The Performance on the 25th June

This was to be our toughest performance till date. We (the three of us) were to perform the 'Varnam' and the thillana. The Varnam is the most important piece in any dance recital, as it tests the Abhinaya (Bhava), Nritta and stamina. A varnam is usually about 25-30 minutes long. Till now, the longest we've danced continuously (as a single song) is about 15 minutes, so this was going to stretch us. Moreover, we have to depict stories through the varnam and thus our bhava must be excellent.

A few days before that, on the 20th we had another performance in a temple. For the first time, our performance was not good :-(. yeah i will admit, it was bad. Not that we made any mistakes or we forgot our steps..i mean we've been dancing way too long for that, plus we've had our practices. But it was just that the performance was lacking somewhere. For lack of a better word, you could say 'there was no soul'. And for the first time ever, our dance teacher told us openly that she was disappointed. Our teacher is not the one to praise easily, of course, but she will call a spade a spade.

Thus, we were inspired to prove ourselves this time. Daily practices in the evening were arraged. More efforts to train ourselves and increase our stamina. We did give it our everything this time.

And it payed off. :-)

It is widely regarded as my best performance till date. And again, a first!!! My teacher called me up that late that night itself, and said it was really good. Enough to send me into seventh heaven. Didn't come down for more than a day afterward :-) It meant a tremendous deal to me.

Next up, we have our biggest show. A complete show only by the three of us in October. Gonna be one healluva thing!