Namaste

Well, hello to whoever is reading this! I figured it would be sensible to explain what this blog is all about. Pour la joie de la danse is French and means “for the love of dance” and in essence that’s what this blog is going to be about; my love for dance. My hope is to write a blog about all of my experiences and inspirations as a dancer. I hope to write about performances I’ve both given and seen, those funny moments that only dancers will understand and basically how I’m trying to work my way through this fabulous and complex world that is dance.

So a little about me will help you understand why I write what I write. I’ve been learning Kathak under the guidance of my Guru, Anuradha Chaturvedi since 2008 and I’ve been studying Bharatanatyam under the guidance of my Guru, Ananya Chatterjee since 2011. I’m interested in a lot of different styles of dance but my passion, and subsequently what a lot of this blog will be about, is Indian classical dance. Something I’d like to bring to this blog too is the fact that I’m not Indian. I often find that we non-Indian Indian classical dancers fail to grasp a lot of small things that just seem second nature to most Indians. For example what is the significance of the moon and the sun that makes part of the Bharatanatyam dancers head piece? And why do some Kathak dancers touch their ghungroos to their heads before they wear them?

If this blog takes off then perhaps I shall get guest writers from amongst my dancer friends to come and share their stories, I might perhaps do some interviews with my gurus or other dancers. The possibilities are endless as they say. I shall also endeavour to include some quotes I like that either have to do with dance or spiritually, and today I shall leave you with this quote…

Image Credit: Project Moves Dance Company