Neila Sathyalingam
IHF-SG Excellence Award For Performing Arts
Neila Sathyalingam (b. 1938 — d. 2017) was Indian classical dance choreographer, and 1989 Cultural Medallion winner.
Born in Colombo, Sri Lanka in 1938, Neila, and the second of four daughters to a well-known dental surgeon Balendra. Her interest in dance started at a tender age of five, which later led her to train in the Indian classical form of Bharatanatyam, Kathek, Kathakali and Manipuri at the Shanti Kumar School of Dance and the Kalaya School of Dance in Colombo.
Her efforts paid off in a big way when she won a gold medal at the All- Ceylon Dance Festival. This earned her a place to perform when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth Il visited Colombo in April 1954. She was greatly inspired with this opportunity and which spurred her to go further in learning classical dances.
She enrolled at the age of 18 in Kalakshetra, Chennai, which is one of the reputed dance institutions in India, to be trained under the tutelage of its founder Srimathi Rukmini Devi Arundale in Bharatanatyam.
Neila’s quick grasping power was so great that she completed her five-year dance course in two years with a first-class Honours Diploma and was appointed as one of the faculty members for dance at Kalakshetra.
Neila met her husband, Suntharalingam Sathyalingam, at Kalakshetra. The son of a very prominent Sri Lankan politician, he had graduated from the University of Madras with a Sangitha Sironmani and the Diploma in Music from Kalakshetra and was then teaching Indian classical music at Kalakshetra. He was a much sought after Guru for Classical Indian Music and served as the Music Director for Apsaras Arts for three decades. In recognition of his contribution to Indian arts in foreign countries, he was bestowed the accolade of iViswakalaa Bharathil by Bharath Kalachar in Chennai in 1995. He was also a member of Singapore’s National Arts Councils Music Advisory Panel.
Sathyalingam passed away on June 20th 2011.
Together they founded Apsaras Arts in Singapore in 1977, and have been promoting Indian traditional art forms in a multiracial Singapore. She also actively collaborated with other ethnic dance, music and dance ensembles and government bodies to promote Indian dance forms in Singapore and gained international recognition. Neila has been successful in creating many dancers and dance teachers through her dedicated teaching. Her students have established their dance careers in Singapore and several countries around the world.
Neila has been bestowed many prestigious titles, including Singapore’s Cultural Medallion recipient in 1989 and Viswa Kala Bharathi in 1995, for her outstanding contribution to Indian arts internationally.
Neila Sathyalingam, 79, passed away on 10 March 2017 in her sleep at her residence in Singapore.