| Ballet with Bala | |
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"Apart from learning from Bala, I had the privilege of
performing in a ballet with her. It was titled " Sarabendra Bhoopala Kuravanji"
and was a dance drama. Whilst she was the Kuruvanji I portrayed Vasanthavalli. It was the first time when I got to know the family as a unit.
Ballet time included Bala’s 2 brothers , Vishwa on the flute, Ranga on the mridangam
, Ganesh for Nattuvangam and the others all busy doing one thing or the other towards the
ballet. For me the best part of it all was dancing to Jayamma’s music – her low
pitched melodious voice that reflected her training and tradition. When Bala was dancing,
she would sing with her high pitched voice in accompaniment to her mother. The effect was
was unbelievable – simply enthralling. They wanted me to sing too while doing my
padams and I did . This was the highlight of my dancing career. I don’t think anyone,
other than Lakshmi, had this opportunity of dancing with Bala, singing with Jayammal on
the same platform. Who could have asked for more. We performed the ballet
thrice." Guru Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai came to see one of the performances and praised the performance which reveals his broadmindedness in enabling Hema to learn under 2 differnt gurus. . The dancer on the far left in the group photo is now the well known dancer, Nirmala Ramachandran. |
 The Director
of this ballet Thiru K.P Kitappa |
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