Stage Buzz:Dance: The Swans of Heritage - a report by r. Nagaswamy from USA

A Report from US

The Swans of Heritage

R. Nagaswamy

As a mark of Ramnavami celebrations a group of Indian residence at Miami in USA organized a novel presentation of dance in the local Shiva Vishnu Temple on Sat 11^th of April 2009.

The theme selected was a Rama C'arita (Story of Rama) as narrated by Hanuman to Sita at Asoka Vanam described by Valmiki in the Sundara Kanda. Impressive number of parents and children were present in the hour long anjali to Sri Rama in the temple premises. The orginal narration in Sanskrit as described by Valmiki was chosen and set to carnatic music and select group of children were trained in the traditional Baratha natya dance mode to enact the recital. The story of Rama was introduced to the young children brought up in America. The program was presented not as an entertainment but as an anjali in an atmosphere of devotion marking the beginning of similar events in the future.

Choreography was done by Mrs. Sangeetha Sridhar who is running a school in Miami. Madhu Chandrasekar set the slokas to music and sang delightfully the songs. Mohan Nagaswamy narrated the story with an emphasis on its relevant to modern time. The program was concluded with a bhajan and puja to Sri Rama.

The children are trained to carry aesthetic Indian Heritage.

Editor: Manohar Khushalani