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Interactive: Learning new lessons.

The camp has grown in strength over nine years. The dancers look forward to the three-days’ interaction with experienced resource persons in their respective fields. They also get an opportunity to give a short performance.

In addition, they take part in the temple festivities and dance before the deities for the Dolotsavam in the mandapam and the Garuda Vahanam around the temple to the accompaniment of nagaswara music. This year, there were 31 participants from Ahmedabad, Chennai, Coonoor, Madurai, Mumbai and Puducherry.

For three days kept the dancers were kept on their toes, beginning at 6 a.m. with the Angika session of yoga by Anil Kumar. He helped the dancers understand their bodies and taught them to stretch each muscle beginning with the head and neck, down to the ankles and toes. He explained the importance of breathing while doing yoga asanas.

Being the birth day of Rukmini Devi, February 29 was special. Camp Convenor, Prof. C.V. Chandrasekhar, and veteran teacher, N.S. Jayalakshmi of Kalakshetra, remembered her in the introductory address. Beautiful pictures of Rukmini Devi from the Sruti Foundation archives were also on display. Sudha Seshayyan handled the Vachika session on appreciation of poetry and underlined the importance of knowing the meaning of any poem or song before it was expressed through dance. She guided the dancers in interpreting songs of Subramania Bharathi, Muthu Thandavar and Gopalakrishna Bharathi after understanding them in depth. Having specialised in abhangs, she also explained their meaning so that the dancers could perform them at the temple during the Dolotsavam to her accompanying vocals. The Angika workout by Prof. C.V Chandrasekhar stressed on body language and involvement, while performing nritta in Bharatanatyam. He worked with the dancers on their postures and positions giving them a vigorous work-out. He also handled the Aharya sessions on costume and stage decor. He reiterated that each dancer should dress according to her personality without trying to imitate another dancer. He also advised male dancers to wear minimal make-up and jewellery.

An extremely useful session was that of Dr. Kannan Pugazhendi, a sports medicine doctor, who emphasised the fact that dancers should warm up first to avoid injuries to the knees and other joints which are so common today. He taught a series of warm-up exercises.

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