Debut

My goodness it's been a long time since I posted. One of the things I've been doing while not writing blog posts has been dancing. For the last I've been going to Nia class 2-3 times a week which has done wonders for my strength, balance, and overall well being. But for pure, all out, goofy fun, nothing beats the Bollywood dance class I started taking in January. Keeping track of the choreography isn't that easy for my old brain and physically it's quite challenging (I generally have to recover with a serious nap on Sunday afternoons) but what a great time we have.

In the 8 weeks since our little group started we've done well enough that our teacher Sushmita decided to put us up on stage twice last weekend, complete with garish custom-made costumes and an astonishing amount stage makeup. I knew that the opportunity to perform would be offered to us but I didn't think it would come so soon and I figured my debut would be in some dinky little community center or grade school cafeteria.

In fact, we went on stage at The Roseland, a huge venue where we saw Manu Chao a few years ago. There were a few dance groups performing before "India's Most Famous DJ" came onstage and, surprisingly enough, hundreds of people showed up for our warm up acts. Yes, it was just a little tiny bit nerve wracking but we were great--at least it sounded that way from the applause.

Saturday evening we were part of a community Holi celebration which was a completely different experience. Friday night was all young hipsters, Saturday was a family event with lots of little kids all over the place and numerous performances--dance, poetry, theater which was all in Hindi so I had only the slightest idea about what was going on which was actually fine.

Both events ended with dancing and especially Saturday's dancing with local DJ Prashant was the best-- a perfect way to let go after the mild terror of being on stage. Despite the terror, it was loads of fun and I can't wait for our next performance.

December 5 Night out

Did you have a night out with friends or a loved one that rocked your world? Who was there? What was the highlight of the night?

My husband and I are not really the going out type. We've pretty much just stayed home for years. But for whatever reason (probably that the boys are old enough to watch their sister and put her to bed) we've started going out dancing once a month and it's more fun than I could have ever imagined.

It's all about the music for me. At Filmistan, DJ Anjali and the Incredible Kid play nothing but Hindi film music. You wouldn't think that would draw crowds as Portland is nowhere near Bombay, but lots of people show up and dance for hours. The first time we went we worried about being too old or too fat or too dowdy but the lights are dim and no one is looking anyway.I don' t know why we're only just now discovering the fun of going out dancing (in our 20th year of marriage) but it's a good thing nonetheless.