Indian Bharatnatyam dancer Vallabhi Chellam Annamalai. Photograph: Instagram/@vallabhichellam
Delhi-based Bharatnatyam dancer Vallabhi Chellam Annamalai delighted over 400 delegates on the inaugural occasion of the Gandhi-King-Mandela Worldwide Convention in South Africa with a novel efficiency on considered one of Mahatma Gandhi’s favorite bhajans.
“I’ve been instilled with the Gandhian values from a really younger age,” Ms. Annamalai, the daughter of Alagan Annamalai, Director of the Nationwide Gandhi Museum in New Delhi, stated.
The convention, which was held final week in Pietermaritzburg, focussed on the problems that may be addressed utilizing the ideas of non-violence advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, and Martin Luther King.
Ms. Annamalai, who choreographed Bharatanatyam steps set to considered one of Gandhi’s favorite bhajans “Vashnava Jan To”, stated it had not been tough to rearrange the choreography, as each her dad and mom have been firmly dedicated Gandhians and so she had grown up along with his philosophies.
“Once I was invited to carry out right here, I assumed it might be a becoming tribute if I mixed each the artwork types and current one thing that will be very related at this juncture, so I choreographed this music,” Ms. Annamalai stated.
She was referring to the truth that the convention at which she carried out marked the one hundred and thirtieth anniversary of the incident the place younger lawyer Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was thrown off a practice in Pietermaritzburg Station as a result of he was in a compartment reserved for white passengers solely.
Additionally Learn | The evolution of Gandhi’s thought
The incident triggered his path to establishing Satyagraha, main the struggle towards oppression in each South Africa and India, and finally turning into the Mahatma.
Because the viewers marvelled at her dance, Indian friends defined to their counterparts from over a dozen international locations what her numerous hand gestures meant.
Ms. Annamalai is a educated Bharatnatyam dancer for the previous 20 years and has been extensively performing for the previous 15 years.