippet I found about her:
"Vidha Lal, disciple of Geetanjali Lal, is a dancer of the Jaipur Gharana, who blends traditional Kathak with contemporary elements.Her brahmaris or spins in lightening quick succession have won her a Guinness World record for taking 103 spins in a minute."
The dancing was almost exactly how I would have imagined!! Most of the dances performed a story about one of the Hindu gods. Each movement had specific hand and feet motions...even facial expressions. Even though, I didn't know the stories, the theatrical nature of the dance let my imagination run wild. Oh, and yes, she did excellent spins!
She wasn't dressed as traditional as I would have guessed, but she was adorned in much jewelry, her fingertips were stained red from henna, and she wore thick bangles around her angles that jingled with every step.
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| We saw the dancer on the left |
On the side, the small orchestra sat on the floor. It onsisted of two drummers, some kind of accordianist, sitar player, and a man who sang and played cymbals. It took Allison and I by surprise whenever the dancer, shortly after a dance and out of breath, went over to a microphone and performed some kind of a rhythmic rap with the instruments. Haha!
After the concert we walked over to a diner and had breakfast for dinner. I thought was like an Indianized Perkins! Allison and I got a kick out of the pictures on the walls. Ah, but the bacon just didn't compare!! :)
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