Dance classes or Wednesday Addam's dance classes?
Bengali community in India, where culture and action go hand in hand. I'm part of this active community and you won't believe how our parents guide us. They sign us up for all sorts of classes like music, art, dance, you name it. Back in my childhood, this was common. But times have changed! Nowadays, parents plan their kids' engineering careers even before they learn to walk. Talk about aiming high from the start!
Now, let me share my own story. I won’t say I’m super special, but I’ve always liked singing, painting, and reciting poetry. But here’s the twist, when it comes to any physical activities or sports, I am an absolute disaster! At the age of 9 or 10 years, I used to make a lot of crafts or enjoyed spending time with my cats. I was a quiet kid who preferred staying at home, taking care of my chubby cheeks, not-so-flat tummy, and overall cute look.
Then, something weird happened. I had some stomach troubles because they said I was "too active" (that’s kind of funny!). The doctor suggested I do physical activities that would keep me fit. My mom loves dancing, and she was excited to put me in Bharatnatyam, a traditional Indian dance. I was excited too! I imagined myself twirling in pretty clothes with jingly ankle bracelets . I got a new outfit for class and some musical anklets called Ghungroo. The first few weeks were tiring but fun. Learning something new was cool, and practicing dance moves at home with my mom was even better.
Now, let's jump to Wednesdays or should I say ' Wednesday Addam's' dance class es. After school, my mom took me to the dance school for a 6 pm class. We started with exercises that felt like a mini workout. Then came the "Mudras," special hand moves. And here's the funny part, most of the dance steps involved squatting, which also came with extra exercises. The teachers used to roll their eyes if we messed up and sometimes scolded badly. And let me tell you, the day after those dance classes felt like getting over a tough gym session.
Now for the funny part. I wasn’t exactly thrilled about dancing like a pro every day. But I thought practicing a few times a week was a good idea.It was something like , you are not getting interested in a subject but still you are studying it for the exams. Truth be told, my dance moves weren’t even half perfect, and I wasn’t super into it. Slowly, my Wednesday dance classes felt like I was living a not-so-exciting version of myself. I’d wait for Wednesday to end, week after week.
I kept going to those classes for about 2 years, keeping my complaints quiet. I knew my mom wouldn’t make me do something I didn’t like. But stopping felt like it might hurt her a bit. But fate had other plans. One day, we got home late after practicing for a dance event , around 10:30 pm instead of 9:30 pm. My dad, who is not only dominating but toxic too, got unnecessarily angry and created havoc. He announced that we couldn’t be late again. After talking it over, my mom decided it was time to stop the dance classes.
Looking back, I admit I wanted to stop earlier, but I didn't expect it to end like this. It hurt me to hurt my mom. Years later, I now find a bit of interest in freestyle and Kathak dance. Here's the funny part, I'm still not the smoothest dancer. But this time I would like to join dance classes, because of my love towards it. Like they say, "We dance to express, not to impress."
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Please share your own opinion about this post and definitely share your own experiences relevant to any extra curricular classes you took that you didn’t enjoy! 💙♥️
