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Features
Dhananjayans' tour of South Africa
- Category: Features
- 20 April 2010
The couple were also honoured and their workshops were open to dance students of all local academies.
On the occasion of the Saadhana Festival of Naatya ( March 12 to 16) under the auspices of Naatya-Ananda run by Verushka Pather, eminent classical dancers V. P. Dhananjayan and his wife Shanta presented 'Bhakti-Maargam' in Durban and in Johannesburg (South Africa ).
Dr. Anita Shanmukhanathan and Verushka Pather also performed along with the Dhananjayans. The music orchestra featured Vanathi Raghuraman (vocal), Ramesh Babu (mridamgam) and violinist Kesavan Manikkam who resides here. On the occasion, the South African Hindu Maha Sabha honoured the Dhananjayans with a plaque of honour. The honour was presented by the President of this Sabha, Ashwin Trikamjee.
The Indian consulate in Durban hosted a reception in honour of the visiting dancers and the Consul-General Anil K Sharan felicitated the couple. Dhananjayan gave a short lecture- demonstration and also performed extempore.
On the second day of the Saadhana Festival, Dr. T. P. Naidoo decorated the dancers on behalf of the Indian community of South Africa, Indian Academy of S.A and Natya Anada Fine Arts Academy.
Both the performances in Durban were held at the Izulu Theatre at Sibaya Casino.
The Consul General of India Vikram Doraiswamy inaugurated the Johannesburg leg of the festival and felicitated Verushka for her passionately promoting Indian performing arts and culture in this region.
The performance was held in the Wits University auditorium. The highlight of the festival series was at the Sabarimala Shree Ayyappa Kshetram amphitheater located in a very beautiful area. A large number of Sri Ayyappa devotees congregated at this venue created by an ardent devotee, Dr. Rajasekharan Kolapen
Apart from these four performances the Dhananjayans joined Dr. Anita Shanmukhanathan, to conduct Bharatanaatyam workshops for the benefit of students from different Bharatanaatyam schools in this region.
