Mridula Anand, a Bharatanatyam dancer from Mylapore, was presented the 'Award for Excellence' by Sri Parthasarathy Swami Sabha, as part of its centenary year celebrations. The award instituted in 1998 is presented in the memory of M.Venkatakrishnan, former President of the sabha.
The function held on July 11 at the Mylapore Fine Arts Club auditorium was presided over by Nalli Kuppuswami. The award was presented by veteran musician and Director of Shree Bharatalaya, Vidwan Madurai N. Krishnan. A Natarajan, former Director of Doordarshan Kendra, Chennai, also participated. There was a Bharathanatyam recital by Mridula Anand on the occasion.
In his presidential address, Nalli Kuppuswami said that Venkatakrishnan was a patron of fine arts and the idea of giving an award as a token of appreciation to young dancers was actually initiated by him, but unfortunately he passed away on the very day the award was given for the first time on July 11, 1998. Ever since, the award has been given in his memory.
Mridula, who was chosen to receive the award this year, is a disciple of dance exponent Sudharani Raghupathy.
Since her arangetram in 1991, she has given several solo performances in Chennai and has also participated in many of the dance dramas of Sudharani and her dance school, Shree Bharathalaya like Ramayanam, Krishnam Vande Jagat Gurum, Shakthi Prabhavam and Vande Guham Umasutham.
Mridula has a master's degree in Bio- Chemistry and is currently a research assistant at the Centre for Bio-Technology, Anna University.
Mridula lives at
42 B,Kasturi Ranga Road, Alwarpet.
Phone 499 1807.
