Nrityagram

So I was sitting there in this bar and this guy came up to me and he said, “my life stinks.” And I saw his gold credit card and I saw the way that he was looking at people across the room and I looked at his face, and you know what a good-looking face, I just said, “dude - your perspective on life sucks.”

Ok those were just the lyrics to a Mika song, but I needed an interesting way to open the blog. When I told someone that I was going to India, she told me to go to her if I needed any ideas of places to go... unfortunately, I couldn’t take her up on her offer. I’m not sightseeing or touring, so I would hate to have a checklist of attractions staring at me unchecked. Ergo, this blog is dedicated to photos of the dance village/school at which we are staying for a month.

This is our rehearsal room where we spend most of the hours of the day.

The floor leaves a distinct red colour on the soles of your feet... known as “Nrityagram Feet.”

A little owl that decided to visit us... he was hurt and couldn’t fly so someone here kept him for a few days until he was better. Affectionately named “Mr. Boom” (boom is Dari Persian for owl).

The bed in my hut. Big bed. Luxurious, really.

My shower and bucket.

This is where they were filming the Bollywood Avatar about a ten minute walk away. We went to see how it was going and this was on the walk back after they had packed up.

One of the actors, Abdul Haq, following the text during rehearsal.

During a scene read-through.

As above.

This is a great scene. Come to the Globe May 30th and 31st to see it.

They grow all of the food we eat here at Nrityagram. So much green.

The courtyard that leads to the houses of Nrityagram’s owner and her family.

Path leading down to our lunch area.

My hut! Comes with minimal salamanders, cathedral ceiling, and refreshingly cool shower water!

The entrance to a performance space they are in the process of making. This was a few seconds before I accidentally awoke about a dozen bats from their slumber.

A view of the space.

This place is quite idyllic in one sense of the word.

The amphitheatre! We hold run-throughs here to emulate what it will be like in the Globe (sort of).

We run them at 5:00pm, when it is just starting to cool down and when the sun doesn’t want to eat you alive.

A great place, really. I wish my university had one of these.

The main eating/living area. The actors and members of the production team live in the rooms here. Just the musicians and myself are 2 minutes away in the huts.

Not really sure what this is.

Sorry, I want to take every opportunity to show off and stress how lush this place is. I feel like I’m in the Great Valley.

Where we eat our lunches.

It looks less hot than it actually is. But in all honesty, the heat isn’t that bad our here in the country.

So there are the long-awaited pictures. I’m sorry that I didn’t put them up sooner, but I’m not entirely sorry. I’m busy and would have liked to get them up earlier, but this way I kept you in suspense, right? I don’t blame you for wanting some though, pictures are the best way to get an idea of the experience... and I wish I was sharing this experience with someone I knew from home. It feels selfish to be doing this myself. Ok. This is going to take a bit to upload, so I’ll start now.