This year being the centenary celebration of the award-winning poet, Soorya Dance Company, St.Louis, USA and Shanthala Arts Academy Bangalore have collaborated to bring this production to Bangalore. With a combination of drama, dance and martial arts, the duo presented the story of Ekalavya at three festivals in Bangalore and was recorded for the Bangalore Doordarshan.

'Ekalavya is a symbol for guru bhakthi. His determination to learn archery in spite of many obstacles has always impressed me' expresses Prasanna who teamed alongwith his nattuvangist-dancer brother to present this two-man show.

Prasanna played the role of Ekalavya and Pulikeshi played all the other characters in the story. Using dialogues in between, both the dancers with a theatrical background executed the original dialogues of 'Beral Ge Koral'.

"This being the centenary celebrations of the poet's birth, I want to have 100 performances by the year end" says Prasanna Kasthuri, choreographer and director of this dance production.

According to Pulikeshi "The sentimental ending brought most of the audience to tears. After each show people walked back stage to express it. They probably remembered how Prasanna at age 18 had worked for more than a year independently to present his non stop marathon 24 hour dance performance with musicians."

Ekalavya will be presented during the fall tour of Soorya Dance company in North America. Soorya Dance Company can be visited at www.sooryadance.com and www.shanthala.org.