The South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA)’s First Days Project interviews asks Indian
immigrants to recount their experiences upon arriving in the U.S. ––anxiety, grief, excitement
and awe underscores them all. Each interviewee recalls events of them out in the U.S. in
exploration and discovery, but there was a tendency to also note the more quiet moments–– the
ones that happened in solitude, dancing around their homes. “And we were living in a one
bedroom apartment at that time. But I always danced every day. So that was something that I
found that I cannot leave, you know...” This person, similar to many Indian immigrants, felt
confined to their home by the outside world in the U.S. Seemingly they danced around their one
bedroom apartment to pass the time, or to move their body while being stilled by an
overwhelming new place. But I also believe that something much more generative happens
when Indian immigrants dance at home. Through domestic dance, or dance in confined and
private spaces, Indian immigrants not only cope with the socialization that occurs after
immigrating and the grief it brings, but also stage rehearsals for the roles and identities they
must assume as U.S. residents. We Dance At Home, Alone (re)stages the immigrant home
dances performed by South Asian immigrants and (re)imagines their acts of radical being,
caring and knowing in domestic spaces in and for communities committed to generous
engagement, exchange and (re)learning ways of being in the world.