KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 – Death is always a sad, painful affair filled with grieving family members, relatives and friends and it was not any different for the people who loved Shyamala Narayanan, a long-serving dance teacher with the Temple of Fine arts in Brickfields here, who passed away last Friday, Jan 27. Except, the students and teachers of TFA gave her a befitting send off – a final dance during the funeral rites held on Sunday.
While singing and dancing is not an unusual event during funerals in many cultures, it is not always that one’s last journey is accompanied by a dance, and this honour was given to Shyamala with a soulful dance performance from the students and teachers of TFA.
Shyamala, who left behind a husband, son, daughter, daughter-in-law and granddaughter, was also mourned by many TFA staff and members as well as former students of the performing arts institution where she had performed as a dancer as well as taught and mentored many students in the classical dance form of Bharata Natyam over the years.
Apart from her teaching, Shyamala was also actively involved in the operations of TFA’s Lavanya Arts boutique as well as the Annapoorna (now known as Annalakshmi) restaurant. With an eye for finer details, she was also very involved in costume designing for TFA’s productions, winning several BOH Cameronian Arts Awards.
–WE