Last Updated on March 11, 2020 by AIFS Abroad
Taking Classical Indian Dance in Hyderabad, India.
For International Education Week, we asked our Generation Study Abroad Scholarship recipients to share their story. What does international education look like? How has it impacted you? This is Maggie’s story:
If you had told me when I arrived in India that, four months in, I’d be performing a classical Indian dance onstage in front of the entire university, I probably would have laughed at you. I do not like to dance, I do not know how to dance, and I would not be caught dead dancing on stage.
However, this is where I somehow found myself last night: onstage, dancing Kuchipudi along with five of my classmates in the annual SIP Cultural Night. As anxious as I was for the performance, it surprisingly went a lot better than expected: 24 classes along with many extra hours spent stomping in the common room (probably annoying everyone to death with the sound of our bells) definitely paid off.
Will I be taking to the stage again soon to show off what I’ve learned? Probably not. Was taking Kuchipudi one of the best decisions I’ve made thus far here in India? Absolutely.
International education is getting the opportunity to take “Introduction to Kuchipudi Dance,” a classical and traditional dance of South India. The class itself took literal blood, sweat, and tears, but it was all worth it after we presented an 11-minute dance at the SIP Cultural Show, and heard our professor say how proud of us she was.
See more pictures and read Maggie’s full post here.
