You know that feeling when you have something in your life and you take it for granted, and then when you lose it temporarily or permanently, you feel bad about it?
Yeah, this happened to me recently with Kathak dance.
I was dancing last weekend and while doing spins on my left leg there was a jerk and a twist on my knee and my leg suddenly gave way. After that there was a little pain but I continued dancing since only a few minutes were remaining. Then at night, I couldn't even put weight on my left leg.
On Monday I was diagnosed with a ligament injury and told not to dance for the next 20 days and take rest. Suddenly I realized that this is the first time in over 7 odd years that I am taking a break from dance. Otherwise, every weekend I used to be on the dance floor with my class or even self-practicing. This was a strange feeling and I realized how much I love dancing and being able to do that beautiful art.
Before I got injured I was discussing my classical background with a friend who also belongs to the same background and I was telling him how being a classical music student since I was 6 years old has helped me shape who I am. Here are a few things which i think have really helped me-
* Discipline: anyone who has been a classical student, when you ask them one take-away from it, they will say- its the discipline. My gurus have been very strict. About time, about my presentation, about practice. This discipline which I have got from classical has helped me to carry over in my professional life as well. I try not to be late for any appointments with my patients, I am present on most days except for when I am not well and I am always presentable.
* Dedication: it takes a good number of years to be even 5% good at classical and you need to be dedicated and consistent at it. This has helped me a lot to be patient in my professional and personal life as well. Whether it is about my growth as a content creator on instagram or even as a physiotherapist.
* The concept of being “tired”: my kathak teacher - smt. Mamta Deshmukh has never tolerated us saying the word “tired” in class. However exhausted or fatigued we are, she has never accepted our excuses and always pushed us beyond it. This has helped us to become pretty hard-core.
* Practice, practice, practice: A LOT of time and energy goes into learning just ONE step in this dance and it is practiced again and again until it is perfect. Lots of takes go into creating one video for me on social media and creating one post takes a lot of time as well. But once it is done, it is almost close to perfect.
* Learning slowly: When we learn a new step- we do it at a slow tempo for our brain to adjust to the eye- hand coordination and learn it. This is also so that the step is first learnt in the correct manner. Once we get the hang of it, the speed is very slowly increased until we are at par with it. That alone can take a few months to do. So I have realized that directly jumping on to fast paced things can keep the foundation very weak. It's best to first take things slowly when you are learning something and then make it faster.
So, that is it about my experience with learning classical and how it has helped me to shape who I am. If you are also a classical student then do share your experiences with me and we can have a nice chat about it :).
Also, no recommendations this time because I realized the blog is already quite long this time. Have a great week ahead guys. See you all next weekend.
