Date night!

We scoured the listings for cultural events this month. There were few options available for the day we had already selected, until we came across one. Danza Barata Natyam. Classical Indian (East India, not Western Hemisphere indigenenous) dancing. The interest in this event seemed largely one-sided, but it has as a motivating factor that it was available the day we wanted, in the schedule that was open to us, and was free. So we went.

We met up at the metro station closest to the theater hall. Since we were considerably early, we had time to walk around and see the other things that were nearby. This included a Lagoon (which seemed much more like a small lake) for rowing boats and expressly not for swimming notwithstanding the several dozen people doing precisely that. There were museums, a football field, a Catholic chapel, and lots and lots of very tall trees. Outside one of the museums, close to the Lagoon, were some columns. These were ideal for the creation of statues, hence the two statues that we created ourselves. See the pictures for yourself.

We almost couldn't find the building for the dance. We saw an outdoor theater that had been erected and heard music emanating from it, so we directed ourselves towards it to see if that was the proper location. It was not, but the gentleman who was standing guard was able to point us in the proper direction. We arrived in time to find a nice seat and all that, but the doors didn't open until the time that the dance was supposed to begin. As we waited outside, we saw the other people who had come to see the dance. Whoa. This is what we both thought. Neither of us were dressed like they were. We aren't the artsy sort, apparently. We felt somewhat out of place, like this wasn't our social niche. Which it isn't. We stayed just the same. We found some decent seats and watched as the program proceeded.

It was awesome! The ladies who danced were all very modestly dressed, which we noticed. In addition to that, the dance techniques focused deeply on rhythmic movements and facial gestures. The dancers smiled for most of the dances, and moved their eyes a lot. The dances were all part of prayers towards Hindi gods, all of them a part of adoration towards higher beings. It was quite beautiful. We felt out of place clapping, so we didn't until after the program ended and the dancers came out. It just felt weird to clap after someone's prayer.

Tamra, you'd have liked it. It was awesome. Not quite the Baliwood style, but still very neat.
Here are some pictures that we were able to take after the dancing, when the ladies came out to receive their applause.