You Must Be New Here

On some unusually warm day back in February, my neighbor Himanchan and I sat in lawn chairs in the driveway chatting. We talked about her wedding, which involved celebrations in her home town, as well as her husband’s in another part of India. We looked at photos and talked about the beautiful traditions surrounding the occasion –the clothes and jewelry, the food, and the dancing. I barely remember the part of the conversation where I said that once upon a time, a long time ago, my favorite at-home workout had been Indian dance.

A few weeks later, Himanchan texted me a schedule and sign-up for an eight-week session to learn Bhangra, the traditional Punjabi form of folkdance. Classes began a couple of days after I received the text, and we rode together to a dance studio in Olathe. Before our class began, we waited outside of the studio with about a dozen moms of kids in the class that was just finishing. Everybody was Indian, except for me. I’m not sure what I expected, but I realized instantly that this was not a situation I usually find myself in now. As a kid, I stood out in my South Kansas City schools, since there were few kids who spoke another language or “looked different” or whose parents had immigrated, but these days I typically find myself in pretty diverse groups.

Once we took our spots in the class of seven adults, our teacher introduced himself, giving his background as a dancer and instructor. I’m not sure what made me stand out more – that I was the only non-Indian person in the room or that I was clearly the oldest by nearly 20 years. I’m a performer so I’ve gotten comfortable with people watching me, but this was different. Now I felt foolish that I second guessed my decision to join the class. In the end, I decided not to let the awkwardness I felt (mostly self-imposed) keep me from learning something new. I hope it’s the first of many opportunities to stretch and grow. 

Holy One, thank you for friendly neighbors and warm afternoons spent chatting in lawn chairs. Amen

Eli has four more sessions of her Bhangra class. After that, she plans to go back to performing, but only in the living room with her old tv dance teacher on Youtube.