letters from england....
Hieeeeee!
How are all of you doing? It’s so nice to hear from all of you- I check my mail first thing when I get in to the office here, and your emails completely brighten my day...even if it's just a forwarded joke ;) I have so much to tell you guys! I know, I know, I ALWAYS have so much to tell, huh?
So, monday night these english ladies- kate, gillian and caroline- came to stay at guruji’s house with us. They dance for Kala Sangam as a troupe called the Steel Magnolias….named after the movie, primarily because it reflects so much of their personalities. They’re each very delicate, graceful, caring- but totally "no nonsense type" and incredibly organized. They bustled in in full indian garb- from a bindhi and tika to payal on their feet. They go to india each year, have travelled more there and seen more than I have! Incredible.
Anyway, that night was a bit of a slumber party (granted with 40+ yr olds, but still fun). The next morning, we all woke up by 5:30- then we all met at Kala Sangam’s office (nikhil, myself, the steel mags, vibha and jaya (this other really good dancer….if K.S. was a boot camp, she’d be the sargent.) and then left for Wales by 7 in this huge minibus (16 seater). It took a good three hours to get there, we arrived 10 mins late for our first workshop, swarmed the nearest restroom ands rushed to get ready. We met up with another dance troupe there that also works with K.S. called Nritya Kala, a folk dance institute. It headed by this woman, Nayana Whittaker and her photographer husband. She had brought two of her dancers and along with them, vibs and I got to host three workshops and about 4 performances. Totally awesome experience. Live music, this garba/bhangra band, from bombay. The performances were impromptu, we’d get up there and someone would lead, the rest would follow. All the other dancers who came with us- the steel mags, jaymini didi (freelance kathak dancer) and jaya didi (freelance bharatnatyam)- joined in.
I stepped on this thin nail that was sticking up in the middle of the stage, and bled all over the place. But that got bandaged and I had to start dancing again. It wasn’t that painful- suck through my toe-,so I just had to kind of dance a bit more carefully after that. The festival lasts for a week- yesterday was children’s day. Five schools had brought their students for a field trip, all ages. So these little kids would jump on stage too, and mimic our movements.
The festival itself was amazing- lasts till late night every day. There were demos and performances and workshops in little tents all over the park grounds, as well as all these food and craft vendors from all over the world. The coolest part was that there was a world wide dance competition and a world wide music competition held in this massive tent (the tent was over the public seating and attached to the top of this full sized, heavily decorated with flowers and lights, stage). Dancers and singers came from EVERYWHERE- Zimbabwe, Australia, France, Colombia, Romania (KS got invited by one of their directors to go to Romania next august!!!), India (the bhangra/giddha troupe from india was 80 people strong, most of the troupes had about 40 people…serious competition…when the bhangra team entered, they came in with singing, dancing, and beating the dhol, people were completely stunned )…to name a few, there were tons of countries represented. Wales itself is beautiful- very mountainous- and a darker green than what’s found in England. The park is surrounded by hills and mountains, really picturesque.
Wonderful trip. We danced from 10am- 3pm, with one 1 hour break, got home around 7. I came away with a bum toe, mehindi decorated hands, and so many wonderful memories. J
That night, after we got home- ajit bhaiya took us to a lecture on sikh art. It was so interesting. The lecture itself was about the rarity of visual sikh religious art. It was about an hour long, but really informative. The lecture is part of a series. One every two weeks ill mid october, I think I might go regularly to it. The topic varies from session to session but it always an aspect of sikhism, with various guest speakers. Okie, time for lunch then dance class.J tata my dears.
Love,
sadhu
Hieeeeee!
How are all of you doing? It’s so nice to hear from all of you- I check my mail first thing when I get in to the office here, and your emails completely brighten my day...even if it's just a forwarded joke ;) I have so much to tell you guys! I know, I know, I ALWAYS have so much to tell, huh?
So, monday night these english ladies- kate, gillian and caroline- came to stay at guruji’s house with us. They dance for Kala Sangam as a troupe called the Steel Magnolias….named after the movie, primarily because it reflects so much of their personalities. They’re each very delicate, graceful, caring- but totally "no nonsense type" and incredibly organized. They bustled in in full indian garb- from a bindhi and tika to payal on their feet. They go to india each year, have travelled more there and seen more than I have! Incredible.
Anyway, that night was a bit of a slumber party (granted with 40+ yr olds, but still fun). The next morning, we all woke up by 5:30- then we all met at Kala Sangam’s office (nikhil, myself, the steel mags, vibha and jaya (this other really good dancer….if K.S. was a boot camp, she’d be the sargent.) and then left for Wales by 7 in this huge minibus (16 seater). It took a good three hours to get there, we arrived 10 mins late for our first workshop, swarmed the nearest restroom ands rushed to get ready. We met up with another dance troupe there that also works with K.S. called Nritya Kala, a folk dance institute. It headed by this woman, Nayana Whittaker and her photographer husband. She had brought two of her dancers and along with them, vibs and I got to host three workshops and about 4 performances. Totally awesome experience. Live music, this garba/bhangra band, from bombay. The performances were impromptu, we’d get up there and someone would lead, the rest would follow. All the other dancers who came with us- the steel mags, jaymini didi (freelance kathak dancer) and jaya didi (freelance bharatnatyam)- joined in.
I stepped on this thin nail that was sticking up in the middle of the stage, and bled all over the place. But that got bandaged and I had to start dancing again. It wasn’t that painful- suck through my toe-,so I just had to kind of dance a bit more carefully after that. The festival lasts for a week- yesterday was children’s day. Five schools had brought their students for a field trip, all ages. So these little kids would jump on stage too, and mimic our movements.
The festival itself was amazing- lasts till late night every day. There were demos and performances and workshops in little tents all over the park grounds, as well as all these food and craft vendors from all over the world. The coolest part was that there was a world wide dance competition and a world wide music competition held in this massive tent (the tent was over the public seating and attached to the top of this full sized, heavily decorated with flowers and lights, stage). Dancers and singers came from EVERYWHERE- Zimbabwe, Australia, France, Colombia, Romania (KS got invited by one of their directors to go to Romania next august!!!), India (the bhangra/giddha troupe from india was 80 people strong, most of the troupes had about 40 people…serious competition…when the bhangra team entered, they came in with singing, dancing, and beating the dhol, people were completely stunned )…to name a few, there were tons of countries represented. Wales itself is beautiful- very mountainous- and a darker green than what’s found in England. The park is surrounded by hills and mountains, really picturesque.
Wonderful trip. We danced from 10am- 3pm, with one 1 hour break, got home around 7. I came away with a bum toe, mehindi decorated hands, and so many wonderful memories. J
That night, after we got home- ajit bhaiya took us to a lecture on sikh art. It was so interesting. The lecture itself was about the rarity of visual sikh religious art. It was about an hour long, but really informative. The lecture is part of a series. One every two weeks ill mid october, I think I might go regularly to it. The topic varies from session to session but it always an aspect of sikhism, with various guest speakers. Okie, time for lunch then dance class.J tata my dears.
Love,
sadhu
posted by Sound & Sense at 6:15 PM
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