So now that the excitement of the British School show has worn off, we have gone back to our normal training regime—Pramila and Sharmila on aerial hoop, the “Sittals” on silks, the boys doing group acrobatics, and Anjali, Doli and Saraswati practising hula hoops. These days I’ve been having quite a lot of extra help from local volunteers which is great! Peadar, a juggler from Ireland who is based in Kathmandu with his wife, has been helping me on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays. Because of a recent back injury, he is not really able to participate physically but his presence has been of invaluable help as he has been overseeing the work that the two Sittals are doing on aerial silks. Sometimes I can’t spread myself thinly enough and I notice that they are perfectly happy to sit and gaze out the window of the gym unless someone is there to encourage them to continue working hard!
Megan also comes to help twice a week; either supervise the hula hoop training, or the acrobatics; teaching a bit of hip-hop dancing to compliment the boys’ break-dancing tricks. This Saturday Megan managed to accompany me and Anya to the refuge in Godawari to help with the ballet class.
Our resident ballet teacher, Anya, has not only been teaching the kids dance classes on Saturdays (both to the Sapana group and the other kids housed at the refuge) but she has also been attending most of the weekly sessions to lend a helping hand. Anya was previously trained as a gymnast, which is fantastic as I can leave her on her own to work acrobatic basics with the students that need extra attention.
I have been spending much of my time supervising the aerial hoop training, trying to find some interesting doubles hoop figures for Pramila and Sharmila. They both work hard but they’re not used to being two on a hoop so things are still quite clunky and awkward at the moment. Although what will be included in October’s show has not yet been finalised, I really hope that they will be able to show off some of their newly learned skills in Dubai.
Here is a video and some pictures of Saturday’s ballet class. It was so cute to watch all the kids in rapt attention of Anya, trying to mimic her turned out feet and arm positions. After the technical class she taught them a choreographed dance set to hip-hop music which they all really seemed to enjoy.
After ballet class on Saturday, Anya, Megan, Fiona, Noah (two other EBT volunteers) and I went for a walk in the hills of Godawari. Along the way we stopped at the EBT mosaic workshop. It was fascinating to watch the employees hard at work on their intricate designs.
We then set off on a gruelling five-hour hike up to the ridge which Noah assured us would only take two hours...ahem. It was worth it, though, and it was truly beautiful. I haven’t had that many chances to get out of Kathmandu so I really appreciated the fresh air, the views, and the quiet (no horns beeping, crazy dogs barking, or fruit sellers squawking...)
Only two weeks remain to my time here in Nepal. I am very sad to leave. I’m hoping to get away and do a short trek or at least visit Pokhara. We’ll see though—both time and money are running out!!
Zoe x
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