Summer had just begun in New England and June 3rd, 2017 was a delightful day for the students of Kolam academy of dance. The artistic director of Kolam Academy, Smt Sujatha Meyyappan along with her students presented a thematic Bharatanatyam presentation - Velum Vei Kuzhalum.

The event was held at the Chinmaya Maruthi Auditorium. The stage was decorated in a very elegant, wonderful way with charming kuthi villakku (lamps) and mayilirragu (peacock feathers). As the title suggested, the dance presentations that evening were based on the beautiful Murugan and playful Krishna. It was a true delight to watch the beautiful girls perform depicting the dance of the spear and the flute.

The evening started with the welcome address by Smt Sujatha Meyyappan. She welcomed everyone and explained the noble cause behind the dance show. Kolam academy of dance dedicated its annual show to raise funds for Harvard Tamil Chair. She explained all proceeds from the dance show went to support the Harvard Tamil Chair - HTC which is an initiative to set up a Tamil chair at Harvard University. It was truly a great evening of dance supporting a great cause! 

The Chief Guest for the event, Dr. Sundaresan Sambandam, an oncologist from Rhode Island and the co-founder of the HTC project graced the occasion. His ambitious project is to set up a Tamil chair at the Harvard University.

After the welcome address, Smt Sujatha passed it on to the anchor of the event, Shuruthe Raju, a graduate student of Kolam Academy did a great job hosting the event.

The first item of the evening was a Shiva Stuthi in Ragamalika and set to Thalam Adi. It was followed by Murugan Kavithuvam in Ragam Gambeera Nattai . Following these, we had the Muralidara Kavithuvam in Arabhi raagam which was well performed by the junior students of the dance school. The formations implemented by these tiny tots were commendable.

Sadaksharam in Shanmugapriya ragam and Roopakam thalam was one of my personal favorites. The beautiful song was on Lord Murugan and a unique piece of an item which I had not witnessed anywhere else.

Chetna Ayyagari gave an astounding performance on Vishamakara Kannan. This mischievous song in Chenchurutti truly enthralled the audience. It was a challenging song to perform in Eka Thalam and she did a tremendous job with her swift dance movements and mesmerizing bhavams to aptly exhibit the poet’s description on the pranks and troubles caused by Lord Krishna.

Thirukkural Natyam is another magnificent piece performed by the girls. It is a Raagamalika set in Thalam Adi. Rapture execution of the dance with the lovely costumes and stunning hairdo. In all the performances the lovely coordinated costumes added a lot of grandeur to the show. The color and contrast were mind blowing.

The other fine pieces were Kuzhaloodhi Manamellam in Kaambhoji  , Kavadi Chindhu in Chenchurutti and Adinayee Kanna in Mohana Kalyani. 

The informative pamphlet distributed at the event proved to be very useful to the audience which  listed the names of the songs along with their ragam ,  thalam and the names of the performers. There was an appealing icon against each song which denoted either a spear or a flute , which in turn denoted song on either  Lord Murugan or Lord Krishna.  The order of the songs was so well distributed and organized as to present one song each alternating between Lord Krishna and Lord Murugan.

The other dances worth mentioning were Thuruppugazh Natyam in Shanmugapriya and  Asainthadum Mayil Ondru  in Simhendra Madhyamam .

The Kumara Kavithuvam was an enchanting piece performed by none other than our own Guru Smt Sujatha Meyyappan. The beautiful composition by Sri. Madurai R. Muralidaran was set in the five ragams of the Pancharatna Krithis  - Naattai ,  Goula , Arabhi , Varali  and Sree ragam. Guru Sujatha's dance completely captivated the audience and made us spell bound. The powerful steps and the unmatched bhavams transported the audience to another world. She delivered many tough movements, especially the revolutions in muzhumandee was exemplary! Overall she made our day with that compelling performance teamed with her colorful costume and perfect makeup.

The finale performance was Kalinga Narthanam in Gambeerai Nattai. All the students of Kolam Dance Academy joined in the Mangalam and ended with a picturesque pose. Audience appreciated the dancers with a standing ovation. This was in turn followed by Trophies and Certificate distribution to the dancers.

Finally, Sujatha Meyyappan thanked all and amidst applause announced that donations and contributions from this show to “Harvard Tamil Chair” totaled more than $5000.00! 

Overall it was well delivered annual dance show with very vibrant and disciplined students. There was no interruptions or time lag, very well organized. While just watching the program was a wonderful thing, it was amazing to the see all of the families/ friends of the students and teacher work as a single family to make this evening delightful from welcoming the folks to feeding everyone with a sumptuous meal.

For the audience, it was a visual treat to see lovely performances from tiny tots to senior students. The song choices for the evening’s dance were credible. The effort that Smt Sujatha Meyyappan has put forth in preparing the children to perform for an event like this must be greatly applauded. We will look forward to many more presentations from Kolam  family in the years to come.

Photo Credits - Sri. Jeyakumar Sathyamoorthy dazzled us with the beautiful captures.

Additional photos: Meyyappan Meyyappan

Videography: Sri Nara Narayanan & Kathir Meyyappan.

Dancers:

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