I DID it!

Today was truly unusual. I attempted something that I never thought I’d catch myself doing. For the first, the very first time. Me. Yes, me. I did it. Never in my wildest dreams, craziest nightmare did I think this will happen. Yes. I did wish that I would have the guts to do it. So many times, I put my best foot forward and withdrew it because of cold feet. Now what am I ranting and raving about???

I managed to pull off a stage performance. I Danced!!!

In front of an audience, mind you. Me!! Can you believe it ??? Wow, from the audience reaction, it was fabulous. We were 10 of us, beautifully attired, and we were all in seventh heaven after the performance. So many wonderful compliments like - so graceful, so beautiful, what a performance and other superlatives, greeted us afterwards. We soaked it all in.

I must have something important to learn out of all this. Right now, I am still pinching myself out of disbelief. I went through a crazy barrage of emotions just before the performance. In fact, when I was putting on my saree, to my horror, I found stains on the front and thought, “This is it! I am not meant to do this.” My wonderful neighbor, went to her cupboard, rummaged through it, and pulled out her new saree and draped it on me. Ok. No escaping now. I even thought I was going to pee on stage out of nervousness. Suddenly I kept going blank here and there. I thought I’d trip on my saree, maybe on the carpet, too. Forgetting the steps was the most scariest thought. Here I am thirty-something, and I had my first stage performance! It was the start of something new for me and also felt very light-headed for a while after the dance. The tension was just coming through after being caged in for so long.

Yes, I finally have come a full circle. This was the Onam dance that I wrote about. The one I was denied so many years back. I had written about it here. Please parents, don’t ever put your kids through stuff like this. Allow them the benefit of their dreams.

Thank you all my blogging friends for encouraging me to actually go ahead. I did put my foot back several times. God knows what I went through! First I did practice with the group. I then gave some lame excuse and backed out. Three people had to drop out due to other constraints and every time, I promptly handed the group another resource. Finally, I ran out of resources and had to oblige. The ladies of the group were very kind to the fact that I had no formal training (this was a traditional dance and called for some grace) and kept egging me on. I did put my heart and soul and practiced earnestly. The end result was fabulous.

I did it! I did it! I did it! Yipppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! Now I am ready to perform again! Hey, wait for me, I am putting on my dancing shoes!