Salangai Pooja is a ceremony honoring the salangai or the ankle bells of the dancer. The custom holds a lot of significance because without performing the mandatory salangai pooja no student of the classical dance can adorn the salangai. The dancer receives the salangai from her Guru for the first time. Wearing it for the first time, the dancer takes her first steps onto the stage to tell the audience that she has learnt and is beginning to understand the divine and beautiful rhythm and movement of Bharatanatyam.