carmenara
Member
Hello, I am from the Far East. I don't really like disclosing who I am or where I'm from due to the age old problem of stereotyping.
I prefer to be known by a little legacy a small Indian girl created for me a month ago. Pointed my way and christened me a "Desert Dancer" after observing me being pulled on stage by Kalbeliyas - Indian tribal dancers from Rajestan and being quite comfortable in a dance style I have never encountered much less heard of.
A week after my impromptu initation before a crowd of a couple hundred, I went on to perform at a traditional dance competition and did well enough to be regarded as an honorary winner. I had my doubts that 5 days and nights would be enough to pull off a convincing solo performance but I did anyway... and felt the person performing isn't really myself - I had a little bit of help here and there.
And that was my initiation to Indian culture and dance - well, unless you count enjoying mutton biryani and crazy Bollywood dance videos on YouTube, along with some interestingly soothing Hindu mantras involving dangerously powerful goddesses...
Little suggestions from the paranormal that I'm not alone but certainly welcomed to partake in something that harkens back through time and space to something I've never encountered before. I wore traditional dresses of a culture that would become my heart and soul knowing I am a representative of that culture which I actually don't belong... but welcomed into the social circles and homes of ethnic friends and members of performing arts anyway. And then I continued wearing those exotic, slightly shimmering dresses to work until no one dared to question me on it... I had several Indian ladies on my side and responsible for my further learning!
Those little spritual encounters continue - any mantra involving Kali or Durga would have some kind of profound and obvious clue that "something" intimate and powerful is close by. Light breathing and snoring over my shoulder audible from impossible locations - there just can't be anyone under my mattress! My hair being flipped forwards and draped across my chest when there's no wind or movement in an enclosed space... the list goes on.
My life and career had definitely become much better with these alien, powerful mantras in a language I don't understand yet.
I started visiting a Hindu temple joining them for feasts and scripture classes, and will continue to do so. It helps me adopt a much more healthy diet (eating vedic food from prasadam feasts), and the other half of my free time spent learning, performing and perhaps someday, teaching Bollywood dance. A way better lifestyle than the introverted, fearful outlook of my former self, a corporate slave stuck in a world that has forgotten righteousness like some dystopian science fiction title...
But all that's history. I'm here to seek further learning and of course a place to share thoughts, should they be welcome. I am quite the wild thing just like the Goddess I serve...
I prefer to be known by a little legacy a small Indian girl created for me a month ago. Pointed my way and christened me a "Desert Dancer" after observing me being pulled on stage by Kalbeliyas - Indian tribal dancers from Rajestan and being quite comfortable in a dance style I have never encountered much less heard of.
A week after my impromptu initation before a crowd of a couple hundred, I went on to perform at a traditional dance competition and did well enough to be regarded as an honorary winner. I had my doubts that 5 days and nights would be enough to pull off a convincing solo performance but I did anyway... and felt the person performing isn't really myself - I had a little bit of help here and there.
And that was my initiation to Indian culture and dance - well, unless you count enjoying mutton biryani and crazy Bollywood dance videos on YouTube, along with some interestingly soothing Hindu mantras involving dangerously powerful goddesses...
Little suggestions from the paranormal that I'm not alone but certainly welcomed to partake in something that harkens back through time and space to something I've never encountered before. I wore traditional dresses of a culture that would become my heart and soul knowing I am a representative of that culture which I actually don't belong... but welcomed into the social circles and homes of ethnic friends and members of performing arts anyway. And then I continued wearing those exotic, slightly shimmering dresses to work until no one dared to question me on it... I had several Indian ladies on my side and responsible for my further learning!
Those little spritual encounters continue - any mantra involving Kali or Durga would have some kind of profound and obvious clue that "something" intimate and powerful is close by. Light breathing and snoring over my shoulder audible from impossible locations - there just can't be anyone under my mattress! My hair being flipped forwards and draped across my chest when there's no wind or movement in an enclosed space... the list goes on.
My life and career had definitely become much better with these alien, powerful mantras in a language I don't understand yet.
I started visiting a Hindu temple joining them for feasts and scripture classes, and will continue to do so. It helps me adopt a much more healthy diet (eating vedic food from prasadam feasts), and the other half of my free time spent learning, performing and perhaps someday, teaching Bollywood dance. A way better lifestyle than the introverted, fearful outlook of my former self, a corporate slave stuck in a world that has forgotten righteousness like some dystopian science fiction title...
But all that's history. I'm here to seek further learning and of course a place to share thoughts, should they be welcome. I am quite the wild thing just like the Goddess I serve...
