Sunday 30 June – Natyanjali Dance School

Chilanka Pooja —
Natyanjali Dance School

Chilanka pooja literally means ‘worshipping anklets’. In Bharathanatyam, anklets (chilanka) are considered sacred. Students of dance do Chilanka pooja after atleast 3 – 4 years of training, and provided the teacher thinks that he/she is ready physically and mentally to perform a formal dance recital. This is one of the major milestones in a dancer’s life. This is the first time the girls will formally do a dance repertoire wearing their “chilankas” to live Carnatic music. To qualify for this milestone, the dancers should have the basic knowledge of the artform and rhythm. They will step into the world of storytelling through this process and make use of the art form’s rich vocabulary of hand gestures and body language to facilitate the same.

Natyanjali Dance School led by its Artistic director Divya Ramkumar, is a performing arts school with centres in Cambridge and Sawston, where we train children and adults in the South Indian dance Form of Bharatanatyam.