Five dancers were honoured at ‘Natya Darshan 2016’, an annual dance seminar here on Friday. The event organised by Karthik Fine Arts and convened by dancer Krithika Subramanian conferred the Madurai N. Krishnan Memorial Award on Rathnakumar, Lifetime Achievement Award on Raja and Radha Reddy, ‘Natya Chudar Award’ on Sudharma Vaidyanathan and ‘Nithya Jyothi Award’ on Mathura Vishwanathan Vijay.

Dancer Chitra Visweswaran, after presenting the awards, said this seminar has grown from strength to strength over the last several years primarily because of the cooperation from dancers. “It was started locally, then went national and now people from across the world come to participate,” she said.

Kuchipudi exponent Raja Reddy recollected the time when one of the great dance gurus refused to accept him as a disciple because of his appearance. “He told me bluntly that I cannot dance because I have a dark complexion and huge nose; he said I must have attractive features to be a dancer. After a long struggle I learnt this art form and then sometime back when I gave a performance in Elizabeth Hall, London I was appreciated to a great extent,” he said. Chairman of Karthik Fine Arts L. Sabaretnam also spoke during the event. It was followed by a dance recital by Priya Murali.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> News> Cities / by Staff Reporter / December 17th, 2016