Teaching

Teaching can be as tiring as it is rewarding. There are days when I want to tear my hair out and yet others when I am floating on a cloud. Some days are smooth as butter and others I feel like I'm in an inter-galactic war on the front lines. I guess that's expected when kids are involved. They come with several shades and personalities, driven a lot more by instinct than us adults. They constantly and creatively challenge you in ways that you never anticipate. They're always testing boundaries, observing carefully whether you follow your own rules, how to break them or get around them. Moments when you're their best friend in the whole world and others where they'd rather be not in your sight. They come with their fragile egos and competitiveness.

Bharatanatyam is physically and mentally challenging. To get kids to do something wears them down physically as well as mentally as the steps get harder and harder, yet keep them focussed and motivated through the complexity and help them understand the beauty of it all is quite an ordeal. But I'm learning everyday. I've never found myself more engaged as while I'm teaching, not even during my time in Amazon. I feel like my brain starts to smoke up, ears get hot at the end of a few hours. I find myself so involved that I forget my surroundings and the world around me.

As exhausting as it is, it is quite rewarding to pass to a younger generation an art form that uplifts my very being. Of course, only as they grow older and choose their own paths, will at least a handful of them experience the inner joy and decide that it's worth all the physical pain. It still seems worth it to wait patiently until that bulb goes off. To experience the bliss, to feel it transport you to a higher world, far from the gritty everyday plane that we physically exist on. For now though, it's enough that most of them are happy to dance.... the little joy they experience when they're told they did a step correctly..... the eagerness to learn the next one, despite all their shenanigans.

On a more personal front, I guess that's what parenting is like, only 24-7. On one hand, I'm probably more prepared for parenting than ever before after handling tons of kids every day through their tantrums, arguments, questioning, conflicts and of course the peaceful and fun times too. On the other hand, it makes me think harder about becoming a parent. Do I want that 24-7 as opposed to a few hours each day? Hmm.....