Hema,
apart
from
dancing
for
several
Sabhas
,
danced
at the
Music
Academy
on
three
occasions
and
the
one on
their
Silver
Jubillee,
had
the
most
eminent
persons
both
in the
fields
of
music
and
dance
performing.
Since
Hema
was
proficient
in
music,dance
and
acting
she
took
part
in
several
Tamil
musical
dramas,
playing
the
main
roles
in
'Shakuntala'
and
'Krishna
Thula
Baram'.
Hema
and
her
sister
Padmini
were
also
regular
All
India
Radio
vocal
artistes
and
gave
public
'kutcheries'
in
several
well
known
Sabhas
in
Madras.
Hema
was
also
associated
with
T.Balasaraswathi
in the
Tamil
Dance
Ballet
'Sarabendra
Bhoopali
Kuravanji'
both
playing
the
main
roles.
These
dance-shows
had
repeated
performances.
Hema's
father
was
aproached
in
1947/8
when
Hema
was 13
yrs
old ,
by the
famous
Film
Producer
Sreeramulu
Naidu,
to act
in a
Tamil
film
"Kannika"
and
she
took
part
and
the
film
was a
"hit".
She
was
aso
later
approached
by
anothe
famous
Film
Producer
MVRaman
to
also
act in
another
film.
but
before
that
could
take
shape,
we
were
married
!
Hema
also
gave
several
benefit
Bharatanatyam
dance
performances
and
some
of the
chief
guests
included
dignitaries
like
Pandit
Jawaharlal
Nehru,
C.R.Rajagopachariar
and
Countess
Lady
Mountbatten,
wife
of the
Viceroy
of
India.
Well that was the first part of Hema’s life. This second part was that of her being a homemaker for the most part except for a short period in Bombay where she restarted her classical Bharatanatyam dance with Rajarajeswari Bharatha Natya Kala Mandir. Once again my transfer intervened and this time it was to Hyderabad, a place we really liked and built a house to settle after retirement. We were once again transferred to the HQ at Calcutta, from where I took early retirement after being there for nearly 10 years. This, the third part of Hema's life gave Hema the opportunity to use her innate talent to teach Bharatanatyam dance and explore her other creative abilities. Firstly, she had to hone her skills to use her teaching abilities and impart her extensive knowledge having learnt from the legends of this classical art. She has taught several children , over 400, and has conducted 50 arangethrams over the last 25 years. All said and done, teaching dancing and conducting performances could sometimes become routine. For fuller expression of creativity Hema ventured into the realm of creating dance ballets and has made it an annual event now. As it requires a lot of imagination and research, she has limited it to one ballet a year.
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