After a break of 6 years, the Swami Haridas Music and Dance Festival at Lucknow has been revived this year on September 13, 2002.
On August 30, 2002, Kathak dancer Neelam Verma released a set of 5 cassettes of healing rhythms titled Divine Dawn, Healing Touch, Sandhya Bhajan, Rhythm of Peace and Haridhun Sankirtan. These seek to harmonize one's breathing cycle with the wave of melody, resulting in a healthy heart. Neelam is a professional cardiologist. She says there's also music to prevent road rage and keep some kinds of tension at bay.
Guru K J Sarasa released the book A B C OF MUSIC AND DANCE compiled by K Parthasarathy at the Varasiddhi Vinayaka temple, Chennai on August 18, 2002. The first copy was given to Leela Sekhar, secretary, International Dance Alliance.
Velou Mourugane, 49, of Indian Embassy, France and 'Triveni' Cultural Organisation, passed away in the early hours of 25th July 2002 at Paris. The cremation will take place at Pondicherry. For details contact, 499 2566/ 499 0036 Chennai.

'Triveni', a cultural organisation in Paris was started by two youngsters, Velou Mourugane and Mohan Delamourde , in the early eighties. Between them, Velou and Mohan have promoted Indian classical / folk dance and music in every nook and corner of France. Many leading artistes of today have been presented in several cities, towns and festivals in France through Triveni - Chitra Visweswaran , Narasimhachari and Vasanthalakshmi, Sudha Raghunathan, Sashank , Kadri Gopalnath, Sridhar and Anuradha Sridhar and the Manganiars, to name a few. Velou's and Mohan's selfless service to Indian dance and music has done much to put them on the cultural map of France.

Velou is survived by his aged mother and siblings at Pondicherry.
Velou's family in Pondicherry can be contacted at (91 - 413) - 345578 / 337476
Triveni / Mohan in Paris, contact: (33 - 1) - 34156433 Fax: (33 - 1) - 30725344.
LAGHU BHARATHAM Volume III - Tamil translation of a handbook on Bharatanatyam was released on July 7, 2002 on the occasion of Shree Bharatalaya's 32nd anniversary celebrations at Sathguru Gnanananda Hall in Chennai. Hon'ble Justice P R Gopalakrishnan, President, Tamil Isai Sangam, released the book; Anita Ratnam received the first copy.
The Uday Shankar Academy at Almora is to be revived by the Uttaranchal government by recreating the old tradition along with the addition of being a hub of new cultural activities. Apart from promotion of dance, music and drama, an annual music and dance festival in the tourist season has been proposed by the Ministry of Tourism which will allot an additional 2 crores of rupees for the expanded project, apart from the 45 lakhs already given for the cultural center. A new design will be commissioned and various locations including the previous center will be examined for suitability.
Director K Subrahmanyam Memorial Trust and Vanathi Pathippakam, released the Tamil book "Padma Subrahmanyam - Oru Sagaptham" (Padma - An Era) by Sundari Santhanam as the first event of the year long celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Nrityodaya and Golden Jubilee of Padma Subrahmanyam's dance career, at Russian Cultural Center on June 29, 2002 in Chennai. Dr.Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti released the book and Krishnakumari Narendran received the first copy.


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