A Night Out In Chennai

Recently, we went to two classical dance performances that were part of an Indian cultural weekend called Nritya Sangama.  We got to see a rarely-performed, extremely acrobatic dance performance called Gotipua and a Kuchipudi Ballet called "Chandalika" about an "untouchable."

First it was a quick dinner of made-to-roll spring rolls at a friend's house.

Then, the acrobats.  The remarkable Gotipua performance of the centuries-old dance form is conducted by six to 10 young boys, who dress up as girls and do mind- and body-bending feats.

The ballet group danced the story of Chandalika, a woman who was born into the "untouchable" class and how she struggled with overcoming adversity.

The band was incredible, playing non stop for a couple of hours with members never moving an inch from their seated positions.

We couldn't tell if his bald cap fell into a glass of Tang, was a cone-less Conehead, or was supposed to be color coordinated to the Krishna costume?  A royal disco inferno?  No, more like costumer gone wild.  The looks were fabulous.