Date:23/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/08/23/stories/2005082315650200.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

Children present dance ballet on the Cauvery

Special Correspondent

Mantram Art Foundation also promotes artistic and creative activity

COLOURFUL: A tableau being presented by students trained by Mantram.

BANGALORE: Mantram Art Foundation, in the forefront of organising the Bangalore Art Festival, now a calendar event, also promotes artistic and creative activity among children.

This Independence Day it took upon the task of training children from the schools run by Bangalore Mahanagara Palike, to present a colourful tableau along with dance numbers on the Cauvery.

The dance ballet and the tableau about the river had nearly 400 children participating in them and turned out to be a colourful and imaginative item that stood out.

Made remarkable by the fact that children usually considered from the less privileged backgrounds were executing it with finesse.

The presentation covered a full narrative describing the Cauvery, including landmark events such as its birth in Talacauvery and its passage till its culmination with the sea in the Bay of Bengal, far away in coastal Tamil Nadu.

The dance-musical was set to a tuneful new composition specially evolved for the event by the danseuse and choreographer Rashmi Hegde.

The young children got a unique chance to exhibit their talents and skills and most were participating in such an elaborate presentation for the first time.

There were colourful costumes of the people of the many regions through which the river flows and a narrative about the river and its origins as well which captured the imagination of onlookers.