The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Down's Syndrome no hurdle

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Feb 04, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Down's Syndrome no hurdle

Staff Reporter

CHENNAI: Babli Ramachandran is no professional dancer, but her debut Bharathanatyam performance with Kalakshetra dancers, P.T. Narendran and Shrimati Maveen, was watched by producer AVM Saravanan, singer O.S. Arun, dancer Leela Samson and the Dhananjayans.

What made her 90-minute performance exceptional is that Babli has Down's Syndrome.

Her mother, Rekha Ramachandran, who heads the Down's Syndrome Association of Tamil Nadu, says that people with the problem have a natural flare for music and rhythm. As it is also therapeutic, they encourage the children to learn dance at the association. Babli has been learning dance since she was 11 and her `Arangetram' was in 2004.

However, as Ms. Ramachandran pointed out, dancing with professionals is more challenging. Babli and the dancers rehearsed for their recent performance at Kalakshetra for two months. Thanks to the encouragement received after the performance, Ms. Ramachandran says they are planning to take the performance abroad.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail