A Wonderful Offering of Dance and Music

On April 14th and 15th, we staged a performance entitled KRISHNAARPANAM which means "offering to Lord Krishna". This showcased the musical and dance talents of the Temple of Fine Arts. Geetha danced and also took on the role of Yashoda, mother of Lord Krishna. Hari was part of the orchestra, playing his violin alongside his teacher. Giri was once again dressed up as Krishna, with blue painted on him. He appeared as one of the 12 Krishnas in the last piece. The show was very well received by the audience.

Before the performance, Geetha did puja to Swamiji for a smooth performance, invoking his blessings upon all the dancers and musicians as well as members of the audience.

Among the audience was Guruji Durga Charan Ranbir, an Odissi master who was visiting Kuala Lumpur. He had come to watch the show. I had met him earlier in November last year in Delhi during an Odissi festival. After the performance, Geetha met up with him and took his blessings. So did all the dancers.


Madangopal played Narada so beautifully he captured the hearts of the audience with his ease of delivery of lines, singing and dancing with great confidence and love for his work. Before the performance, he even perked up the exhausted dancers with some inspired words. Hari played the violin well, too. His teacher was very proud of him.

Giri on Swamiji's Birthday

This year, Geetha choreographed a piece entitled PYAARE to celebrate our beloved Swamiji's birthday at the Temple of Fine Arts on April 8th. She had created a piece that had dance and theatre, recalling some of the moments we have shared with Swamiji while producing the Ramayana in 1992. Her dance students were given a chance to experience some of the special moments of our time with Swamiji through this work.

Giri, along with many other young children of the Temple of Fine Arts, took part to bring to life once again a scene from the Ramayana. Giri was painted blue, first as Krishna, and then, as Prince Rama.

Just moments before his cue, Giri was made up like this to signify the Blue God Krishna.

In this short dance sequence to Swamiji's song Deep Deep Within Me, Krishna came to awaken the sleeping gopis (milkmaids) so that he can dance and sing with them.

Krishna continues to dance and sing, invoking moments of joy and beauty for all of us.

A quick change, and Giri was transformed from Krishna to Prince Rama. Here, he is flanked by his friends Swaroop who is Lakshmana, and Suparna who is dressed as Princess Sita. Notice the change in Giri's headgear. He also holds a bow, Rama's weapon.