December has started of with the mallu community organizing "Kerala Nite 2010". The Keralites are very enterprising and came up with a very colorful, variety program showing glimpses of Kerala -- from a tableau of boat races to kathakali, from the vibrant chendai/edakya to mohiniattam, from elegant kaikottikali to oppana dance in which we all participated.
The weather has become a very, very rainy affair. Didn't realize it could rain cats and dogs and that too non-stop... roads are waterlogged, traffic is messy and delays everywhere! Not to mention power cuts and frustration. And this is just the beginning of monsoon which goes on for 3 months, apparently!! Wow, and back in sept I had wondered why it never rains in Lusaka (why did I open my big mouth?).
LICS (Lusaka International Community School) called me to hire my services as choreographer for their play "Masala Night's Dream" which is a Bollywoodised version of Shakespeare's play set in Mumbai. I went in to audition dancers from the enthusiastic group of kids - mostly middle schoolers. Rehearsals will begin in Jan. Also in January, I will start an Intro to Indian Dance class at the American School - if enough students register for classes. Meanwhile my own classes at home for the handful of Indian girls is going strong. They all seem very dedicated and are promising dancers.
Today, I saw a play produced by the Barefeet Theater company at Lusaka Playhouse called "All Hail the chief of Chimbobobombo" an local adaptation of Dickens Christmas Carol. I went for the morning show which was full of school children on a field trip. The play was directed by Paula, visiting from London and had a cast of close to 20 Zambian local actors (mostly men, couple of women and 2 men dressed as women who did an awesome job!). I'm trying to see if I can audition someone from this troupe to include in my production of Shakuntala -- may be a long shot, but let's see if it works out. Speaking of Shakuntala, I've finalized the show date with Alliance Francaise as Feb 12th. Followed by the presentation at Towson Univ. on Feb 21st since I'll be visiting the US for ten days soon after the show. Making arrangements for hall, travel, flyer etc took up a good part of the past two days.
And finally we're getting geared up to visit India during the holidays. Looking forward to that, naturally! It promises to be a big family re-union in Chennai; with my parents, brother, aunts & uncles, cousins, nieces & nephews and more....
