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Neila Sathyalingam

Neila Sathyalingam (Tamil: நீலா சத்யலிங்கம்) (born 1938) is a Singaporean classical Indian dancer, choreographer and instructor of Sri Lankan Tamil origin. An alumna of Kalakshetra in Madras (now Chennai) under the tutelage of Srimathi Rukmini Devi Arundale, she emigrated with her family to Singapore in 1974. In 1977 she and her husband founded the performance arts company Apsaras Arts, which has staged performances throughout the world. She is the company's artistic director and continues to teach dance. In 1983, Neila was appointed the dance instructor and choreographer for the Indian Dance Group of the People's Association (PA), and remains its resident choreographer. She is also an artistic adviser to the National Arts Council. For her contributions to dance, Neila was awarded the Cultural Medallion in 1989. She became a Singapore citizen in 1994.Neila's interactions with choreographers and dancers of different cultural backgrounds and traditions in Singapore have inspired her to create new Indian dance steps based on classical foundations; for instance, her dance-drama Kannagi, staged for the Singapore Festival of Arts in 1998, was said to have stretched tradition to its limits and offered something to a range of audiences far wider than a traditional dance-drama would have done. Up to 2007, Neila had choreographed dance segments for the last 13 Chingay Parades, street parades held annually in Singapore as part of Chinese New Year festivities.