Dance workshop at Punaroor Viswanatha Swamy temple
An Enriching Experience!
After week long celebrations of weddings, Brahmopadesham, catching up with relatives, working sleepless nights, and meetings lined up in the polluted city – Bangalore, It was such a divine experience for me to be at Punaroor temple. Amidst the paddy fields, small hillocks are a beautiful temple in Malnad region – Punaroor Viswanatha Swamy temple near Udupi. It is a calm and serene place resonating with sound of the temple bells and chanting of the mantras. It was here in this beautiful atmosphere, I was invited to conduct Abhinaya workshop for four days during monsoon!!.
There were many more workshops lined up for students’ full daylong. Their day started with Yoga, Kathak training, Theories in Bharathanatyam, etc.,. Every evening, there were some beautiful programs by the stalwarts.
During my workshop, it was amazing to see around 80 students observing the teaching with such rapt attention. There were some interesting discussions too. We had a lot of fun in the class – learning, observing, sharing, discussing. It was not only a pleasant experience to be teaching such wonderful passionate students but also a divine experience for me to be performing in the temple.
Karnataka Sangeeta Nritya Academy needs to be appreciated for this good effort of trying to reach the art to a wider community in remote places though they need to work on getting things more organized and take care of the hospitality in a more efficient manner. But good hospitality by the locals definitely was heart warming.
Later one of the participants wrote to me. “..It was an AMAZING experience learning from you. No matter how short the duration, it was such an enriching experience ….. You’re a GREAT dancer; your dance touched me so much that day, I was still weeping 1/2 hour after the show. I don’t even think I told you how much I loved it. The last time I cried like that I was 6 and I’d just watched Dhananjayan Master do “Yenna Tavam Shaidanai?”…..I believe there is a saying in Tamil of how something is always stored in your mind’s eye—“kannuliye nikkaradu” and yours was one of the few precious memories I have of that sort…..”
What else do I need at the end of the day!! Truly I have been blessed by my Gurus … … A life worth living!!
Smt. Indira Kadambi, Director, eAmbalam
