Coimbatore by conquest

Last weekend, eighteen of our students traveled with a handful of volunteers to Coimbatore on the western edge of Tamil Nadu. They had been invited to perform three dances at a business convention, where the audience numbered in the thousands. The kids' poise and professional performance was at the same time staggering and deeply moving. There they were, my kids, on a big stage.

Keep in mind that these children hail from one-roomed hovels and that many of their parents are illiterate.

It all provided a small glimpse of the many other feats of grandeur that lie ahead of us. And it reminded me to more frequently lift my gaze from the humdrum school goings-on and to recognize how far we've come.


Left to right (more or less!): Theresa, Vinodhini, Ambiga, Soniya, Savitha, Vijayalakshmi, Shalini, Manodhaya, Malavika, Megala, and Gracy




And our dear boys: Joseph, Arun, Vimalkanth, Ashok, Krishnamoorthy, Deepenraj, and C. Vignesh




These students are the members of LifeDance, which is our school's dance troupe. Admittance is by audition and they practice five or six times a week after school. Although they've only been together for about a year and a half, they have made remarkable progress and are always a delight to watch. 

Before the big night, queuing up for gel. Our volunteer Derek serves as stylist.

Vinodhini and Gracy performed a traditional southern Indian dance, called Bharatanatyam. Vinodhini's only twelve.

Joseph and Vimal.

Handsome Deepenraj was in charge of the music, a duty he took very seriously and executed with aplomb.

Rehearsal a few hours before the show. Here's Shaun, who made it all possible. He choreographed the dances and prepared the kids for the show with less than a week's notice. We are all indebted to him for his vision and gifted teaching.

Finally, memorable personalities from the road (which, after all, lasted a seemingly interminable eleven hours):

Krishnamoorthy's father, whom we encountered on the roadside. Our route just happened to take us by his village. He was so proud of his son. 

Me! Demonstrating what to do in rural India where customers are not provided with silverware (my table mates, by the way, informed me that I was not eating adroitly at all, as I had thought, and that my high elbow is anything but graceful. So much for the proud smile).

Vimal, who never passes on a chance to be photographed. As our diet at the school is largely vegetarian, chicken's a big deal.

And others whose story you will have to imagine or conjecture...