Angela (one of the English teachers here) had been wanting to take traditional Bangladeshi dance lessons here. Once I arrived, she asked if I wanted to join. That was a no brainer! As I write this we have been to three lessons so far and are having so much fun! I will continue going five days a week until I leave for India. Our dance instructors know a little English, enough to tell us to "turn" "toes" "push" "right" "left" etc. It is really fun and they seem to get a kick out of having us there.
One interesting part of Bangladeshi culture is that for the most part it is the men who do all the shopping. In addition it is always men running the shops. So, in our dance class, which consists of girls 8-15 we have all male teachers. The director is probably in his 50's and the rest of the male teachers I would guess to be in their early 20's. Their are a lot of men there to help us out and the young teachers are apprentices also learning dances as they teach us.
The girls who take classes there are so sweet and they actually speak English really well. On our first day one girl was giving me tips on how to hold my hands when I wasn't quite grasping what the teachers were trying to tell me. Yesterday when we arrived some of the younger girls were dancing and the older girls were sitting on the bench. Angela and I stood by the wall, but the older girls very quickly and shyly stood up and offered us the entire bench. As soon as the young girls finished, they came running to the bench and piled on to start practicing their English with us. They are so much fun and such beautiful dancers. I am so happy to have them there to help me!
One thing I was not expecting from this class was that I would ever have to perform in public. This was something I was doing for myself, just for fun. However this dance studio is celebrating its 20 year anniversary on January 25 & 26, and Angela and I are expected to perform. Not only are we 20 years older than the majority of the students there, we are the only white girls and therefore will be unable to hide while performing. Last night I also found out that we will be wearing Sari's for the performance.
Sari's are very beautiful and I was thinking about getting one while I was here, but then thought it wasn't a good idea because I would never wear it. Sari's are basically one long piece of fabric that gets folded, pleated and tucked as you wrap it around your body. You then have a special sari blouse which is like a little half shirt and a petticoat, or little pants so your midriff remains bare, but the fabric of the sari covers most of that. However, I do not see how all this folding and tucking will keep the fabric in place while I am twisting and turning on the stage. Bigger than my fear of performing for a large Bangladeshi crowd is my fear that while performing, my sari will end up on one side of the stage while I am spinning my way to the other side! While I would still be partially covered with my blouse and petticoat it would be very inappropriate for Bangladeshi standards.
No matter what happens though the memories I will make through continuing these dance classes and performing in one month will be priceless. Besides, now I have some amazing friends who are 12 years old. \
Dance photos will come in a post soon!
Dance photos will come in a post soon!
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