It is blazing here. The yard is a heat house. And yet, the loyal band of volunteers work on. The inaugural of the 28th edition of the Natyanjali is just hours away. Every year, these volunteers take leave from work and devote all their time to the conduct of the Fest.
Engineers, textile shop owners, farm workers, landlords, caterers, financiers. . .this motley group led by the Trust secretary A. Sambandam is the backbone of the Natyanjali.
The fest starts on the dot - 5.30 p.m. The traditional nagaswaram is done away with and the dance students of the Dept. of Fine Arts of Annamalai University perform first. It is still a bit stuffy here and the rasikas and temple-goers stream in in dribbles.
The KutcheriBuzz web cast team works from a dusty nook in the yard. Our cabling hasn't been successful so we have to give up on our grand idea of going live and settle for streaming the videos after the recitals are over.
Dancer Maya drops by. Fabienne in real life and a Paris-based physiotherapist Maya was the last disciple of late guru Kittappa Pillai in Tanjore and has been learning Bharatanatyam for many years. She got back to Tanjore in January to continue lessons under guru Aruna Subramaniam and feels fortunate to have been invited to perform here and in Thanjavur. Maya's husband flew down yesterday to be on time at Chidambaram.
"Its a great and rare experience," she says after her midnight recital and the couple head to the temple for the 2 a.m. rituals of Sivaratri.
Inauguration - Chief Guest Jayant Kastaur, Head of Sangeet Natak Akademi (in brown kurtha) with the trustees of the Natyanjali Festival
Jayant Kastaur, Chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi flies down from Delhi to be at the Natyanjali. On stage he tells the packed venue that he was here in 1984 with his Kathak guru Durgalal when the latter was here to perform and that he came back again a few years ago to perform himself. "This is like home to me,"says Jayant and promises to support the Natyanjali in any way the Akademi can.
In fact, the SNA does help largely by sending dance troupes from other parts of th country to perform here and at the other Natyanjali fests.
I get the feeling that the crowd is far less this year. I have seen over 5000 people gather here on Day One and not because a film star was to be featured on stage! However, this time around there are fresher and young artistes on stage. Guru Sailaja and her two sishyas, Subha Visweswaran, sishya of Mumbai-based guru Kalyanasundaram, the Natyapriya troupe of guru Padmini Ramachandran of Bangalore, Uttara Rao from Delhi . . .
Dancers of Natyapriya, Bangalore
We are weary as the clock strike two and it is time to pack up. The stream of devotees headed to the temple grows. And the magnified music from the Natyanjali stage swirls around the town in the quiet of this morning . . .
