THE organisers of a Bharatanatyam Arangetram (debut performance) event in Tapah, Perak, came under fire for conducting the entire event in English and not using Tamil at all, Makkal Osai reported.
Sangeetha Veeraiya, who is a dance student at the Abhinayakshetra Fine Arts Temple, was showcasing her maiden public performance, which is akin to a graduation ceremony for a fully trained dancer.
Sungkai assemblyman A. Sivanesan, who attended the event at the Sri Thadayuthapani Temple, praised Sangeetha, her teacher N. Vigneswari and Abhinayakshetra’s adviser Datuk Seri Navarathinam for their dedication and support for the arts.
However, the assemblyman noted that the entire event, from the announcements to the event pamphlets, had given priority to the English language.
“We are now still fighting to get Tamil recognised and used in airports and in-flight announcements and other public places, yet the language is being ignored in our own events,” lamented Sivanesan.Bharatanatyam is generally considered to be an ancient art form of the Tamils dedicated to Lord Shiva, whose home is considered to be South India.
The above articles are compiled from the vernacular newspapers (Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil dailies). As such, stories are grouped according to the respective language/medium. Where a paragraph begins with a >, it denotes a separate news item.
