Soul Letters Asaivugal (அசைவுகள்)
Soul Letters Asaivugal (அசைவுகள்) is an English-Tamil bilingual performance by Rolypoly Family, with drama practitioner and educator Aishwariyah Shanmuganathan. In this whimsical and expressive dance theatre performance, the performers bring the Tamil vowels to life through playing with the shapes and sounds of these vowels. It premiered at the Indian Heritage Center in 2022 and was produced by The Artground.
This programme is designed for children to enjoy wordplay and creative movement. Children who already know Tamil might enjoy the show because of the familiar words and sounds, while children who don’t know the language yet can get interested. Children may participate during the performance by clapping and singing along, and embodying the shapes of the letters from where they are seated.
Tamil is an ancient language with many unique qualities that are often not thought or taught about in Singapore. In searching for embodied ways for early learners to engage with the language, Rolypoly Family’s approach appealed to me greatly. I am so glad this collaboration happened. There was so much cultural learning and exchange during the creation process. Now, we have a fun, exciting, effective and whole-body learning method to bring the language to both, Tamil-speaking and non-Tamil-speaking families in Singapore.
– Aishwariyah Shanmuganathan
It’s always lovely to see children’s faces light up when they enjoy a show, and to hear them cackle at our jokes! After the show, I was still singing Asha’s song in my head. I love that I’ve now learnt the soul letters, and that my toddler has also learnt some Tamil words while listening to our rehearsals (: Looking forward to bringing this to more children and families!
– Bernice Lee
Interested in this programme?