Salangai is an auspicious anklet ornament worn by dancers. Salanga Puja is a ceremony in which the guru or dance teacher blesses the ankles of his students by tying salanga. Salanga is worshiped,
It is a part of Bharatanatyam tradition. Kavitha Nambiar, a dance teacher who was familiar with the said tradition, had given dance training to 4 children and 2 women and arranged for them to perform Salanga Puja for the first time. The ceremony was held with the full cooperation of the parents at the Mahalaxmi temple hall in Eastham, London. The ceremony was held at 05.00 pm and all the parents, close relatives and friends of the dancers who participated in the ceremony graced the occasion.
As the first phase of the program, the mangala candlestick with the pride of India was lit in full security. The teacher blessed her students by tying salangai and started the dance. Arthi, Abhinaya, Tillirani, Ileena, Naya, Swapna participated in Bharatanatyam. The Bharatanatyam performance was enjoyed by the people and the students danced and enthralled everyone. Five types of dances took place in their performance.
1. Scream: This is the first part of the dance. A dance performed to pay respect to God, Guru, and the audience.
2. Itheeswaram: Itheeswaram is a dance performed by observing the 3 aspects of dance which are musical rhythm and harmony of movements.
3. Honor: Kautuvam means poetic quality. Rituals are usually performed by temple dancers in honor of some deity. In this event, a dance was performed in honor of Lord Shiva.
4. Hymns: Kirtanas are songs in praise of God with pallavi, anupallavi, sharanam etc. The dance performed here is a dance performed to the tune of the flute in Tamil called ‘Kuzhaloothi Mamellam’.
5. Dillana: Dillana is a rhythm section. It is a dance usually performed at the end of a recital. Dillana dance was done very well here.
In Bharatanatyam; ‘Ba’ means facial expression, ‘Ra’ means music, ‘T’ means rhythm and ‘Natyam’ means dance. Taking these cues into themselves, all these dancers danced their facial expressions in tune with the music and rhythm and danced without a beat and received applause from the crowd.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that we were all amazed by the talent of Kavita Nambiar, the teacher who trained them. I have no doubt that the activities of teachers like this will surely make the world aware of the pride of our traditional Bharatanatyam. After the thanksgiving, everyone finished their dinner in the dance hall and returned to their homes refreshed.
– Dinamalar reader S. Ponraj from London
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