SEGOVIA, SPAIN, November 9, 2006: On November 4th a crowd jammed the amphitheater of SEK University, eager to attend a Bharata Natyam dance performance by dancer and choreographer Malavika Sarukkai. Sponsored by the Indian Embassy in Spain, no one expected the huge crowd. The people in charge of the Segovia 2016 cultural office found themselves completely overwhelmed by the public’s response. Hundreds of people stood in the corridors of the old convent of Santa Cruz not being able to attend the performance, including the city mayor Pedro Arahuetes, his wife, several councilmen and politicians Javier Gomez Darmendrail, Beatriz Escudero, general director of the Public Function Office and candidate for City Mayor.
The organizers had set up about three hundred seats, with provisions for five hundred total in case more people would attend. However, organizers had not placed all the necessary seats given the fact that on the previous performance by Malavika Sarukkai in the city of Valladolid, the audience totaled around 150 people. Therefore, with all this last minute haste, the delay in setting up the extra chairs and the disturbance at the door, the performance (which by the way was excellent) began 50 minutes late. Segovia 2016 Director Alessandro Sansa tried to explain the situation to the public, but all that he could conclude was that the next performance will not be offered for free.
HPI adds: Segovia is an ancient city in Spain, the capital of the province of Segovia in Castile-Leon. It is situated about an hour’s drive north of Madrid. Further press reports in the same newspaper from which this article originates indicate that 1,100 people (2% of the city’s population) turned out for this free Bharata Natyam performance. The director of the Segovia 2016 cultural office had urged everyone to turn out to see “a sample of the classic culture of vibrant India, full of meaning, which in certain ways is part of Spanish cultural roots.”