To preserve and promote dance

CHENNAI: When they formed their organisation in 2011, the AMN Global Group had only one goal — to work towards the betterment of the society. From conducting education conclaves and cultural events, the group has been relentless in fulfilling it’s goal. As part of one of its initiatives, the AMN Global Group recently held a classical dance competition for schools.

“When we started the group, we started off with celebrating the country’s birthday (August 15) and then soon shifted our focus to education and fine arts,” said RJ Ram Narayanan, founder-MD, AMN Global Group.It was during an education conclave that was conducted earlier this year that Ram realised the need for promotion and preservation of our dance forms and also create a platform for students to be able to do that. And so he conducted the dance competition in which around 15 schools participated, with students divided into secondary and primary sections.

The competition, which was classified into three categories — Nrithya (participants could dance to any classical song), Natya (participants could select a theme and perform) and Nritta (participants had to dance only to a rhythmic pattern), saw young dancers dressed in colourful costumes, traditional dance ornaments and participate in teams of six to eight members.

Music vidwan TV Gopala-krishnan, who was the guest of honour, said, “It’s a noble attempt to involve young students and give such an opportunity. It is important to inculcate this tradition in young students, because today classical dance is not given as much importance as it was earlier.”

Delhi Ganesh, actor,was the chief guest. NP Kailash, correspondent, Singaram Pillai Matriculation School; Major M Venkatramana, principal, Shree Chandraprabha Jain College, Minjur; Capt S Santhosh Baboo, deputy warden, DG Vaishnav College and M Manickaswamy, principal, Kendriya Vidyalaya, IIT Campus, were special invitees. “I have been associated with AMN Group from the beginning. Ram is promoting education, arts and culture. He is doing this with a strong motive that everybody should get an opportunity,” said Delhi Ganesh.

Expressing his happiness at being a part of the event that helps nurture young talent, M Manickaswamy said, “We are bringing uniformity in the field of dance. It will definitely promote our culture and tradition.”