Nirmalanjali Academy of Bharathanatyam (Colombo)

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🏛 About

Nirmalanjali is a school dedicated exclusively to the teaching of Bharatanatyam, the most popular and widely practiced classical dance of Tamil Nadu, India, more than 2000 years old, rooted in Natya Sastra, the earliest treatise on dance and drama written by the sage and priest Bharata. At Nirmalanjali, we pride ourselves in training students of all ages to turn their passion into something greater, not just a professional dancer but their holistic development. This devotional art not only passes on our cultural values to students but also helps them with discipline and their social well-being. The dance academy ‘Nirmalanjali’ was inaugurated in 1986 and has grown far beyond its Silver Jubilee with a track record of many ‘Arangetrams’ and accomplishments. The name was given by her father who is a renowned scholar of languages and poet to connote dedication (‘Anjali’) to purity (‘Nirmalam’) which, in the broader sense absorbs not only purity in the art, the two religions Hinduism and Christianity, but also, incidentally, the name of the founder. Nirmala is privileged to be assisted by her father who has composed most of her lyrics for the dances, and her late mother, a Manipuri Dancer, extremely proficient costume designer and seamstress, who continuously helped her in the green room. Nirmalanjali has had a large number of ‘arangetrams’ and frequent performances both on stage and television. They performed with the teacher Nirmala at the 21st Annual Festival of Classical Dances at the Nadaraja Temple in Chidambaram. Nirmala often performs with her students in her dance productions. Some such major productions were ‘Navarasa Virunthu’, “Nithiya Sumangali’, ‘Sivakamiyin Sabatham’, ‘Paasathin Por’, ‘Doctor Faustus’, ‘Mathikkor Alaipu’, Tholuvam Sollum Kathai’, Vetrikkodi’, ‘Nadakkindrome’, ‘Thirukkudumbam’, ‘Sivasakthi’ and ‘Sri Rama Pattabishekam’.

💃 Dance Specializations