Growing Up Gupta

For some of us, dancing is not a skill we have mastered. I personally consider myself to be a fairly good dancer.  Conversely, when it came time to put my dancing skills to use at my first Indian party I had no idea what to expect or what I was doing.  I had never danced to Indian music before. However, I had watched Indian women in Bollywood movies majestically steal men’s hearts with their moves.

DANCING TO INDIAN MUSIC, THE “HOT MESS”
The day of my first party, it seemed as if all the Indian women were Bollywood aficionados in comparison to me. My eyes swept across the room looking for approval on how I was lifting my arms, placing my index finger and thumb together, shifting my hips, and gliding my feet across the dance floor.  All while attempting to keep my dupatta (long multi-purpose scarf) from dragging on the floor.  I felt like I must have looked a hot mess but my boyfriend was smiling and so I went with it.  Since, I felt so out of place I continued to seek out approval in the faces of those that I was dancing around and continually shift what I was doing to imitate them.

Yes, it was unnerving.  I thought I finally mastered what to do and then another song would come on and now the majority of the people were dancing differently around me. What to do?  Of course, I quickly imitated what I saw again.   Then I decided to stop, fix my dupatta, and watch my boyfriend.  Whom to my bewilderment had “stolen the spotlight” with his singing, jumping, and heartfelt dance moves.  This link shows how he stole the show.

THE MAKING OF A BOLLYWOOD STAR

After the dancing was over we went and sat down at our table and I secretly began studying the different moves that the other ladies were making. Keen to improve even more and do a better job of dancing at my next Indian party I had my boyfriend bring us more Bollywood videos to watch and I studied them.

When we had to go to our next Indian party I was ready. Hands ready (check), fingers in place (check), hips ready (check), mind ready (check), cute Indian outfit(check), okay feet let’s get to moving and I danced with confidence for the remainder of the night.

CRAZY IN LOVE….Beyoncé, didn’t have anything on me, just kidding!

Later, I even became confident enough with dancing to Indian music that I performed a dance for my husband to be (technically we were already married–more to come on this) at our Sangeet.  I studied the lyrics to some Indian songs and memorized them along with the dance moves thanks to some Bollywood videos.  My husband and attendees at our Sangeet were in awe.