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 PADMOTSAVA - celebrating the work of a legend in Singapore - Dr. Siri Rama e-mail: sirirama@hotmail.com Photos: Lijesh Karunakaran February 15, 2025 Initiated by Vaishnavi Anand (Chethas, Singapore), student of Dr Padma Subrahmanyam and Dr Jayashree Rajagopalan (senior disciple of Dr Padma), Global Indian Cultural Centre (GICC) and Apsaras Arts organised an event Padmotsava honouring and celebrating the work of Dr Padma Subrahmanyam on Feb 9, 2025. The GICC auditorium was filled with Indian classical dance teachers and students from the Singapore community and their enthusiastic family members and friends. The event highlighted the contribution of the 'legend' and was organised to give an opportunity for the Singapore Indian classical dance community to honour the artiste. The event began with a dhol-tasha (Maharashtrian drum ensemble) welcome organised by the GICC for the arrival of Dr Padma Subrahmanyam and Guest of Honour, Dr Shilpak Ambule, High Commissioner of India to Singapore.  Performing Rajarajeswaram Vaishnavi Anand personally called all the Indian classical dance schools in Singapore to invite them to be part of the celebration. Teachers, senior dancers and their students learnt the item Rajarajeswaram choreographed and composed by Dr Padma Subrahmanyam and performed the piece with great enthusiasm. A video on the life of Dr Padma was played tracing her artistic journey from childhood to present day achievements. This was followed by a speech by the Artistic Director of Apsaras Arts, the cultural medallion winner Aravinth Kumarasamy on behalf of the Singapore dance fraternity and the organisers of the felicitation. His speech received a huge applause from the audience. Dr Shilpak Ambule praised the legacy of Dr Padma Subrahmanyam and the legacy of Indian classical arts in Asia. This was followed by the felicitation of Dr. Shilpak Ambule by Sarita Alurkar, Senior Director & Head, GICC.  Guru Vandana A dance performance with choreography and music composition by Vaishnavi Anand and students of Dr. Padma's student lineage, showed the continuation of a Bharatanrityam style in Singapore. Vaishnavi Anand addressed the assembly on behalf of Dr. Padma's student community and the organisers. This was followed by the felicitation of Dr. Padma by offering her a lotus by the participating dancers and institutions, which was arranged tastefully by the organisers. The Bharatanatyam dancers and institutions of Singapore that participated in the function were: Apsaras (T Mohanapriyan ), Bharatha Arts (Suganthi and Jayanthi Kesavan), Bharathaanjali (V Balakrishnan), Bhaskars Arts Academy (Meenakshy Bhaskar), Chethas (Vaishnavi Anand), Chitrakala Arts (Chithra Shankar), Darshan Fine Arts (Kamariah Yusuf), Kalpavriksha Fine Arts (Meera Balasubramanian), Koothambalam (Vardhini Subramanian), Makoolam Kalaikoodam (Meenalochani Anandan), Medasvi School of Dance (Haritha Haridas), Omkar Arts (S. Sreedevy), Roshni K Pillay, Sadhana Performing Arts, Sakthi Fine Arts (Devi Veerappan), Shantha Ratii Initiatives (SRI) Ltd (Shantha Ratii), Shrutilaya (Gayatri Sriram), SIFAS (Ranjani Rangan), Svayambhu Fine Arts (Amirthini Sivaharan), Swarna Kala Mandir (Swarna Varsha) and Temple of Fine Arts (Deepa Srivathsan).  Vaishnavi Anand, Dr Padma Subrahmanyam and Dr Chua Soo Pong Among the musicians who had worked with Dr Padma Subrahmanyam, vocalist Bhagya Murthy and mridangam artiste Ramanan joined the felicitations with enthusiasm. Chinese Opera artiste and scholar Dr Chua Soo Pong was the only representative present from the non-Indian Singapore dance community who came in later and congratulated Dr Padma, with whom he had collaborated in the past.  Dr Padma Subrahmanyam's speech The audience then had the pleasure of hearing Dr Padma Subrahmanyam who warmly greeted the forum and thanked everybody for their efforts. She then entertained the audience with anecdotes from her life and advised all artistes to focus on the east rather than the west. She spoke about her efforts to link Asian arts through the Natyashastra and also hinted at a new project she is planning with Aravinth Kumarasamy of Apsaras Arts, details of which would be revealed in the near future. Dr. Padma presented Apsaras Neila Sathyalingam Memorial Endowment Award 2025 to dancer Nikita Menon, for her achievements in field of Bharatanatyam. This was followed by a brilliant Bharatanrityam performance by Dr Padma Subrahmanyam's student and grandniece, Mahati Kannan, daughter of the well-known veena artiste and composer Kannan Balakrishnan and dancer/scholar Dr Gayatri Kannan who also graced the function. The morning ended with a vote of thanks by Sarita Alurkar.  Nikita Menon receiving the Neila Sathyalingam Award  Mahati Kannan One cannot think of any other musician or dancer being felicitated for the last 20 years in Singapore in such a grand manner. A wonderful tribute to an artiste who treaded her own distinctive path with elan and an ability to enthuse others to join her in her artistic journey.  Participating Bharatanatyam gurus, dancers and organisers with Dr Padma Subrahmanyam  Dr Siri Rama is a Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi artiste, research scholar, choreographer and author based in Singapore/Mumbai. She is the co-founder and artistic director of Kanaka Sabha Performing Arts Centre (Mumbai/ Singapore). She has authored the book 'Dance Divine- Dancing deities of India,' Shubhi Publications, 2021. |
