Love of the Arts - Dance or Stage plays?

There are so many avenues to explore when it comes to Performing Arts. While dance will always be my primary passion, I love to dabble in Theater whenever I get some time. I have had the pleasure of associating with extremely talented and creative individuals from Theatrix USA (http://theatrixusa.net/). I have performed in Marathi stage play shows all over the US. It was a great experience to meet theater enthusiasts from Atlanta, Boston, Philadelphia, New York (Long Island), and Delaware. I am performing in a one-act stage play called "Waiting" on April 30th 2011 in the annual Vasantotsav Program of Marathi Vishwa NJ (http://www.marathivishwa.org). 
I feel that stage acting and dancing are extremely complimentary. Acting teaches emoting, and control of body movements to convincingly convey the plot of the story. The same emotions and expressions are very very important in a dance performance. Being a good story teller is what makes a dance performance spectacular from mediocre. After all a dance choreography  is really a concept or an incidence or a short story that you are trying to breathe life into, with your movements and expressions.

In our dance workshops at Kala Nirmitee Dance School, I give special attention to training all students in "emoting". Often times it becomes challenging - if you focus on expressions, you start to forget the dance steps. Usually I encourage my students to just understand the lyrics and absorb the "mood" of the song. The best expressions are natural expressions. Don't force the emotion - it will come automatically.

So -  dance or stage plays? Both! Two sides of the same coin. You can learn from each medium and apply to the other. I hope to continue working in both fields.