Twenty Travels: Answered Prayers: Life Dance in Coimbatore!

My apologies for the late and lengthy documentation and of this event! Even though the Coimbatore trip happened a while before I started my blog, I couldn’t leave it unshared because it has really been one of my most precious memories in my time in India. So, rewinding back in time. January. I was teaching primarily in the school (English, Math, and Biology) and was the Assistant Promethean Spark dance master/trainee to Shaun Parry. Rising Star got a call on Saturday the 28^th from the head honchos of Mona Vie, a multi-level marketing company that recently started sponsoring Rising Star. They asked if Life Dance would be able to represent Rising Star and perform in Coimbatore for an audience of 3,000 at their first convention in India on the 4^th of February. Of course we immediately agreed, if transportation and housing could be sponsored and arranged for all of the kids, and chaperones (about 30 of us total). The next few days, communication with Mona Vie was really sparse. We never really got word back from them as to whether or not they would be able to arrange the accommodations for us, but we spent the following days preparing to make the trip just in case. Shaun and I told the kids on Monday and they were absolutely ecstatic! They were excited not only at the aspect of performing for THREE THOUSAND people at a huge event in a big city, but for being able to do exactly what we talk about in class every day through the Promethean Spark methodology. Healing others. Sharing our love and light. Being leaders. Showing the world that people who come from leprosy colonies are just like everybody else. We warned them though, that the trip was not yet confirmed, so they couldn’t get their hopes up. Needless to say, with only one week’s notice, it was pure madness trying to rehearse and perfect all of our pieces and figure out costumes for all the kids with a mere HOPE that we would be able to travel and perform.

It was Wednesday and we still hadn’t heard back from Mona Vie. I took a day trip to T-Nagar in Chennai to buy costumes for the kids so Shaun could stay to hold rehearsal. We always begin rehearsal sitting in a circle to give announcements and discuss objectives. That evening in the circle, Shaun was giving the kids a run down of what the weekend would be like IF we were able to perform in Coimbatore. The whole time he was talking, Soniya was raising her hand and bouncing up and down, just SO eager to share whatever it was that she had to say. Shaun held her off with the ‘Shhh! Wait till I’m done’ finger for a good five minutes, and after finishing asked, “Yes, Soniya? What is it you have to say?” “Manodhaya has one idea!” She replied, pointing to our darling, quiet little 9^th standard dancer who had just been moved up into Life Dance from Life Dance II. “I think…… We should pray,” She said simply. Boom. All of the kids got right down on their knees and Manodhaya lead the group in a beautiful, heartfelt prayer to God. You could pick out little English words thrown in once in a while, like “work hard, Life Dance, confirm, and perform”. When she finished, the kids each took a moment for silent, self-prayer and continued to on to rehearse. By the following morning, all of campus was on edge. Wondering. Waiting. All I heard from every child in the school over and over again was, “Is it confirmed?! Will Life Dance go??” To which I repeatedly answered, “No, we still don’t know!” The kids would all say, “You will go. I pray for Life Dance. You will go.”

That day, 200 little beams of prayer light were shooting straight to heaven from Rising Star. I truly believe that God heard every single pray and felt our faith, because at 8:00 pm Dr. Susan, the Indian staff director, came rushing to tell Shaun and I that Mona Vie had finally called, and that our bus would be there to pick us up at 6:00 am the next morning. We were so unbelievably excited that most of us hardly slept. We finally boarded the bus around 8:30 (Naturally, the bus driver was running on Indian time) and prepared for a journey of ‘about 8 hours’. Nay Nay. This ‘8 hour’ drive turned out to be a little closer to 12 hours. By the end of the trip I had the throw-up drill down. At any sign of nausea… Left side of purse. Ziplock. Run. Open under child’s mouth. Hold and comfort until vomit has passed. Wipe for face and hands. Gum. Lead child to the front of the bus and lovingly banish them from iPods and movies. Throw bag out of the bus. Our little Joseph very accurately described the bus as “vomit land”. SO glad that I had decided to take the bags, wipes and gum.

After a long day of travel, we finally got to Coimbatore and crashed! The kids were taken to stay in a really nice apartment, and all of us long-term volunteers got to stay in a beautiful 5 star hotel, Le Meridian, provided by Mona Vie. The next morning, we got up early to go check out the venue and rehearse on stage. It was really cute to see how in awe all of the kids were. Most of them have only been exposed to their teeny little villages and colonies and had never even dreamed of performing in a place like this for so many people. We headed back to the apartment after a great rehearsal and got the kids all ready for their big show. They looked SO darling in their brand new costumes with the boys' hair all gelled up and the girls with their performance make up.

We showed up at the convention with a couple hours before we would be on stage, so we played around, took pictures, and did a little warm-up to prep the kids for the show. The time finally came, and we said one final prayer backstage. Shaun introduced Rising Star and our mission to the massive audience and turned the time over to the kids. They performed three numbers:

1. The Bharatanatyam, a traditional Indian welcome dance.

2. Stayin’ Alive, a cute new jazzy number we learned the week of…. Yeah, crazy!

3. Somebody Out There, the classic, trademark number for Life Dance.

**A little background on this piece-- Somebody Out There is a truly inspired number depicting the pain and sorrow that everyone experiences in life, specifically the challenge that our kids face: Seeing loved ones suffer from leprosy, and suffering themselves. It tells about how we have the power to lift and love others who are struggling and how once we have been helped, we can help others as well.

At the end of the final number, we had a standing ovation and half of the audience in tears. I was, of course, a mess. Seeing my kids perform so beautifully and literally start to change the world’s perspective was to this day, one of the most beautiful moments of my life. I was so proud. They were each presented with a dozen roses and the audience was invited to donate to Mona Vie’s More Project, which provides the sponsorship for Rising Star. So many extremely generous donations were provided, and the amounts were announced over the loudspeakers. When the kids saw the reaction they sparked and that they really did succeed in sharing their message, they got emotional too. We were all hugging and crying and it really was such a perfect ending to an amazing show. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that God heard and answered our prayers and I am so grateful that he did.

Getting ready to board the bus!

Instructing the dancers before our afternoon rehearsal on the stage.

Goofing off as usual! :)

Pumped to perform!!! My gorgeous girlies.

OH man.... These handsome little lady killers are so irresistible!

Business time! Warming up before going backstage.

Shaun Parry himself! TOO good!

One last prayer. :)

I could watch this dance 5 million times. I love the ornate costumes and the intricate choreography of traditional Indian dances. They did such a great job!

Huge confetti bomb? No big deal.... Didn't even flinch!

After the show with all of our Mona Vie peeps!

It just happened to be Randy Jackson's (President of Mona Vie) birthday, and they just happened to have a GIANT cake left over. We each ate chocolate cake to the content of our hearts and had a looooottt left over. Too much in fact....