Flying solo - Teaching Dance in Bangalore - Week One

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This was to be one of the hardest weeks of my life - I just didn't know it yet! It is not until I leave the airport that the gravity of my decision hits me, It's 1am Sunday Morning, my escort leads me straight on to the road where we are walking amongst the taxi traffic, which is hectic by the way, there is absolutely no system on the roads here, people just do whatever they want, horns honking. After finally getting ushered to the cab rank and getting in the cab we are off in to the extremeness of the traffic. It truly has to be seen for one to even grasp how crazy it is on the road (there is 'no traffic' right now either because it's so early, oh my!), I thought I was not going to make it or that we would crash for sure, but some how in all the chaos the people seem to manage, like it's second nature. After one hour we reach our destination, A wonderfully big apartment I get to have to myself for the next two months a blessing after a long stint on couches, sublets and my old room at my folks place, compliments of Attakallari Centre for Movements Arts where I am due to start work monday and what a day monday was, but I'll get to that shortly. I'm left with not much information except for a dinosaur nokia mobile with no internet, great! I go to have a shower to find there is no hot water, well I know there is now because a friend showed me how the systems work here, but I have no idea, so I'll been having cold showers for an entire week, this is ok in fact because it is so warm and lovely a big jump from the bitterness of the Australian winter. After coming to terms with this I sleep.

I have a good friend in Bangalore who picked me up after I awoke and took me on a tour of the city. I'm thinking this was wonderful, I'm feeling like I can cope with this forgetting that I am cushioned from the real environment of the city in his luxury car and his knowledge of were to go (he took me to a palace for lunch, very lovely grounds so lush and green!). I only came to realise how intense the city was the next day (monday) early morning as I was trawling the streets with no idea in hell where I am going. I was given vague directions from my land lady, who I had to ask what the address for my house was because no one told me that either, asking many many people as they went by to point me in the right direction going around and around in circles for an hour looking for a place I'm told should have taken less than ten minutes. The stink of garbage and god knows what else made this experience even more difficult, getting stared at, honked at as I need to take the road because the foot path is non existent, laughed at, disregarded.... Why no one showed me or came to pick me up I have no clue, but by the time a rickshaw driver with decent english finally pointed me to the right road, only to be greeted by a security man I had no hope in hell understanding or explaining that I was there to work, my nerves were so frazzled and I could not keep the tears back. I'm sitting outside the place now being stared down by the cleaning ladies, the security man telling me for half an hour about how it costs one lac to buy a suzuki and me sitting there thinking what in the world possessed me to do this! the lady I have been speaking to arrives and I finally get to talk sense with someone. I get taken inside after the yoga class and am introduced to the majority of my 28 students, I am calming down now! I get to watch their next class, Kalarippayattu, Indian Martial Art. A highly physical discipline consisting of different series of deep squats and kicking. know I am going to learn a lot from observing the traditional movement disciplines but am so hungry so I do not stay to watch Bharatnataym (classical indian dance). On my way how I got head butted by a cow, apparently I stepped to close to his head, but I had no choice, he was on the footpath! I am going home to eat because I am very weary of the local restaurants, they look unhygenic and I would have no clue what to order anyway, on the way I ask the internet shop man about getting a dongle, and he just shakes his head and hand at me and continually says no. Far out nothing is going my way today! I get back and now it's time to take the role for my ballet class, oh what a joke that was, Half of the names I have no idea about, I make a joke of this but I'm feeling rather vulnerable here! So thats over we get on with the class, I am testing their skill level today for both ballet and contemporary and can see gaps in their knowledge immediately, this gives me my confidence back. The universal language of the body and what it needs. There are a few knee and shoulder issues, I think this is great not for the students obviously but now I know where to direct my training and what the students need for strength. Dance really can lift your spirits and give you freedom even when your nerves are completely shot out, bringing a joy and forgetting about the crazy desire in my heart to run back to Australia. The day has ended now time to find food, but first I am given the Wifi code and an internet dongle now, sweet relief I can tell my loved ones I have not died in the flight! I go the the place recommended and once again I have no idea what to order and surprise surprise the workers don't speak english! So much for being told that Bangalore is a big city you will be fine many people speak english, well today they didn't. I get something finally, the people there are nice enough. Going home was a tad frightening, I don't think I'm in a very safe area for a woman to walk alone at night, yet another amazing bonus for the day! I get home and take a cold shower and hand wash my clothes (something I will be doing a lot from now on). Finally taking solace in the adult cartoon Archer, red wine and sleep.

