The text of the varnam is love poetry, but is also interpreted as devotion to the temple deity, as do dancers of the Balasaraswati school. The varnam set in Rupaka talam, is attributed to Ponniah Pillai, one of the four brothers, and is dedicated to Shiva, referred to as Tyagesha, the deity of the Thiruvarur temple.

The highlight of the first day was a clipping from filmmaker Satyajit Ray's documentary on Balasaraswathi, the legendry dancer, performing the varnam. Shot in 1975, when Balasaraswathi was about 60 years old, the reproduction was unclear but the dancer's mukha-abhinaya, or expressions, came through wonderfully. She seemed so agile and so painstaking in her movements even then. Varnam as is seen today seems to have retained the format except for the shorter length and the faster pace of the theermanams, or pure dance passages, then. The sahitya or text with many repetitions continues as before. A glimpse of the greatness that was Balasaraswathi was fleeting. Accompanying her as the vocalist was M.S.Ramadas, and the nattuvanar, K.Ramiah.

Saskia Kersenboom, professor of Linguistic Anthropology in Netherlands, and a long time student of Nandini Ramani, explained her experiences of learning Bharatnatyam as a foreigner, and the importance of 'auchithyam' or appropriateness in abhinaya. She described her many visits to the Thyagaraja temple in Thiruvarur, and her understanding of the varnam. She elaborated one line, 'bhogatyagesha, anubhogamseyya vaa kitta' which literally means ' O Giver of Prosperity, Tyagesha to delight me, you must come to my side' with her construal, as 'Tyagesha who propitiates Lord Vishnu by residing in his chest, dances gently to his heart beat'. This visualisation exists in a painting within the temple. Besides her study of 'muthamil with reference to Mohamana varnam', Saskia has to her credit a book written on devadasis called Nritya Sumangali.

Nandini Ramani, torchbearer of the Balasaraswathi style, and eminent dance critic performed the entire varnam. Her superior understanding of music and dance was evident in her fluid approach. Of even more interest was the style that she has not diluted. Guru and sishya's presentations juxtaposed together showed how much of the nuances of her teacher, Nandini had imbibed. She gave us a glimpse of her student days under Balamma besides sharing information about the Tyagesha idol, and the temple itself. Her nattuvanar, K.Ramiah was the same person who had accompanied Balasaraswathi 25 years ago. An interactive session between the performers and the audience was the culmination of the first day's proceedings.

The second day had a presentation by Harikrishnan, performing artist and researcher, Toronto, Canada, and a former student of Kittappa Pillai. Two Chennai-based students of the same guru- Indu Varma and Srividya Natarajan, also performed the varnam jointly with each doing half of it. However, the highlight of the evening was the performance of noted dancer, Vyjayanthimala Bali who has learnt and performed many traditional pieces from Guru Kittappa Pillai.

Side by side was a photo exhibition on Thiruvarur, by Usha Kris, S.Anwar, and Cylla von Tiedmann. The brochure brought out by the organisers and distributed free of cost was informative and detailed the varnam, the Thiruvarur temple, its deity, and other works related to Tyagesha, written by the performers and other scholars. A workshop meticulously organized and conducted, the only drawback being the paucity of space in that beautiful historic hall.