Prathishta’s Bharathanatyam Arangetram at Logan Hall London
It so happened during January 2016 that I met Mr. T.G.Singham from UK who was introduced to me by renowned Make up artist Mr. Murugan, when they were on their visit to Chennai on preparatory work for their daughter’s Bharathanatiyam Arangetram, which was all set to happen on 2nd April 2016 at Logan Hall, London. As a part of their preparations I was given the opportunity to shoot Miss .Prathista’s arangetram invitation photo shoot , and it happened at my FotoZone studio. And the photographs came out very well and they were so happy with the output.
After a couple of weeks I got a call from Mr. Singham, and that’s where he asked me to hop off at London along with Mr. Murugan to cover the Arangetram too, I was happy and immediately accepted his invitation. It was my first Classical dance project abroad, though I have done few shoots abroad, shooting an arangetram in London was a new experience. we landed in London two days earlier, with one of the warmest welcome and hospitality by Mr. and Mrs Singham. We met Guru Smt. Jeyanthy Yogharajah where we saw Prathishta’s rehearsals.
On the day of Arangetram we reached the Logan hall a bit earlier to oversee the arrangement, but to our surprise it was not a foreign land, the arrangements were so perfect and fabulous that I just felt being inside our own Music Academy. The foreigners were so perfect and so workaholic that they made everything with great perfection. The event was a well organized event and to be a bit satire all the guests were on time.
As a good will, I presented a Guest testimonial book to Miss. Prathista which she took care to place it at the entrance, where the guests found time to write their sincere comments and wishes, and so began the event. Normally in Chennai there would be 2 or 3 costume changes, but to our surprise Prathista took pain to do 5 costume changes and her hard work was well rewarded.
Prathishta was danced , and her performance was something beyond my expectation, I was astounded by her dance,
normally people abroad wouldn’t have exposure to bharatham as the people here at Chennai have, but the way she carried the Dance swept away all my assumptions about classical dance abroad her skills were par excellence.
In between Prathishta’s sister Shobitha sang a beautiful tamil song.
We Indians don’t find time to learn our own Classical arts due to our so called Busy schedule, but seeing Prathista dance made me feel a bit awful on our front,
the time I spent with their Family was something that has left some beautiful memories in my lifetime. Thank you Mr. T.G.Singham & family..
