On Saturday 16th April, the inhabitants of Saint-Pierre celebrated a colourful Tamil New Year.  For nearly three hours, they attended dance and fashion shows with a backdrop of Indian music.

Last Saturday, we could hear Pouttandou Vajtoukal or happy New Year in Tamil, in the area around the car park of Saint-Pierre’s town council.  Like every year, the podium and marquee welcomed the artists and audience, who came to celebrate the Tamil Year 5081.  There was quite a multicultural public and as the mayor stated, “it is a celebration which shows the unity of the nation, an opportunity to celebrate our attachment to the cultural diversity of the island.”  After the tasting of sweets, honey sweets, banana, namkaté, djelebi, ladou, a traditional and modern dance show, presented by several Indian associations brightened up the evening.  The different shades of the dancers’ saris and lively music rendered the stage colourful.  The level of performance, dynamism, beauty and the elegance of the dancers charmed the audience.  The light breeze that blew off the saris made their moves more graceful.  In the crowd, one was clapping hands, waddling, and having a quick dance with their minds wandering over to India.

*(L’I-Di, “Institut de danse indienne” of Saint-Clotilde, the Devipendialye of Saint-Pierre, l’Indian of the night, Sainte-Rose, the Shiva_Nayana of Saint-Suzanne, l’India Rodja Kajakan,of Saint-André…)

A zoom on the two guests of the evening:

SAVARDEKAR Sampada Arun:
At 25, Sampada has been a professional dancer in Pondichéry for 15 years.  She is a specialist of two main Indian classical dances; the Baratha natyan, a traditional dance from the south and the Khatak, a dance originally from the province of Lucknow in the north of the country.  She has already performed in solo on several stages in France and Italy.

KHAN Subhahan :
A 25 year-old dancer and film-choreographer, Subhahan has been practicing and teaching the choreographies of modern Indian cinema such as Bollywood and Kollywood in Bombay.  If Bollywood keeps a traditional style, Kollywood is a contemporary dance, blending many types of choreographies and music.

Marion Vigreux
April 2007