Salangai Pooja of Archana Selvaraj and Natyanjali’s Vijayadasami program 2024

Ramatchandiran Krishnaswamy

Bharatnatyam is a symbol of beauty and aesthetic perfection. As a philosophy, it is a search of the human soul for perfection and as poetry, it is a symbol of rhythmic lyricism. This is exactly what we witnessed on Sunday, Oct 27th, 2024 at the Vijayadashami program by students of Natyanjali School of dance, that presented the Salangai pooja of one of their students.

After a warm welcome on this auspicious occasion by Guru Smt. Jeyanthi Ghatraju, the resplendent teacher explained in a profound manner the significance of Salangai (the anklet bells) Pooja as one of her adult students, Dr. Archana Selvaraj, was getting her bells for the first time. 

Guru Smt. Jeyanthi elaborated the significance of the Salangai Pooja and it was exquisite in her own words, “In these times of walking into the first class with bells and costumes, traditionally, bells were only presented to a student right before the arangetram”. And it is also a  special moment for the Guru to connect through their gurus to the universal guru, Lord Nataraja, passing the Bataan of lineage. 

Salangai Pooja marks the elevation of learners of classical dance from beginner to intermediate level, especially in the rhythmic aspects, by letting them wear the Salangai around the ankle for the first time following additional years of learning the basics of classical dance. The learners will continue down this path under the guidance of their guru through arangetram, a solo performance, which marks their ability to perform the dance independently. 

As in any classical dance form, Bharatnatyam requires total dedication, vigorous practice and full concentration. Natyanjali school of Dance just celebrated 30 years, passing the Bataan to so many dancers during that time, tailoring teaching techniques to one's strength. 

A dancer would know the significance of the bells and the pooja only when they talk to someone who trained for many years and never saw their own pair of bells.  So it's a very special occasion for Archana and we wish her the very best for reaching this level of mastery. As a recipient of the bells, Archana was very thankful to her guru for helping her to fulfill her childhood dream. She felt this as an auspicious start for an even more committed journey towards the next milestone. 

Archana presented five items that were interspersed by items presented by her Natyanjali dance peers, that included various scenes, poses, moves, and expressions. It was blissful to get immersed and experience the multiple presentations by the students of Natyanjali.

Natyanjali students included Anita Kumar, Anwitha Alla, Archana Selvaraj, Aruna Patibandla, Charvi Veeramachaneni, Deepthika Vedavinayagam, Isha Dwivedi, Maedha Naluvala, Maha Krishnakumar, Megha Veeramachaneni, Prateeksha Nidasesi, Prisha Mishra, Rianna Eve Ashly, Ryanna Popli, Rushika Susarla, Sarayu Gadam, Tanmayee Patil, Sharvi Mali, Vennela Purushothaman and Yashi Dwivedi.

While the dancers put in their best with their various solo and group dances and made the evening a visual treat, the tremendous support of families and friends of Natyanjali also added to the blissfulness of the afternoon. 

Special acknowledgements go to Krish Velmurgan (photography), Kanth Ghatraju ( video editing/audio) and Venkatesh Patil ( audio support) for making this event memorable and enjoyable.

Here is a link to the program brochure - vijayadasami-2024.pdf

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