Today Jr. performed at the Pushpanali Dance Academy's annual day. She has been learning for at least 8 years now and has been practicing when she gets a chance. She loves to dance and she has come to a realization that her performing is directly proportional to the practice!
She did pose for photos before the performance (now that I have studio lights set up!) and there were some good shots during her performance..
Kept thinking about my sister today because Jr. is a splitting image of my baby sister!
Here is a video with a few snippets of the 10 minute Thillana performance..
and a few photos that were taken in between shooting video snippets!
My baby is a big girl now! As a dad it is not an easy thing to accept.. but I will go through the learning curve and hopefully get on the other side of that curve soon!
The little one has been learning the violin for one more year. She has definitely grown in confidence and has improved in spite of not practicing enough (we agree, her teacher agrees and most importantly, she agrees!)
Here are some photos and a video snippet from the Winter Recital from the Music school.
There was a big surprise at the recital! Haik, who had come to the US to play on Sunday to a sold out concert came to encourage the students.
Imagine you are warming up in your schools playground and suddenly the gym teacher says "kids, I have a little surprise for you. Usain Bolt happens to be a family friend and he is here to show you how he runs the 100m and will also answer questions on how he trains and anything else you might want to ask him and you can take pictures with him after the recital! " In violin terms, that is what happened !
The kids loved it. They also saw "how easy" it was to play like that if you practice for only 25 years!
We enjoyed the evening with the little one doing her recital without mistakes and Haik's little cameo. Next year, if she practices well, the little one might be going on to doing more nuanced pieces. We wait with bated breath...
It feels like yesterday when Jr. was complaining about the blog being all about her baby sister and how her birth and early life was not detailed here.. and to appease her I made this video
and it feels like day before yesterday that those events in the video happened !
Before we realized it, this little girl is all grown up and is now going to high school.
In a space of two weeks we saw her do a Bharatanatyam performance with her dance school, get glasses, do a solo with pros thanks to her Saxophone teacher, do a band performance at school, get a distinguished student award, look way cooler than her daddy and walk graduation!
This girl who is now into signature posing.. continues to impress us with her perseverence and work ethic!
Her teacher had some nice things to say about her and told me that Anjana would make a great teacher. Think her school teacher grandma will be very proud!
The highlight of this week though was that both kids graduated from their respective schools and are moving on to new schools. It was great not to just watch Jr. but all her friends graduate. All these kids we have seen grow along with Jr. over the last 9 years, practically as an extended family!
The smile on her face says it all. There is a confidence, an assertiveness, a certain independence that we are seeing now that was not there last year. It is reassuring to see her go through this phase at this age. By comparison I was a clueless kid till the age of 18. The kids in the US may not be pushed hard enough compared to how we were 30 years ago in India when it comes to Math, Physics or Chemistry (my perception) but they are surely getting a more well rounded education with a better perspective on how what they learn is going to change things in the future for them and everyone (again my perception).
Recently a guy in Asia gave me a compliment "you look like you are 46-47 years old!" . He thought it was underestimating my age. I did not say anything and just smiled.
Compared to the 13 year old, I do look 45 when I am 43, and for once, I am okay with it, because I am now "cool" by association!
They say when you feel time go by fast, you are happy and when you feel time stands still, you are not in a good place. Thirteen years flew by!
Credit to Jr. for making us proud and happy. I can already imagine writing a post on Jr. going to college. Hope she does well in high school as well over the next four years..
