Summer in the New England is the Arangetram season filed with a hoard of music and dance debut every weekend. It also happens to be the season when the Indian Dance schools in the area showcase different varieties of Indian classical dance by the students of their respective schools. It was an evening of delight to watch the students of Kolam Academy of Dance perform along with their teacher Smt.Sujatha Meyappan on June 10th at the Chinmaya Auditorium.

The theme for this program - "Bharathy Natyam" was very well chosen on the religious and Social themed songs written by Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi, who is one of the greatest Tamil poet of all times

The program was set to a good start with the prayer song written by the poet Subramanya Bharathi. Smt. Aparna Balaji tuned the song for the students of Kolam Academy of Dance who sang the prayer song. Following the prayer song, was a Pushpanjali composition by Dr.Balamurali Krishna where the dancers set the tempo for the remaining of the evening. The next Item was Natesha Kauthuvam, this piece was special with the scintillating voice of Late Kutralam Nagarajan and the Nattuvangam support by the teacher, Smt.Sujatha. The striking poses of shiva throughout this item were a brilliant choreography of their teacher, followed by the pure nritta piece, Jathiswaram composed by Madurai.N.Krishnan.

The Subject of the program was then started with the padam, "Theeratha Vilaiyattu Pillai” where the dancer Muvva Vangapalli, aptly exhibit the poet’s description on the pranks and troubles caused by lord Krishna to the girls and "Vellai thamarai poovil" on Goddess Saraswathi. In this next item where Sujatha was able to have most of her students perform along with her is "OM Shakthi Om", in which Subramaniya Bharathi writes in praise of various God and Goddess. This item had a beautiful ending in which the groups struck a pose of Lord Ganesh, Shakthi, Muruga, Krishna, Saraswathi and Lakshmi.

While the religious pieces were taking us to a divine path, we were then introduced to the poet’s composition on the social aspects, during the independence time. Where uplifting of those who suffered due to social indifference. It’s a difficult subject for any dancer,but Sujatha's student Shuruthe Anathakrishnan marveled at it. Next was the most awaited one for the audience where Sujatha did a very unique piece by the poet where he describes Mazhai (Rain), Sujatha very well described how everything was brought to life and overwhelmed by the rain flooding and wind howling in all directions. This piece was uniquely choreographed by Guru Madurai.R.Muralidharan.

The village dance of TamilNadu or otherwise called "Kummi" was a very sweet item done by the little budding dancers of Kolam Academy of Dance, which describes about women equality. This item was enjoyed by the audience by clapping hands and taping their feet to the rhythm of the song. The finale for the evening was a Thillana in ragam Brindhavani, sung by Rajkumar Bharathi, who is the grandson of the poet and was performed by senior students.

While watching the program was a wonderful thing, it was amazing to the see all of the families/ friends of the students and also the teacher work as a single unit to make this evening delightful.

Photo Credits: Don Perrault and Kannan Kathiresan

Participating Students: Anika shroff,   Anushka Philip, Aparna Shanmugam, Avani Patel, Jahnvi Patel, Janette Jerusal, Karthiyayini Mahendrakumar, Kaviya Vijayakumar, Amy Koleth, Kruti Patel, Meghna Kanthan, Mrudhula NithiyaKumar, Muvva Vangapalli, Nisha Patel, Pavithra NithiyaKumar, Preethi Mahendrakumar, Richa Juvekar, Riya Ramesh, Saanvi Vutukur, Sadhvi Sreeram, Samyuktha Gopinath, Shashi Rekha Yammada, Shuruthe Ananthakrishnan, Sinthya Kumar, Solai Alagappan, Sruthi Ramesh, Swetha Prabhala, Yashvi Patel

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