The spark and Initial reactions

One fine day when I was talking to my mom over the phone, I blurted out - “Amma, I'm taking dance lessons!”. It was one of the things I vowed to never tell my mom, but my excitement got the better of me and it just came out. An immediate,“Are you learning Bahrata Natyam ? (Bharata Natyam is an Indian classical dance that Originated in Tamil Nadu – India, that is performed solo mostly)Thats good for you” followed. I replied “No - its Ballroom! Western dance as you know it ma“. After a pause, she managed, “Are you dancing with girls? Who are the other people (she meant other desi guys) going with you ?”. I replied “Yes and it's just me.” After a longer pause, she asked “Are the other ladies / women you dance with - Indian ?” I said “NO”. This time there was a longer pause. It seemed like with every answer of mine, I was ripping off a layer of my mom's comfort zone. She finally cried out “What have you done son ? Why ?” I was stumped and a little confused .... what did I do ?

I guess I cannot blame her. I am from South India, that too from Madras(a conservative part of India). Being raised in a conservative family, My dad was skeptical of the idea of me casually interacting with girls. A sudden jump from that kind of a setup to socially dancing with “foreign” women was a big jump for my mom to digest. It was a big jump for me at the beginning too. I still do not have answers as to why would someone like me would get into something totally out of character like ballroom dance. But this is how it all started.

It was a few months into my first job as a software engineer (Around September of 2005). I felt a growing hollow by the day on the inside as the only thing that I had was my job. Nothing bad was happening, at the same time there was nothing interesting to do after work. An everyday routine was pretty much 9 to 10 hours at office, picking up fast food and a couple of DVD rentals on the way home and watching it over dinner and even before I realized, another day passed and I felt like I was a passive spectator to my life. Just like any other weekend me and a friend went to a random club just like that. Coincidentally, there was a salsa band playing there. All of a sudden, two Asian, a middle eastern / Indian (I thought he was probably from the Middle East but later he turned out to be Indian as well) and a Chinese guy stepped out of the shadows and started dancing. I was surprised to see Asians on the dance floor and both were really smooth and graceful and I was simply mesmerized looking at them dance. It was fantastic to watch them in full flow. It seemed to me like when they were dancing, there were in a different state – reaping utmost joy a moment could offer. Moreover, when they started dancing, the whole (dance) floor emptied out and it was just the two of 'em stealing the spotlight with their partners and the whole club was cheering for them. Suddenly, I could feel blood rush in the veins of my forearm. In a flash, a hidden switch in my head turned ON. I could see myself in the shoes of the other two guys. For the first time in my life, out of the blue, I wanted to dance.

I actually danced with a 7 Time World Champion.

When I started dancing, I surprised myself and a lot of other people as I had never really imagined myself on a dance floor and Ballroom Dancing ??? Definitely not. No one else in my family was into any kind of dance.I was getting pretty good at it and in around 6 months of dancing, my instructor asked me to compete. I was never really interested in competing but my instructor was really leaning towards it. So I enrolled in the upcoming Contest, freestyle round. (This is a style where you do not have to prepare a routine and it just impromptu stuff). I was going to compete in 6 dances – all freestyle.

It was the first time I was ever competing and I would say I was nervous at the beginning. But surprisingly, I did not make a mess of the first dance. By the second and third I was pretty confident and actually did a pretty decent job. Everything did not go well as there was this dance called Viennese Waltz. It is pretty fast dance and all the songs to which I had danced before were pretty slow. I just realized that when I was performing and I'd say it was a disaster. Then came my favorite dance, the salsa. I was at my awesome best and all the new moves that I had learned the day before were executed to perfection. The instant the song got over I knew that I had a winning performance. It was a great feeling to get things right, that too in front of an audience, without much practice. (To me it was something big). I'd say I was ecstatic.

There was a formal lunch and after that in the evening, there were casual dances. I would say that I was dancing my heart off that day. I was taking a break between dances and all of a sudden a lady walked up to me and asked me for a dance and I started dancing with her. At that time I was relatively new to dance but could definitely say she was exceptionally good. After the song she complemented the way I lead her and walked away.

The next day my instructor called me for a critic session by a 7 time world champion. So I went to the studio and when it was my turn, I opened the door to enter the room where she was and was shocked and surprised. I just realized that the exceptionally good lady I had danced with the previous day was a 7 time world champion. I was still recovering from the surprise. She interrupted my thoughts saying, “You were good yesterday.” I said,“Thank you”. “How long have you been dancing ?”, she asked. I said “Six months”. “Thats a lot you have learned in 6 months”, she said. I wasn't sure if my ears were playing tricks with me, but I did not try to analyze anything, took the compliment and replied, “Thank you”. It turned out that I got the best score in 2 of the dances. Then she said, “Dancing with you was fun yesterday”. I somehow managed,”Had I known that you were a 7 time champion, my feet would have gotten stuck to the floor”. She had a good laugh over that. We later discussed some improvement based technical issues (that I still find very helpful today) to end the session.

When I think about it today, I still find it had to believe that I had actually danced with a seven time world champion. To end on a philosophical note, I'd say that life is sometimes not that complicated as it looks from the outside.