I can’t dance – it was one of those facts that I knew to be the basis of the observable universe. At weddings when everyone else danced, I would volunteer to take pictures. So when I came to Clark, for my first two years I shied away from performing at Gala. But it was kind of hard, especially with over 300 students being involved in the whole process.
This year, inspired by stories and endless re-watching of last year’s videos, I finally signed up for Gala. At first, I thought I would only be able to handle one dance, and so I signed up for Ghana, but my friend, who was the choreographer, talked me into dancing for Morocco. I had little idea of what was going to come, in the first month of practice, when we would meet once a week and I would get away with barely dancing.
Morocco on stage
(Source: Jay Rajan, ISA)
Ghana on stage
(Source: Rachel Gray, ISA)
Before I knew it, it was the middle of March, and we descended into a sort of March madness. The choreographers, solely responsible for whipping me to shape, turned out to be people with enormous patience, as always in the middle of a perfect routine I would be the one to glitch out and forget everything. I would watch the videos from practice and see that I have no clue about the order of movements, flailing around, blindly following others, and always half a second late.
Then came hell week, with up to 5 hours of practice every day, and two check-ins that brought out new fears in me. I had crippling stage fright, and so I improvised new tricks every day to overcome it, such as not wearing my glasses so that I can’t see the audience, or staring up at the lights until they blinded me. At the same time, I felt a real desire to help make the dances really good. All of a sudden, this was not just something I was doing for the experience. I felt like a dancer, and wanted the dance to be flawless.
Behind the scenes
(Source: Nicolas Lee, ISA)
But of course, life is not like the TV show Glee. I did not become an amazing dancer overnight. Realistically, what was important is that I learned the dance well enough to not stand out too much and ruin it for everyone else. And then it was only on the day of the event itself that I understood the appeal of Gala. The squash courts where the dancers stay before going up on stage had a palpable energy. There were people in strange costumes, acting in a way that would make you think you’re in the middle of a town square in Ancient Rome.
And in the middle of this riot, I felt comfortable. My previous self-consciousness faded away to be replaced by anticipation for the moment we would be on stage. I was doing something I had never done before, and I felt as though I had really challenged myself to learn something new, like dancing. That feeling remained until my best friend from home called me up and said “I saw you throwing your limbs around on stage”. But at least I could reply, “I had fun doing it”.
