Word had gotten around the Indian community that an Indian dancer from the US is coming to Lusaka and many students were waiting to join my classes. I wanted to stay off teaching to begin with, but couldn’t avoid it completely. So in Oct 2010 I started teaching Natyam to a handful of young children. As I had mentioned earlier, the Indians are a very enterprising and energetic group of people, especially the NRIs that live abroad and want to keep their heritage alive. So I got invited to participate, perform and choreograph dances for almost all Indian festivals celebrations in Lusaka – Navratri, Diwali mela, Sai Baba Anniversary, Kerala Nite 2010. I have recently been inducted as executive committee member of ZATACA (Zambia Tamil Arts & Cultural Association) and LILA (Lusaka Indian Ladies Association). I established a special rapport with High Commissioner’s wife Mrs. Jassi Kumar and hosted a dinner for them along with the South African Indian dancers Yshrene and Manesh who gave an incredible jugalbandhi (kathak-Bnatyam) at the Lusaka Hindu Hall this month.
I have been looking for venues and fellow artists to present my MFA thesis project “Shakuntala” and came into contact with Mr. Chilala, the Creative head of University of Zambia’s Arts Division. I also met with Tobias of Barefeet Theater company which takes street actors, dancers and musicians and then trains and turns them into professional performers. I am looking forward to seeing their Christmas production next month. I have also started dialoguing for using the space at Alliance Francaise in Lusaka which has a nice blackbox theater and a mailing list that reaches a mixed international audience (consisting of Diplomats, Expatriates and locals) in Lusaka.
So far I’m really excited to be in this part of the world. Three months and I’m still learning new things about the local culture, making more new friends and trying to adapt to this totally new environment....
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