Chennai’s Chandralekha July 16th, 2009

When it comes to four-star hotels, Chennai can supply excellence with luxury in its choices for accommodations.  Our hotels have a fantastic blend of tradition and innovation, so that guests can be treated to the four-star quality they expect, and also find a spirit of hospitality and grace that runs through everything.  With its amazing beaches, a vibrant classical music scene, and a thriving film industry, Chennai is a feast for travelers.  The hotels strive to meet the vibrancy of the city, and to help guests rejuvenate the body and soul.

If the luxuries of the hotel get to be too relaxing, the city offers an incredible array of urban adventures.  With tours, sight-seeing, people watching, and shopping, there are wonderful activities for the whole family.  There are fascinating temples and sites of great historical interest, testifying to the long history of human habitation.  Chennai attracts a diverse cross-section of humanity, and also has its share of celebrities.  One of these is the acclaimed dancer, Chandralekha.  Her story is unique and extremely inspiring.  Chandralekha never married, particularly unusual for a woman of her generation, just one example of a life forged by a very clear inner rudder.

Having studied the classical system Bharat Natyam, she became a very popular dancer in the 1950s.  Then she left the field altogether, and spent 25 years working as a human rights and women’s rights activist.  In 1994, she returned to her former profession, and stunned the world with her new creations.  She combined her classical knowledge with yoga and Indian martial arts, and invented a form that was familiar, yet extremely revolutionary.  By the time of her death in Chennai in 2007, when she was 78 years old, Chandralekha had established herself again as a major force in dance in India, and in the modern dance world at large.  Her performances, which were noted for merging form and expression, were very sensual explorations of feminine energy, duality, and uniting the political notions of the human body with spiritual notions that have roots in prehistory.  Her visionary artistry has left a rare presence on the earth.

• Posted by Cliff
• Tagged Travel