Pushpanjali - A Floral Tribute!

It's an age old custom and tradition in India to use flowers for worship, rituals, to honor someone or to welcome guests. Here is a perfect shot that depicts this tradition!

Pushpanjali - Floral Tribute in Sanskrit!

I took this shot during the photo shoot session, meant for designing the souvenir of a dance program to be held in June 2011. This program is to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Nrittasamudra dance school. In Sanskrit, 'Nritta' is body movements (as in dance) and 'samudra' is ocean. So, Nrittasamudra is Dance Ocean.

True to its name, Nrittasamudra's founder and eminent classical dancer Mrs. Sandhya is an ocean of expression and I have seen her expressive gestures when she teaches Bharatanatyam to her students. My daughter is one of her students.

Pushpanjali dance is a way of honoring Lord Nataraja - the patron God of Bharatanatyam, Guru - the dance teacher and Sabhaa - the audience! And, my daughter is one of the dancers to perform Pushpanjali dance, at the start of the program.