The Injury Although you wouldn’t know it by looking at any pictures taken, there’s definitely one dance that’s the most prominent in my memory. To be completely honest, I don’t remember the dance itself. However, I can tell you in vivid detail about the moments that occurred right before the dance started and as soon as it ended. I remember sitting in the third row of seats in the auditorium with the group of girls performing with me. Since we all started Bharatnatyam around the same time, and we were all around the same age, we always danced together. Because of this, we became a tight-knit group of friends, often joking around together. That is what we were doing as we sat in those auditorium seats, waiting for our turn to perform. We were young; I was only eight. How could we be expected to sit through hours of classical performances? So instead, we took to whispering among ourselves quietly, our heads all huddled together as if we were plotting something sinister. We thought we were as cool as the older kids, with our hair done up, our makeup all fancy and those lavish costumes. The fans stretched out between our legs, opening as we went into something akin to a plie—the
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gold detailing on the bands wrapping up our legs over the shoulder. I remember our startled looks when one of the moms approached, only to be relieved when she was just telling us that we were to go backstage. I looked over at my friends, wondering where they were putting their shoes, asking if they would leave their shoes under their seats or carry them backstage. Now shoes may not seem like a significant detail but believe me, they were a major faux pas in the Bharatnatyam world. If there’s one thing you should know about Bharatanatyam, it’s that you should never wear any sort of footwear. I’m not entirely sure of the reason why, but it is very offensive to wear your shoes into a Bharatnatyam studio, let alone dance in them. In fact, you aren’t even allowed to wear socks when you dance; the only acceptable footwear is your bare feet. All of my friends decided to leave their shoes under their chairs, and honestly, looking back, I should have done the same. However, I was a prissy little girl who didn’t want to get her feet dirty in the unhygienic hallways of the
