Bollywood at Boyd

Now that I've made peace with my experience in India, I'm on the lookout for ways to experience doses of Indian culture locally. Usually, I end up eating dosas and idlys at Udipi Cafe which typically sates my cravings for South Indian food and atmosphere. However, I was intrigued to find a notice in the local newspaper advertising an event titled "Bollywood at Boyd". Wanting to see quite what it would be like, being able to convince a couple of friends to check it out, and having an opportunity to don an item of 'ethnic dress' that I brought back from India, I decided to check it out.

After doing a bit more research, I found that the event was being held at Boyd Community Center to highlight a new Bhangra dancing exercise class that the center wants to begin in the fall. [If I'm still in the area, I'm going to have to check it out-maybe next time I visit India I can get a part as an extra in a real Bollywood movie! :)] The event was scheduled from 6pm-8pm, with the crafts & 'fair' part in the first hour and the dance performances the second hour. Since it looks like it was organized by an American, I wasn't sure whether we should take into account IST. After a bit of conferring, we decided to show up around 6:30 pm. Unfortunately we didn't, however, take into account getting lost. After driving around Fox Chapel for a bit and making calls for help, we were able to make it to the event slightly before 7:00 pm, so we missed out on most of the crafts and most of the food. Fortunately, we did make it in time to see the dance & drum performance for the second half of the event. I was entertained by the dancing and impressed by the tabla and dhol players. It almost made me want to get up and dance, which was a good thing because for the last song, they asked the audience to get up and follow the instructor in a variety steps. She claimed that she teaches it to children, but there were quite a few participants (myself included!) who still had difficulty following the motions-which makes me wonder if we will be able to learn bhangra or if we will be rolling on the floor laughing at ourselves trying to do it.

Anyway, I didn't take pictures myself, but you can find them on Boyd Community Center's website.