By Verghese V Joseph –
On July 6, two California-based young girls — Michelle Clara Joemon and Lilly Varghese Pazhay among others — enthralled an audience with their arangetram (debut show) in the southern state of India – Kerala.
Arangetram in Indian classical dance form Bharathnatyam marks the graduation ceremony of the artiste to perform publicly before an audience. The only difference was that the arangetram was performed before a congregation at a church!
Their original plan was to have arangetram organised at Guruvayoor – the temple town in Kerala. In June this year, they travelled all the way from Irvine, Foothill Ranch in California to Trichur in Kerala and were able to find a dance teacher, Ramachandran Pisharam from Kodakara. He trained the two girls for two weeks in preparation for the arangetram.
Interestingly, through family friends and by God’s grace, they were pleasantly surprised to hear that the nearby St. Thomas Syro-Malabar Catholic Church commonly known as the Palayoor Church was hosting an event for St. Thomas feast and the two girls could have their arangetram at the church itself rather than at Guruvayoor. The church has been hosting this event for the past three years.
Incidentally, Palayoor Church is the parish church of Michelle’s great grandmother Mariam Verghese, and so in a sense she was able to carry on her great grandmother’s legacy.
According to tradition and belief, the church was established in 52 AD by St Thomas, one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ and considered as one of the oldest churches in India, and is called an Apostolic Church credited to the Apostolate of St. Thomas who preached and also started conversion of people to Christianity.
Michelle and Lilly faced probably one of the most decisive challenge and also a defining moment in their life as a dance art students within any traditional Indian schools of dances where they are required to rise up to the expectations of their dancing gurus and traditional audience.
Michelle and Lilly chose Annunciation as their theme. The Annunciation (from Latin annuntiatio) of Our Lady, or the Annunciation of the Lord is the Catholic celebration of the announcement by the Archangel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary that Christ has come to his people and God will dwell among them. Through their performance, they depicted Mary as not only “full of grace” because of her Immaculate Conception, but also dwelled on the fullness of grace who is Jesus Christ in her womb. Mary is to be the Mother of God, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity.
For the girls, both of whom live for most part of their lives in the United States, Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form that originated from Tamil Nadu, has been a vehicle to better understand their own roots, to connect with the Indian culture.
Interestingly, their interest would have never assumed a practical form if it weren’t for their Christian faith. After all, it was at their church that the two girls first took proper dance lessons under the instructions of Kalaimani Dr. Sinduriat the ages of 5 and 6. After a brief break, they continued at the ages of 8 and 9 with Paulomi Pandit, director of Rangashree of India, until their arangetram which took place on July 6 th 2019.
Being talented and gifted dancers, they have performed for several events and festivals in California. The preceding two years before the event, the girls attended classes once a week at various locations including California’s Santa Ana, Duerte and Cerittos. Other teachers who taught them include Kavitha and students of Paulomi.
Michelle was born in Dubai, UAE to Pulickaparambil Chacho Joemon and Mary Jerry Raphael. Her other two siblings are Joelle Tresia Joemon and Anne Jesuael Joemon.
Lilly was born in Kent, UK to Varghese Thekkiniyath Pazhay and Mary Jacob Koundan and she has Rosemol as her sibling. While Michelle hails from Alapuzha in Kerala and Lilly from Thrissur — both eventually grew up in California, with occasional vacation trips to their homelands. In California, they regularly attended Holy Mass and CCD at St. Thomas Syro Malabar Forane Church in Santa Ana along with their families.
Although both families settled in the US for close to 15 years, they have learned to balance both their American and Indian cultures. Despite being educated in the United States for major part of their lives (Michelle is currently going to the 11th grade at Trabuco Hills High School and Lilly is going to the 12th grade at Foothill High School).
Parents of both Michelle and Lilly have ensured that both girls stay close to their rich Malayalee heritage they have always practice their mother tongue in their homes and cultivated a preference for Indian art forms over American. This preservation of their national roots may have been why they developed a special fondness for Bharathnatyam.
Michelle’s great grandmother Mariam Verghese from her mother’s side had moved to Bangalore in 1940s while her husband was serving the Indian Army. Michelle’s mother Mary’s family is from Bengaluru but their family originally hails from Thrissur. She’s the youngest child of eight children born to C V Raphael and Tresia of the illustrious Cheeran family.
Through their arangetram, Michelle and Lilly were able to bring the families together once again at Palayoor Church!