Episode 6: Entry Date – 11/22/02

Bhangra, America and The wonders of cross-cultural openness.

As many of you Shadow Boxers out there know, I love performing on stage. Nothing can give me greater pleasure than showcasing Shadow Box's original music to so many excited and enthusiastic listeners. It's a real (and natural) high!! :)

Our last show at on October 18th was an especially warm experience. What stuck out of my mind was how diverse the audience is getting to be. Very often, in our everyday life, we walk into classrooms, offices, restaurants, subways and even nurseries, and we see people sticking to their own clicks and groups. Whether its race, sexual orientation, religion or economic status - the invisible boundaries seem daunting to overcome at times.

Several years ago, before Shadow Box, I always wondered - what if there was this place where people could let their guards down. Where people could throw their inhibitions away - just for a little while. Where all of a sudden there were no boundaries or walls separating us. Wouldn't that be a truly beautiful thing?

Many days and months from thinking that, I see myself standing on stage watching this precise vision come to fruition. An incident that really made me feel that we are all on our way to building a better future. (And trust me, this is a rare thought).

Anup, Shadow Box's official dancer (you can't miss him when you come to a show - an energetic ball of energy whirling around to the beats of the songs), was breaking it down on the floor as usual, persuading all around him to step up and shake their booties right from "Jimmy and the Elephant" to "Diya".

Eventually, people from all walks of life were on the floor. Those invisible walls I once knew of seemed to disappear.

With a bit of persuasion from Anup, people ended up dancing Bhangra - a traditional Indian dance. It was only until "Diya" when I really noticed what the Shadow Box community achieved. "Diya" is a 10 minute song spread out through a piano introduction, a Salsa, a drum and tabla duet and finally to a Samba.

There were people dancing the Bhangra to the beats of Latin rhythms within the context of a bilingual song in the middle of Texas!!

Now that is a cross cultural experience!!!

- Anuj