Indian Hip-Hop Ballet

By Caroline F.

A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to perform a ballet piece. I was really excited because Megan McCool, a choreographer whom I really like, was creating the dance for us. I was excited also because performing onstage is the best part of ballet and is something that dancers my age need to take advantage of. However, when I heard what the piece was for, my excitement lowered; it was for an Indian beauty pageant, Miss India of CT, 2010. First of all, we are in the USA, not India. Second of all, it was a beauty pageant. Really? In spite of that, when I was given the full description of what we were doing, I decided to give it a try. The dance was a “cultural fusion” of ballet, classical Indian dance, and hip-hop, and we had dancers from all categories collaborating and working together. I didn’t think that the piece, Mere Dholna Sun, was going to work or come together by the show—but let me tell you, it did. The audience at the Palace Theater in Stamford, CT, went wild. They were clapping and shouting, and we got a sanding ovation. A group of the Indian singers even told McCool that it was the best part of the show. Despite all of this, and the fact that lots of people stopped by our dressing room to congratulate and compliment us, I didn’t realize the importance or significance of what I had just participated in. It dawned on me only when we were invited to perform the dance three more times: for the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) state conference in Stamford, CT, for an international Indian cultural organization in New York, NY, and for the United Nations in New York, NY. I was dumbfounded—how could all of these big organizations, especially the United Nations, want the negligible little Ballet School of Stamford to perform for their big events? It is quite an honor to have had our dancing so highly recognized, and these performances and recognitions give lots of much needed publicity to my ballet school as well as have us give back to the community. I now realize that evryone’s got to take advantage of every single opportunity that is thrown at him or her, because it could turn out to be a lot more significant than you would think.