Power of the mind exceeds limits and breaks restricting walls set by the physical body. Harnessing this power in circumstances important to oneself, helps bring out what is best. Through the course of a Bharatanatyam tour of the US and Canada, I picked up this skill among others. A part of an ensemble of eight dancers, a sound person and a light designer, I travelled across the US and Canada to various prestigious venues this October and November. Long, tiring journeys, hotels, airports, homes of organizers and hosts, green rooms, the continuing backstage drama, pre-performance stress and pressure, packed theaters, the loud blinding beam of lights, 'state-of-the-art' stages, multiple standing ovations, unmissable post-performance adrenaline high, photo sessions with 'fans', critics, friends and colleagues, unpacking, repacking and packing off within a matter of minutes to a whole new experience - 'a life, as I began to know it'. (whaddup movie reference!)
Very often our dance company would have to perform continuously, without even a day's gap, at cities separated by huge distances. For example, we had our first show in Portland on the evening of the day we had arrived from India. Jet-lagged, with a terrible cold, I climbed up the stage and managed to pull off a decent act. The next day, after a brief stay in Washington DC, we flew to Austin for a show the same evening. We landed in Austin at around noon, collected all of 13 big suitcases from the carousel and set out to perform at five in the evening at a venue that was located a few hours away from the airport. All of us were hungry and exhausted to say the least. To share a little secret, just for your ears, one of the principal dancers of the crew had missed her flight to join us there. Therefore, the stress of covering for her was looming on our teacher's mind. Don't worry, you can breathe a sign of respite now just like all of us in the company did then when we saw her at the dressing room - she arrived well in time for the show, somehow. It was close to four by the time we reached the theater. Being our second show, we were inexperienced at slathering make-up onto our faces, doing our hairstyle and dressing up in less than an hour - usually we would take close to two! Somehow, given our constraints, we managed to go up on stage just in time - fact is, people in the US are just quite the punctual bunch unlike most audiences in India. Let me present to you the 'harsh reality' of our state at the time. We stood near the wings, in absolute darkness, with no time to warm up. Not surprisingly, even we tried to warm-up and stretch, our bodies just would not budge. And there we stood, half a minute away from getting on stage. I was getting worked up - how, in all probability, would I be able to perform for the next two hours if warming-up itself seemed a Herculean task. I breathed deep and calmed down. I had only one thing to focus on for the next two hours - my dance. Through the performance, I relied entirely on mental power to push my body - I worked with my mind and pulled off a great show.
Multiple standing ovations rang through the theatre during the curtain call. The show was a great success.
