Kimball Performance!

We had our GRAND performance at the Kimball this past Friday, and I would call it overall a success! I really didn't know what to expect from the gig as a whole - what other kinds of groups would be there and how prepared they would be...But I actually felt like our banjar performance fit well into the mix of performances and brought some different flavor to the entirety of performances. Although we practiced it a bunch of times on Wednesday, as our group was about to go on and perform I felt so unprepared...where exactly was I walking? How should I walk? Walk normally or dance to my spot? When should I enter? What should my hands be doing? Last second we decided to enter with our arms up and ready in ala padma (I think that is the one we did...), and I think this was a great idea because it made the entrance seem more professional, more put together.

Most of our performance went well, and I think it was overall pretty solid. I had some friends come to the show, and they were extremely complimentary and thought our performance really stuck out from all the others. I kept asking them, "No, honestly, really, what did you think?" etc...and they kept telling me that truthfully they were impressed and thought it went really well. I felt that overall we rushed it as a whole, our beat was pretty fast and people cut short their little scenes, but this is definitely to be expected - I think this always tends to happen when you get in front of an audience and your nerves take over. Everything also felt really different because we were in our costumes and makeup. Movements were more restricted in the tight skirts, and I had wings in addition, which were something that I had never had before and just wasn't used to. Some of the chaks got out of control - I think that each side couldn't hear the opposite side of the circle as well as we had in the room, so it was harder to coordinate and make the two sides work together. Also, with Francis on the microphone it added a whole other level to the chak circle that I think threw some of us off as well. Although we got through the motions of the dance as a whole, I think that in practicing we were actually more cohesive as a group.

I enjoyed watching the other performers as well. Kalyani was sooo amazing in her bangrah dance group and it really made me want to join something like that! The fact that they had just figured out the dance that same week really showed me how good they are - as compared to our group that was working on our dance for such a longer time and really weren't as prepared or had as complex of moves...and then the bangrah team that was able to put that together in such a short amount of time. It was great...the Irish dancers were impressive as well - they all had that stiff unfeeling facial expression on for the entire dance. The stage presence of most of the groups was truly inspiring - everyone took their performances very seriously and gave it their best.