The people of Sarangkot loved to dance. I would dance almost every night with Krishna's daughters: Prativa, Pramila, and Silina. Krishna would join in, too. Dancing is done at almost all the festivals. In fact, for one of them, Tihar (the festival of lights), children would go around in groups in the evening with little stereos and dance for you to Nepali music. You could join in, too, if you wanted. At the end, you would give them some rupees, and they would then be off to the next house in their little tour.
For the Teej Festival, Heidi (another volunteer) and I went to a nearby village. When they saw us dancing outside of the circle to practice our Nepali dancing, I guess they thought, "Sweet, white people doing our dance. Put them in the circle." So they pushed us through the crowds to the center to dance with a Nepali girl in front of 200 people while they sang. Krishna wanted me to stay afterwards to participate in the shotput competition to win him 500 rupees, but a gangfight broke out. The last things I remember seeing were a grandmother beating a teenage boy over the head with her umbrella and the town's future teller getting on stage to have a civil trial of some sort.
The video I have here for you is of one of the girls in Sarangkot dancing at Sarangkot Idol, a community singing competition put on by Krishna and his organisation, ACDF Nepal. The judges were tallying up their marks for the participants, and one of the guest singers decided to sing a song that is popularly used for dancing. So, this girl, a very good dancer, got up to dance for us all. The way she is dancing is pretty typical for the younger, energetic girls in Nepal. Older women will still use the same motions, just not as fast.
I think this is a wonderful little event that I got to be a part of. I was a guest of honor along with a Belgian man and his wife, who were helping build schools in the community. I was very lucky to have a camera at this event, and I hope you enjoy this very unique piece of culture.
