The Tamil School of Dance on Saturday, March 17 hosted its annual event at New Lynn Community Centre showcasing the talents of the young classical dancers of its school.
The school’s annual concert provides an opportunity to their students to showcase their talents to their families, friends and the community. This year’s concert was based on Ganapathi theme, which depicts the story of Ganapathi – his birth, battles with demons to destroy evil and the celebration of Chaturthi festival.
The event was attended by the parents of the students, classical dance lovers, National List MPs Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi, Dr Paramjeet Parmar, Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan and Puketapapa Local Board member Ella Kumar.
The show started with Pushpanjali, that is offered as a prayer followed by Bharathanatyam dance.
It is believed that dance, like music, knows no geographical boundaries, has no linguistic barriers and has no racial divisions. Dance is a great unifying and integrating force, and it is clearly demonstrated in the show that included participating dancers from the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati, Marathi, Hindi and Bengali speaking communities.
The aim of Tamil New Zealand School of Dance’s is the preservation of culture through classical dance Bharathanatyam and bringing communities together and unifying their minds and souls through this form of art.
The Tamil New Zealand School of Dance is managed by renowned classical dancer Ambiha Sitsabesan who has been a Bharathanatiyam teacher in New Zealand for more than ten years. Ambiha Sitsabesan has conducted numerous shows in Auckland and Wellington along with her sons Sakayan and Saeyavan who have graduated in Bharathanatyam six years ago.
Though Bharathanatyam originated over 2000 years ago, it has always been a growing art in India and on a global scale. Its basic principles and ideals have remained practically unchanged although its repertoire and forms of presentation have been changing from time to time to suit changing conditions and concepts of artistry. Thus the arts of India, especially music and dance are a revelation of many thousands of years of culture and civilisation.
The Tamil New Zealand School of Dance has been training the students in the South Indian style Bharathanatyam for over ten years now. The school has students enrolled from India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Fiji and South Africa.
The school regularly performs at Indian community events, and also in other ethnic events and contributes to the greater multicultural space of Aotearoa New Zealand. It has performed at the Auckland Diwali event on Aotea Square, Auckland International Cultural Festival, Auckland Library Shows organised by Auckland Council, Lakeside Festival, Auckland Multicultural Expo and various other community and business events.
The school has actively promoted the younger generation is not just dancing, but also encourage students to teach dance, and showcase the vibrant art form at different events and stages.
It also encourages students to undertake dance collaboration with community dance groups and develop relationships with the wider Kiwi community.
ISSUE
Leave a Comment