dance competition performers
Chicago: One of the most premier and among the oldest organizations of Indian Americans, Association of Indian Americans (AIA), has been living up to its expectations right since its inception, servicing the community and now making extra efforts to get the youth – the second generation Indian Americans – involved in its activities.
One of the surest ways that it thought of doing so was to provide the second generation Indians with a platform to show their talents and what could be a better way than to hold dance competition – classical and non classical. The success it achieved over the past few years has induced the top brass in AIA to make it an annual affair.
The 2015 dance competition was held on Sunday August 2 at Hinsdale Community Center and despite it being Sunday with lot o other distractions, over 200 members and guests showed up to enjoy the event. And to put it mildly there was not a single dull moment – be it Kathak, Oddisi, skit by kids and Bollywood style dancing or even singing by Anil Sharma and Lisa Mishra. The only regret was that it was a relatively short program.
Yet another somewhat unique event that AIA has been doing over decades is celebrating Mahatma Gandhi birth anniversary. AIA Trustee chair Prof Ghanshyam Pandey announced that it will keep up that tradition too and host Mahatma Celebration with lot of fervor coming October.
Besides, community elites and media representatives, the event was graced by the Nakul Singh Chand, Midwest Manager for Air India, Neil Patel, Medstar Lab, Judges Chandra Dash, Sonal Patel and Sujata Sharma and Lions District Governor who were invited as honored guests.
The program opened with National Anthems of US and India sung by Anil Sharma which was followed with a minute of silence at behest of AIA president Salil Mishra in honor of former Indian President Dr Abdul Kalam who passed away recently. Salil Mishra, in his welcome remarks said AIA has always endeavored to put the youth at the forefront and tried to achieve the objectives of the association by implementing its strategies. He thanked the Board for its support and welcomed all those present and also applauded the efforts put in by the youth.
Dr Ghanshyam Pandey, Chairman, Board of Trustees, gave a brief of the functioning of AIA in Illinois and made it a point that it was not only important but a virtual must now to get second generation Indian Americans to get involved in the affairs of the association. With this end in view, AIA has been organizing the youth programs every year. Dr Pandey complemented Salil Mishra, Beena Patel, Santosh Pandey, Sujata Sharma, Jignesh Jagaria and Anil Sharma for making the programs of the AIA a success.
Santosh Pandey, Treasurer, AIA, emceed the program gracefully and won all around approval. Thirteen groups participated in the youth talent competition – Bollywood Medley by Tarang, Andaz-E-Mughal by Anila Sinha Foundation, dances by Sonia’s Dance Rhythm, Rang Dini by Anila Sinha Foundation, Odissi by Utkalaa Center for Dance, Bollywood dance by Bollywood Thumkas, dances by Narthana Dance Academy and Aham Brahmasmi by Nartan Dance Academy. In between Suraj Patnaik, Lisa Mishra and Anil Sharma entertained the audience with their sweet rendition of classical, English and Bollywood songs.
At the end competition winners were announced by Dr Pandey and Beena Patel inviting all the participating groups on stage pointed out that it was difficult for the judges to decide the winners.
The winners were: 1 st Odissi by Utkalaa Dance Center, 2 nd Bollywood Medley by Tarang and 3 rd classical dance by Narthana. The winners as well as all participants were given certificates by the dignitaries on the stage.
Each group performed with their unique style and rhythm. The first Prize of $750 went to Odissi Group from Utkalaa Dance Center (performers: Sunamika Panigrahy, Brinda Gupta and Sabrina Khuntia), the second Prize of $500 was bagged by Bollywood Medley of Tarang (performers: Rhea Shrivastava, Kanika Punhani, Ragini Sharma, Aashna Shah, Shristi Paul, Vasudha Pandey) and the third Prize of $300 went to Narthana Dance Institute (performers: Anusha Naidu and Laxmi Lalasa).
Beena Patel proposed a vote of thanks and appreciated all the Dance Gurus for imparting dance education to children. She also was appreciative of parents for keeping our culture alive by instilling traditional values in them.
AIA Illinois Chapter Executive Committee comprises President Salil Mishra; Chairman Board of Trustees Dr Ghanshyam Pandey; Vice Presidents Beena Patel and Shaheen Sayeed; Secretary Jignesh Jagaria; Treasurer Santosh Pandey; Committee Members Anil Sharma, Lucy Pandey, Sujata Sharma, Om Dhingra, Vinod Bansal, Prem Mehrotra, Manoranjan Mishra, Ashish Sen, and Nand Kapoor.
Ramesh Soparawala & Asian Media USA
