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'Shiva Arpanam' - An offering to Lord Shiva
The busy sounds of little shalangai-clad feet mingled with the sound of musicians strumming their instruments at the Mani mandapam of the Kapaleeswar temple on Feb 13th 2010, marked the 5th annual day celebrations of Sri Kala Ranga. The program sought to include in its fold, students from various ‘stages of learning’ (19 in all, aged between 5 and 22) and provide them with an opportunity to exhibit their skills to an appreciative audience. The evening unfolded with a brisk and fast-paced traditional pushpanjali dedicated to Lord Ganesh in naatai ragam followed by a sloka on Lord Shiva. This was followed in quick succession by an alarippu, kauvtam and jathiswaram. The audience had swelled by now and was composed of a mix of weekend temple visitors who were pleasantly surprised on being met with this dance spectacle, doting parents of the tiny tots on stage and connoisseurs of the arts, always found aplenty in Mylapore. What followed was a string of popular padams, Aadikondaar, Idathupadam Thooki and Brahmam Okate which found much favor with the fully engaged on-lookers.

The dance was well complemented by an extremely competent team composed of Sharanya Krishnan, the vocalist, Jayasankar on the mridangam, C.K.Vijayaraghavan on the violin and Sandhya Ravimohan who took on the role of host and compere for the evening. The setting for the event couldn’t have been more magical with the fully-lit Temple gopuram looming in the background and the vibrant dance music interspersed with the sounds of the temple bell being rung during the evening aarthi.

As the audience trickled away into the night after the Tillaana on Lord Muruga, many were heard mentioning, that like in the old times, this is how temple spaces ought to be, a confluence of religion, art and culture, a coming together of the truly divine .

 
 
 
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A child sings before it speaks, dances
almost before it walks. Music is in our
hearts from the very beginning ’


- Pamela Brown