Sunday is a big day at the Natyanjali.
At least 4,000 people pack into the venue of the dance festival. And more stream in as the sun sets behind the eastern gopuram where we are camping.
Natyanjali Secretary Sambandam says that towns like Chidambaram are keen to watch classical dance. And Sunday's attendance is proof of it. Lots of men file outside the barricaded area and keenly watch the recitals. On their feet. It is also an appreciative audience. People offer a round of applause voluntarily.
And the applause is equal for the dancers from the small towns. The young dancers from Neyveli impress though they perform in the early slot. Guru Renuka Balasubramanian runs Nrityopasana dance school in Neyveli, a town known for its power-generating business. (Neyveli Lignite Corporation).
Manjula Amaresh, who performs next, is happy she is here. Manjula used to live abroad, then relocated to Bangalore and is now based in Chennai. A sishya of the Dhananjayans, Manjula has started classes with Kalanidhi Narayanan. Manjula double checks if she can offer her anjali at the temple sannidhi the next morning.
The anjali inside the temple by the visiting dancers is by itself a wonderful experience. You do not have to get permission to perform here. And you can take your musicians along. Pilgrims and tourists quickly gather around the dancers and watch intently. And the anjali can be performed at any time of the day or night. I missed watching guru C. V. Chandrasekar perform here on Sivaratri night.
Backstage, we meet guru Aravindan from Coimbatore. A Kalakshetra alumnus, he and his wife now run Koothambalam in Coimbatore, with a branch in Chennai. For the Natyanjali, they created a team from their Coimbatore and Chennai dancers.
"Is it easy?", I ask them
"Yes, yes," says Vasantha, Aravindan's wife. "We've performed these pieces before so we just need a day's practise."
I realise now that the thumping feet that reverberated in our hotel room earlier that day must have been dancers going through their paces. They weren't the Koothambalam dancers at practice. Must have been a rather earnest dance group!
The Chinnamanur Sisters get a big round of applause. They are the local stars. Chitra got tavil and nadaswaram artistes to join the accompanists for her performance while sister Sujatha did the nattuvangam.
The dew is strong. And the nights are chill. People begin to leave after 9.30 p.m. But at least 200 people who sit to the end. 11 p.m.
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