“Maintain your stamina and smile profusely. This is the moment you have been waiting for since the last seven years, Yasha. Just give your best over there. We all are with you. I know you’ll rock”. These were the words of my dance teacher, Girija miss, just as my ARANGETRAM was to begin in some final moments.
Well, an Arangetram is the first solo stage performance of a Bharatanatyam dancer with live music. Idyllically, it is done after seven years of meticulous preparation in this Indian classical dance form from Tamil Nadu. I was just twelve then and there I was about to begin with the toughest and electrifying moments of my life. I had to dance incessantly for two lengthy hours with merely breaks of a minute or two after piece I presented to the audience which included all my family members, my peer group and almost all people I knew or my parents knew well.
I was greeted by a large round of approbation as I gave an entry for the first dance performance, namely PUSHPANJALI where the artiste pays deference to lord Nataraja, the deity of dance, the stage, her guru [i.e. the tutor] and all the spectators who have showed up there.
The dance performances which I did, followed by the first one are a blur in my memory because the Time while I was dancing on the stage, all I could think of was my parents, my brother and my teacher. They all had so many expectations from me and had given in so many endeavors by functioning day in and day out to make my episode a splendid triumph.
I felt dead beat after the third performance which was believed to be the toughest one in the whole agenda. But, the jovial face of my teacher brought an additional supply of vigor hooked on me. She was on the other side of the stage sitting with the ‘Natuvangam’ [ an instrument which consists of two small cymbals which make a shrill sound when hit against each other.]. She just gestured to me through an expansive beam, that I was doing it well and told me to trail that standard of my dancing throughout.
Suddenly, as I was sipping a bit of lemonade, I could hear some energized cries. I didn’t know what had happened but inquisitiveness evolved within myself and just as I proceeded to go towards the plinth to ask the comparer regarding the disarray, I heard him publicize on the top of his tone of voice “the chief guest of today’s function has arrived just now. A hearty welcome to Dr. R. Varadarajan, the principal of Yasha’s school, NES international School Mumbai.” My cheerfulness knew no bounds. I just leapt into the air and started skipping all around the backstage. All my fatigue was ancient history now. I was invigorated. Though he was late, his presence was laudable for me.
The next dance I performed remains crystal clear in my remembrance even after three years. It was supposed to be the longest dance I had ever done in my years. The dance was of 25 minutes. Throughout practices, not even one time had I done it without a break. Unpredictably, my body seemed to sway at the taala [beats] of the composition. Those 25 minutes flew away so effortlessly. I don’t know what the reason was. Perhaps the influx of my sir, or the cheering of my teacher, or the brainwave by my parents? Suchlike it was, I commit to memory receiving a standing prolonged applause as I took the final pose of the dance. I could see all five hundred people, irrespective what age, rise and applaud.
The rest of the program went slickly as I conceded the unchanged fervor and ardor in my performances. In the end, exactly after the last dance, my teacher just came over and hugged me. She just whispered in my ears, “you did it, Bacha [that’s what she calls me when she is extremely happy], you did it.” I just felt like shedding tears of joy and stay in her arms ceaselessly. But, I had to control my emotions as i was still to cut my 12th birthday cake!! My dad lifted me towering and kissed me. I could see the tears in my mom’s eyes and tell, that she was no less proud than my teacher or my father. My brother approached me and told me, “You are the best dancer, sis!!” What a moment that was!
With all these memories I ended up my Arangetram and my 12th birthday in 2008. The day ended and so did everyone’s enthusiasm; but for me, those moments are still playing, and every time I rewind my memory, I am extremely flabbergasted, amazed and moved by the moments I have lived.