Jetlag wakes me at 4am the next morning, silence, oh sweet silence where have you been? I'm grateful for being up so early, by 5am a beautiful singing can be heard, I find out later that it is from the church down the road calling people to pray. I find this very soothing. My friend picks me up and takes me for a walk in the park and breakfast, iggly and Masala dosa, delicious. The home to prepare a ballet lesson, before heading in to watch the Bharatnataym class. How expressive and beautiful this dance is, powerful in rhythmic grounding and light in characterisation of the face with fluidity of the upper body and clarity of mudras of the hands. very powerful! After break they come back, we dance together, the students seem to really enjoy my lessons, they later tell me that they love my classes and are having fun, that they always found ballet boring but not with me... The imagery I have been focusing on must work, very good research for my studies into ideokinesis and obsession with ways to make the physicality easy even when the movement is tough, correcting alignment with image and anatomical facts. They clap for me when I do even the simplest of steps, I feel so fabulous, it's a real pleasure to be admired and to feel that through a friendly less demanding nature I can see great improvement and deepen the awareness of their bodies with them. This really is a shared learning experience. I can see a very very distinct difference in culture by the way the students respect me and respond to me. They have very little care for being self conscious and self esteem seems high, they are friendly and supportive to each other, none seem to have a competitive bone in their body. One thing I find so hilarious is the customary head movement for ok, I ask if it is understood and due to this sideways head wobble I have no idea if they mean yes or no. The rest of the week continues like this. Going to and from the studio not going to far from home, I am brave enough one evening, desperate for some meat to eat that I take the rickshaw to the main road. Holy moly, rickshaws are hilarious, a bit frightening at first but funny none the less, I'm glad I've been told how much I should pay though because I can see myself being ripped off very easily. I also take one trip on the back of a students scooter to see a very dismal dance show in a pub, this was scary, I told him he was brave for riding a scooter there as I clung to him fearing for my life! I am getting very tired of being stared at by the end of the week, I feel sensitive and am going in and out of homesickness, loneliness, absolute blinding moments of inspiration and joy, very surreal almost. I see the dirt and rubbish in the street, wild dogs, cows , monkeys turkeys and can not understand how are why people must live this way, how is this chaos possible? It is so far beyond my grasp!

I met a lovely man in the plane on the way over, who would by the end of the week end up being like my family. He told me not to fight India and I would have a good time, but by friday I feel desperate to escape, my stomach has started aching, I have not been eating well as I still have no clue what to eat. He invites me over friday evening after I finish work. Friday was hard for me, the students support and love really picked me up and we did a slow massage/stretch class as they were tired and to be honest I had little energy. I stayed back late having philosophical convocations with some students, still after they leave I feel lonely and I am grateful for the invitation to stay the night with a friend. His company driver picks me up. Nice guy we had a lovely chat and he took me down what I can only describe as the most dangerous road I have ever been down. I arrive at his door and his wife greets me with a tray with contains a sweet smelling candle, and powder, she dots my head with the powder and feeds me an almond. This is truly one of the most special experiences I have ever had, I want to cry with joy and relief. Her neighbour and daughter come by, they are so excited to meet me and we stay up the entire night talking laughing and I feel like I have found long lost relatives. The next day I am thankful to be there, my stomach has given up, it's time for the inevitable travel bug to hit me, full blown gastro, my stomach feels like it is going to come violently out of my mouth. I sleep for more than fifteen hours, cry and want to seriously run home. They care for me like I have never experienced, with pure unconditional love. I am so thankful, the universe really helped me when it sat me next to this man on the plane. After this, the next day I feel better. I have been dreaming vividly and feel an undeniable guilt for wanting to leave my students, I can not leave them, I must endure, I will feel better. They take me out and make sure I am stocked up with good quality food, both are from farming regions so we speak the same language when it comes to quality produce. I'm feeling better now, all I needed was a little help and a little love. So here ends my first week in India, I can say that I have indeed been shocked and the advice I have for the solo traveller is find a friend, you need them! Also no expectation is best.

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