The students of the Tharangini School of Dance (Adyar) -- Akanksha A.K., Durga P.V., Hari Ganesh, Kalpana S., Ravi Anand and Shruti -- under the guidance of their guru, Shobanaa Balachandra, have won the first prize at the All India Multi-lingual Dance, Drama and musical festival in Pune, held under the auspices of the Akhil Bharatiya Samskrutik Sangh (ABSS), in association with UNESCO.
The ABSS is an associate member of International Amateur Theatre association, Belgium, Member of International Dance Council, CIDNESCO, and is supported by the Department of Cultural Affairs, Maharashtra. The event, a cultural extravaganza, was conducted from May 20 to June 1. The categories included solo, duet, group participation in plays, mono acting, dance, vocal, instrumental, drawing etc. There were more than 8500 entries from all over India in the group dance category in which Shobanaa Balachandra’s disciples emerged winners. The dance item was an amalgam of Bharatiar’s energy packed song, ‘Mazhai,’ and Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna’s Tillana.
