Monday, December 23, 2013

December thus far..

Just a little update on my December 2013 so far:

1) PhD Defense!: I successfully defended my PhD Dissertation, titled "The Debaprasad Das Lineage: Reconsidering the Narrative of Classical Indian Odissi Dance History" on December 13th, in the Dance Department at York University. Yes, on Friday the 13th! The defense was scheduled for 9:30 am on a Friday morning, and we received heavy snow that morning.  I have to admit, I was nervous and jittery for it, and hadn't slept the night before. As I walked into the room for the defense that morning, I realized that it was the same room as I had had my first class ever in Dance Ethnography back in 2006. It was a good feeling.

The defense went well, and the 2.5 hours didn't feel that long at all. This was the first doctoral defense in Dance in the department, the university, and also, I believe, in Canada. It was wonderful to be finished, and we had a lovely lunch at the department afterwards.

2) Reh'ma Intercultural Diversity Festival:  I performed at this event, held at the Noor Cultural Centre, exactly a week prior to my defense. I was happy to get away and dance for a bit, and truly enjoyed performing for this wonderful event and also watching the other performances here. I performed my Khalbeliya solo, as well as two pieces choreographed by Zingari Alejandra Garcia, whose unique choreographies engaged in dialoguing various genres with flamenco I hope to write about sometime soon.


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