A 13-year-old Chinese girl scripted history when she performed Bharatanatyam "Arangetram" in China, a landmark in the journey of the ancient Indian dance form that is gaining popularity in the neighbouring country. Lei Muzi made her solo dance debut here on Sunday in front of the celebrated Bharatanatyam dancer Leela Samson, Indian diplomats and a large audience of Chinese fans. For ardent Chinese fans of Indian classical art and dance forms who devoted their lives to learning and performing them for decades, her debut was a moment of history and a milestone as it was the first-ever "Arangetram" -- Bharatnatyam's graduation ceremony -- in China.
Let us know! 👂 What type of content would you like to see from us this year? For the performers of the ancient dance from South India, Arangetram, as it is called in Tamil, is their debut performance on stage in front of teachers and experts besides the audience.Only after Arangetram are the students allowed to perform on their own or train aspiring dancers. "This is the first-ever Arangetram by a student fully trained in China and performed in China," said T S Vivekanand, the First Secretary of the Indian Embassy in charge of culture who attended the event.
It was a properly done Arangetram in a very traditional way, he told PTI here. "Lei's Arangetram is the first time that Chinese students trained by a Chinese teacher have completed in China, which is a landmark in the history of Bharatanatyam inheritance," noted Chinese Bharatan.