The Natyanjali Dance Fests are special. So, as the festivals unfold in Tamil Nadu, VINCENT D' SOUZA, who will be hopping from one fest to another, will file his reports here. The journey, the festival, the sidelights and the people.
From Feb.25 to March 2. Log in every day.

March 2: Finale at Natyanjali, Chidambaram

Put an actress on a dance stage and you can bet everything you have that you will have a record audience.

That is what happened on Day Five and Last at Chidambaram. The program invite said Radha Nair would dance at 9pm.
Word went around like wildfire that Radha Nair was none other than south Indian actress, now retired, Radha who debuted in the Tamil film 'Alaigal Oivathilley'. And ahead of 9pm, half of Chidambaram was inside the temple.

Radha has to shed lots of weight if she is to look a classical dancer. But then, in Tamil Nadu, anything cinema, and people go into a tizzy.

  
                                 TN Governor at the finale

Anyway, Tamil Nadu Governor, Surjit Singh Barnala, the chief guest for the finale, kept his date. He flew in from Ooty, attended a function in nearby Pondicherry, and came into Chidambaram. After visiting the temple, he sat through the last piece perfomed by the dancers of Sri Raja Rajeswari Bharata Natya Mandir of Mumbai run by Kalyanasundaram Pillai.

  
      Dancers of Guru Kalyanasundaram of Mumbai on stage

He had nice words to say about the Natyanjali and for the Trust that runs it and for his own secretary, IAS officer, C. K. Gariyali, who was also present.

Gariyali, when she was collector of this region (South Arcot with headquarters at Cuddalore) was instrumental in reviving the small effort that had been made by archaeologist Dr. Nagaswamy, arts scholar Dr. Kapila Vatsyananan and some local people.

The governor came back to his sofa in the audience and watched a piece by dancers of the famed Dhananjayans. When he left he took with him a nice memento created by artist Siva who teaches at SRM College's Dept. of Visual Communications. Siva did a pencil sketch of the core of the Lord Nataraja Temple and framed copies are given to VIPs at the fest.

As I file this report from our nandhavanam operations shed, there is a big round of applause. Visually challenged artistes of the Sri Ramana Maharishi Academy for the Blind, Bangalore, are on stage. This morning we saw them offering their anjali at the sannidhi - a practice followed by all those who come here to perform at the Natyanjali.

  
                       Dhananjayan and his students

Dhananjayans' six students open their performance and Dhananjayan does the popular and moving Nandanar piece 'Varugamalo!' with Shanta, his wife on the nattuvangam.
When he was done, Dhananjayan announced a donation of one lakh rupees to the Natyanjali Trust. A nice gesture.

 
         Kanakasabha Dance School Troupe of Mumbai

Artistes of the Kanakasabha Dance School, Mumbai, were the last on stage. Marathi, Telugu and Tamil songs for the performance which ended the 25th edition of the Natyanjali.

It is 11pm. Secretary Sambandam would have liked a bigger show. Next year, he hopes the ICCR will get two international dance troupes here.

Later this month, there will be an informal dinner for all the people who worked behind the Natyanjali stage. Now, all of us need a three-day weekend to recoup.

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