Tamil Nadu   

Awards for dancers Rhadha, Shobana

— Photo: R. Ragu

ARTISTS HONOURED: Swami Dayananda Saraswati (second from left) with dancers (from left) Rhadha, Shobana, Padma Subrahmanyam and industrialist Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty at the inauguration of the Art and Dance festival of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha in Chennai on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: Dancers Rhadha and Shobana were conferred the ‘Aacharya Choodamani’ and ‘Nrithya Choodamani’ awards respectively, at the inauguration of the 52nd Art and Dance Festival of Sri Krishna Gana Sabha held here on Wednesday.

The event also marked the beginning of the organisation’s 27th Natya Kala Conference and the 20th Nagaswara Isai Vizha.

Speaking at the function, Swami Dayananda Saraswati, founder of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam, Coimbatore, said sabhas played a significant role in preserving culture and tradition. Chennai could boast of initiating this festival.

Dancers Padma Subrahmanyam, Bharati Shivaji and specialist in dance literature Sujatha Vijayaraghavan commended the awardees for their contributions.

“Rhadha is a classic example of someone who has proved that age has nothing to do with one’s ability to dance. The energy and enthusiasm with which she performs would put teenagers to shame,” she said.

Ms. Subrahmanyam said dancer Shobana was a complete artist who hailed from a family of reputed artists such as Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini.

Ms. Vijayaraghavan spoke about Ms. Rhadha’s passion for the art form and how she excelled as a performer, choreographer and teacher.

Ms. Shivaji outlined the topics to be covered in this year’s Natya Kala Conference.

The awardees, in their acceptance speeches, thanked their families, students and well wishers for their support.

Industrialist and president of the Sabha Nalli Kuppuswamy Chetty said that this year’s festival was dedicated to former secretary of the sabha R. Yagnaraman, who had built the sabha over five decades.

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