Accolades and Reviews...

What's th best part of the dance performance for you?

"That the dancer did the vote of thanks herself and thanked everyone, particularly Chikku the dog 🐕 from her teacher's house! That was amazing. That for me was the best moment. Of course I liked the dance as well." - young co-home schooler.

"The fact that the grand parents were recognised and invited to honour the artists. That was a beautiful moment. It is not often that you find proud family members are asked to honour the artists in performances." - parent of another dance student.

"I could see that the dancer had a problem in between, maybe she wants to take a breath of something, but the way she exited the stage and then quickly returned gracefully to continue as though nothing has happened was beautiful. That comes with lots of confidence in oneself, even supposedly professional dancers often struggle to handle such situations." - Chief Guest

Actually Maithreyi was struggling with a cough and cold during the last several days and she had a running nose during the performance, she has to exit twice during the performance to attend to that.

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There are several more coming as texts, voice messages, comments in the online portal, what people told us after the performance and calls that are coming, will update this post.

The special bonding with the MC of the event, Sreelatha...

 Nearly for four decades Maithreyi's mom Rama and Sreelatha have been friends and Maithreyi grew up with the knowledge of Sree-perima (elder sister of Mom) always being there for her. Sreelatha herself is trained musician, equally versatile in classical and light music with a family deeply involved in the classical dance tradition. 

younger Maithreyi with Sree-perima in the Himalayas

When the programme details were being discussed, there were several names considered for the role of the MC of the event. But the only name that Maithreyi herself was confident from the beginning was that of her beloved Sree-perima. 

It is a continuation of the friendship that has now moved to the next generation...

Sequence of the Dance performance on the 9th July 2022

 

Dancing for a cause enhances life...

 Whether it is dancing on stage in honour of a senior artist, or on the learning centre to celebrate the idea of India, in the rain with friends for an outing, with sunrise on the beach because that's a beautiful moment in life, on stage for the school annual day...dancing has been an integral part of life. 

While she has attended workshop on Kathakkali and wants to pursue the same, she has also attended a short camp on Bhangra and enjoys dancing for the bhangra beats as well. One of her favourite dance performances has been watching a young dancer perform in landfills and near sewage to raise awareness on the environmental issues. 

Before the Pandemic and after...the challenges of performing arts!

One of the most difficult challenges for the students of performing arts has been to continue their classes through the lockdown and the severe restrictions placed on in-person classes. Smt.Maya Vinayan of the Triveni Academy of Natya has been offering classes to all her students online through the pandemic quickly adopting to the virtual medium despite its obvious limitations.

Maithreyi and the group of senior students had performed at the famous Thiruvanaikkaval temple near Tiruchirapalli in the last week of January 2020. With the pandemic raising immediately after that, many of them couldn't meet each other in person for over 2 years and some had moved on and lost contact with the remaining students. 

For the Rangapravesam of Maithreyi many of her co-students from the dance school where she has been an integral part for over a decade now will be joining her - perhaps the first time such a gathering is happening since the pandemic. 

Mayyanur - the beautiful small town from where Smt. Maya Vinayan hails!

 Smt. Maya Vinayan, the dance teacher of Maithreyi is a versatile dancer who had learnt three of the south indian classical dance forms from one of the most prestigious institution of each one of them, viz., Mohiniattam from the famous Kalamandalam school, Bharat Natyam from the Dhananjayans and Kuchipudi from the late master, Vempati Chinna Satyam. 

While she has been training young girls on dancing in Chennai since 25 years now, she has also developed her ancestral home in Mayyanur, Kerala (not far from Ottapalam near Palakkad) into a beautiful dance school as well. She has been regularly conducting programmes in this beautiful location, not just performance but also workshops on advanced topics and special areas of interest for the students. Maithreyi has been visiting the Mayyanur campus since few years and earlier this year (2022) attended a workshop by Kalamandalam Sri. Venkitaraman master. Here is a link to a short practice session by Maithreyi at the Mayyanur dance school.

Dancing in another landmark of Mylapore...5 years ago!!

While giving a solo performance is a very cherished moment for any young artist that too in a prestigious venue, Maithreyi has already performed with her co-students in the Triveni Academy of Natya several times.

One such performance was given almost 5 years ago at the biggest landmark of the Mylapore town- the famous Kapaleeswarar temple in 2018 as part of the temple festival. She has also performed along with her co-students in the Thiruvanaikaval temple near Tiruchirapalli and also at the famous temple in Vellore.