23 Facts About Neila Sathyalingam

Neila Sathyalingam was a Singaporean classical Indian dancer, choreographer and instructor of Sri Lankan Tamil origin.

Neila Sathyalingam was the company's artistic director and continued to teach dance.

Neila Sathyalingam was an artistic adviser to Singapore's National Arts Council.

Up to 2007, Neila Sathyalingam had choreographed dance segments for the last 13 Chingay Parades, street parades held annually in Singapore as part of Chinese New Year festivities.

The second of four daughters of a well-to-do dental surgeon and a housewife, Neila Sathyalingam Balendra was born in 1938 in Colombo, Ceylon.

Neila Sathyalingam lived a regimented lifestyle, living in a thatched house with "snakes above and rats running below" and waking at 4:30am for dance practice every day.

Neila Sathyalingam completed her five-year course in two years, graduating with a first-class honours diploma in Bharatanatyam in 1957.

Neila Sathyalingam then taught dance in schools while raising her children, the first of whom was born in 1957.

In 1969 Neila Sathyalingam returned to Kalakshetra to be trained as an instructor and to take up a postgraduate diploma course.

Neila Sathyalingam graduated in 1972 with a distinction and was appointed a dance teacher with Kalakshetra.

In 1974, Neila Sathyalingam moved to Singapore after American company Uniroyal Chemicals, for which her husband worked as an area sales manager, was posted there.

In Singapore, Neila Sathyalingam was exposed to dancers of different cultural backgrounds and traditions, inspiring her to create new Indian dance steps based on classical foundations.

In 1983, Neila Sathyalingam was appointed the dance instructor and choreographer for the Indian Dance Group of the People's Association, where she taught Indian dance to children from lower-income families for free.

Neila Sathyalingam was the resident choreographer for the Indian Dance Group, which is under the umbrella of PA Talents.

Neila Sathyalingam was an artistic adviser to the National Arts Council.

Neila Sathyalingam was awarded the Cultural Medallion for her contributions to dance in 1989.

Neila Sathyalingam became a Singapore citizen in 1994, her husband and children following suit in subsequent years.

Together with fellow Cultural Medallion holders Som Said and Yang Choong Lian, Neila Sathyalingam was a choreographer for the Lion City Angels, a multiracial children's dance troupe formed in 1988.

Up to 2007, Neila Sathyalingam had choreographed dance segments for the last 13 Chingay Parades, which are street parades held annually in Singapore as part of Chinese New Year festivities.

On 14 and 15 September 2007, Neila Sathyalingam staged at the Victoria Theatre what has been termed her "last mega-production", an Indian epic dance drama called Sivagami written by Kalki Krishnamurthy, which involved 65 dancers from Apsaras Arts and from India.

Neila Sathyalingam's daughter, Shaan was born on 1962 and is a legal adviser for the National Library Board of Singapore.

Neila Sathyalingam's younger son Skanda was born on 1963 and contracted encephalitis at six months and became severely mentally and physically disabled.

Neila Sathyalingam's younger sister, Anusha, who lives in Zambia, is a Bharatanatyam dancer and teacher.