Date: 24th May
Venue: Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi
Event: Shiamak Davar Summer Funk dance performance
"Short skirts, pretty legs...pretty legs..pretty legs"..this statement aptly describes the day (atleast for me). Never in my life had i seen so many AWESOME girls at one place. And the best part was that i could go and talk to just about anyone and say,"Hi, which song are you performing on?"...and the conversation started ranging from discussing the instructors, upcoming batches, etc.
Bd and I were part of DLF Gurgaon adult beginners batch. We were performing Shahrukh Khan starrer Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi medley. Around 30 people in the batch. We reached the audi at 8:30 AM. Atmosphere there was absolutely amazing. One could feel the energy in the air. Everyone ranging from 3-4 year kids to an 80 year old (yeah, you read that right) was excited to the core. Group leaders were holding placards for their respective groups. The rehearsals started around 9:30. There were 30 odd different songs on which students performed. Apart from regular students there were few special children (disabled) which were part of many performances. Their enthusiasm, smile on their faces when they performed, clapping of hands, etc. was really touching.
Our rehearsal came around 11. We had a total of 3 minutes of stage time. I had missed a class during the course and was a little shaky when it came to the part of song taught in that class. This was rather strange because i had practiced it like 10-15 times in the class. Despite that i was at ease during the entire song except for that 15 second sequence.
We all screwed up big time the moment we got on the stage. We had both sides entry i.e we entered both from left and right. The class room in which we practiced was a 10 by 20 room. Stage was a 15 by 35. We just didn't adjust to the bigger stage area and ended up crashing into each other. The show co-ordinator kept shouting from the front of the stage to "space out" but we kept on performing. From being in the 3rd line at the start, i used to move to front line for the second half and the part which i used to forget was in this second half only. The moment i came to front i forgot everything. From there on it was looking at left, right and on the floor for me. Overall we did ok types as a group and i was a -1 on a scale of 10.
After the rehearsal we re-grouped, discussed what had gone wrong and had a good laugh over it.
We were to perform twice on the stage. Show 1 was at 12:30 and show 2 at 5:30. We went to perform at around 3:30. This time everything went well. We spaced out from start, i didn't forget anything and after the performance our instructors Janaki and Neumen told us that we had done really well. We just had to smile a little more.
Second performance took place at 7. This was our final performance. Everyone was pumped up and it went very very well. We all came out screaming and giving high-5s to each other.
This was about our show. Now about the performers. The stars of our batch were my beloved BD and a Mrs. X (Name not disclosed). X was nearly 50 years old with a daughter of our age. BD and X were dance partners. Everytime before going on stage, BD and X could be seen rehearsing their steps. Actually there was a 10-15 second spot where everyone else apart from BD and X were sitting down. Bd and X performed a solo at that point. So they would rehearse endlessly during practice classes and before going on the stage.
One couldn't help but feel the romance in the air. One could clearly see a gentle caressing of hands when they would hold hands, looking into each other's eyes, gently re-assuring each other that are doing fine, occasional laughs exchanged when X would get tired due to her age and BD due to immense energy spent trying to control himself. BD was beaming with joy all along with his partner-of-choice and no wonder was always commented by our instructor,"Ajay is the one who is always smiling. Very good ajay".
Though i have at times wondered whether BD was thinking about junior X all this while. If so then i feel sorry for X; for while X was putting her best efforts trying to get BD's attention, BD haramkhor was looking at X with lecherous eyes looking for X's daughter's shadow in her eyes. In that case though i must appreciate the way BD handled this sensitive situation without ever offending X and savouring the voyeuristic pleasure all along.
As for me, i had the cherry of the class with me as partner. I had decided that i would ask her out on the last day but eventually decided to continue my 25-year no-girlfriend fast.
While driving back, i got a taste of BD's driving skills. A couple of times, we had to take a left turn. BD would keep on driving in the middle of the road, thinking that he will turn left when it is required, only to be honked out of way by a speeding cab from left and we would miss the turn. What would follow was a swearing at Delhi's traffic and never ending wait for a u-turn. Bd did eventually succeed in getting us back to Gurgaon. Journey back took us around 90 minutes, something that required only 45-50 minutes.
Posts
