What happens in dance class, stays in dance class.

     This past Thursday was my second Indian dance class.  (We do 1/2 hour of Classical Indian dance and a whole hour of Bollywood-style dance.)  There were 3 new additions to the class:  three boys that I teach!  Ummmm.....awkward!  You should have seen the looks of panic on their faces as I walked up.  They said, "*gasp*  It's Ms. Lyn!", then they huddled together to discuss the situation. 

     Luckily, these are very good boys who do as they are told.  I couldn't have handled it otherwise.  I told them, "Hey guys.  I won't say anything at school if you don't.  It'll be our secret!"  Relief flooded over all their faces.  I can see why.  Do you know how brutal middle school is?  If the other boys found out that they were taking a dance class with FEMALES in the class, including their teacher, they would totally get beaten up.  We're going to treat it like fight club.  The first rule of Bollywood Dance Club is:  you do not talk about Bollywood Dance Club.  The second rule of Bollywood Dance Club is:  you DO NOT talk about Bollywood dance club!

On the plus side, the parents of the 3 boys are now going to join the class as well.  Hooray!  This will make it much less awkward (for me anyway) and more fun.  :-) 

The Crazy White-Chick at the Indian Dance Class 101

Yep.  That would be me.  In case you haven't heard, I LOVE Bollywood movies and I watch a lot of them.  So when I found out that Arya International (the dance company that provides the dancers for many Bollywood movies) was teaching a dance class in my area, I totally went for it!  I have to say, I was pretty nervous before the first class because I thought everyone would look at me funny and wonder, "what's that white girl doing here?"  Last night, however, I went anyway just to see if I would like it.

Well, I did feel a bit uncomfortable at first. Not because of my race, mind you, but because I was the only adult in the class!  (They combined the teenage and adult classes.)  Not only that, the other girls were students at the school where I teach!  Their parents (including dads and brothers) stayed to watch us in our first ever Indian dance class.  How embarrassing!  I almost called it a day, but as soon as I started dancing, I forgot all about them.  As it turns out, I LOVE Indian dancing and I'm actually not too bad at it.  I was happy that I wasn't that person who stumbles and holds up the whole class.  I kept up with those 16-year-olds pretty well, if  I do say do myself! 

We did a half-hour of Classical Indian dance and a whole hour of Bollywood-style dancing.  Barefoot.  I was afraid my feet were going to kill me, but they didn't.  Hooray!  Our teacher is a real Bollywood dancer and had flown over from India.  He has been in several Bollywood movies as a back-up dancer!  I'm SO going to look carefully in the background of some of those movies to see if I see him.  :-)

Anyway, I hope to chronicle my experiences in this blog as I continue to take this dance class.  It's just too much fun not to!  Also, it might  be entertaining for some to read about the old-white chick in the teenage Indian dance class.  I'm starting to think I was Indian in a previous life.  Not that I really believe in reincarnation, mind you.  I just have always REALLY loved Indian culture, even when I was a child.  There's no real reason for me to like it this much. ... or to be SO happy while dancing Indian-style. 

I want to challenge all of you out there to take a class in something you're interesting in even if you feel ridiculous.  It might be worth it!
What do you really love that defies explanation?

A Sweet Valentine's Story

     I'm a bit of a Valentine scrooge, I have to admit.  When I was single, I thought it was mean to make single people feel worse about being single.  Now that I'm married, I think it's unnecessary because my husband makes me feel loved every day.  I don't need flowers and chocolates to feel special because he already makes me feel special.  However, I wanted to share with you a great, real-life love story that makes me very, very happy.

     A work colleague of mine and his wife will be celebrating their second, second anniversary this year.  Let me explain:  (I'll call them Frank and Alma.)

        Frank and Alma were married when they were in their early 20's.  They divorced 4 years later.  They both married other people.  Alma's second marriage ended very quickly (with no children) because it was pretty much a rebound relationship.  Frank's marriage lasted for 15 years or so, and he had 2 children.  Eventually, his marriage ended as well.  Thirty-five years after their divorce, they met again.  They started dating and found that they still loved each other.  A year later, they were married on the exact same day as their original wedding.  They are deliriously happy and are certain it will work this time because they both say that things that are issues when you're in your 20's are no longer issues when you're in your late 50's.  They had their second, first anniversary last year. 
     Alma says she couldn't be happier and feels that her life is complete.  She always wanted to be with Frank, and she wanted Frank's children.  Now she has both!  (She has a great relationship with Frank's children so she "has" them in that sense.)  Also, she gets to have grandchildren with Frank.  What a wonderful story!  I think it's so uplifting and inspiring.  I want this to give hope to all of you out there!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Story told by Chris Botti

Okay, so while I have my own views on Chris Botti's choice of style and material, he does seem like a really nice guy.  Between pieces at a recent concert, he told stories to the audience.  Here is one that I really liked:

     Chris and his band were hired to play at a wedding in Italy.  He rearranged his tour in order to be able to do this.  (Nice, right?)  The father-of-the-bride was very grateful and told him, "You are my daughter's second favorite musician!"  Second favorite?  "Yeah, Sting is her favorite, but guess which one we could afford?"  Anyway, Chris had a good sense of humor about this and traveled to a small town in Italy where, ironically enough, Sting owns a villa!  Since Chris is friends with Sting, he and his band were invited to have spaghetti with Sting at his villa before the wedding.  Sting asked, "So, Chris,  why are you all the way out here for only 18 hours?"  Chris related the story to Sting.  Upon hearing this, Sting asked, "well, can I come with you and sing at the wedding?"  Wow!  So, they devised this whole set-up where Chris plays a few tunes, then introduces his "special guest artist".  Sting walks out and sings to the couple.  How awesome is that?!  Anyway, when they do this, the couple thinks that Chris brought a Sting impersonator.  It took some convincing for them to realize that is was, indeed, the real Sting!  (After which, they totally freak out.)

     Now, I don't know if this story is true, but it's a lovely story and it makes me happy so I choose to believe it.  At the end of the concert, Chris said that we were his favorite orchestra and that he had invited us all to go on tour with him.  This wasn't true, he just said it to be nice.  But Chris, if you're reading this, I'd like to take you up on your offer........but only if we get to go to Italy and eat pasta with Sting!