Performance and last week

So my group performed today. It actually went really well. It felt good, and I had fun performing it. We received great feedback from many of you all, which made me feel even better about our performance. I am especially proud of my group because we did not have anyone in our group that had performed in the Ramayana. I also enjoyed the other group's performance today. I look forward to the remaining three groups' performances.

I especially want to blog about something that occurred last week. Francis was very disappointed when many of us were not acting as he was during the singing of the song that Nimish taught us. This upset me. I am not Hindu, so I cannot say for sure what the purpose of the song is or even how one is suppose to treat it within the context of the religion. However, to me it is a song of meditation, not one of body movements and outward celebration. I don't mean to offend, but it the inward expression of spirituality is also how I often act in the religion I was raised. I feel that the fact that I internalized the song did not take away from my sense of community. We were all still singing the same song, which is awesome in itself. I will admit I have been more focused on saying it correctly, than treating it as a prayer or meditation, but I don't feel that my actions, or lack there of, should have been disappointing. My instinct in response to singing the song is to stay quiet and focus on the words and meaning, rather than expressing celebration outwardly. My not participating in moving my hands besides clapping is not an indication that I am uncomfortable. However, I do apologize that I did not speak up with this opinion after Francis expressed his, which perhaps would have created more understanding for all of us. After all, I do feel like for the limited time all 40 of us have spent together, we have become a community. 40 people is a huge group and we do only see each other twice a week. I am proud of how far we have come despite the obstacles of time and size of our group.