Mandaara New England Kannada Koota’s (NEKK) charity and social service wing “Seva Mandaara” put together a talented team of artistes to present a talent showcase on December 6, 2014 at the Ashland high school in Ashland, MA.   This was a benefit concert to support Samarthanam Trust for Disabled and Ekal Vidyalaya. The showcase, a perfect blend of classicism and creativity, was unique both in terms of content and presentation. 

The music section was a unique light classical concert where Carnatic and Hindustani musicians blended their genres to present a spiritually uplifting concert. 

Deepti Navaratna and Sowmyashree Sandeep rendered a range of popular compositions including Pibhare Ramarasam, Yadhuvamsa, Kurai Ondrum Illai, Padmanabha Narayana and others. Their exceptional talent shone brightly with their beautiful voices rendering each piece with great feeling. Pravin Sitaram and Amit Kavthekar played Mridangam and Tabla respectively, K.V.S. Vinay played violin, and Sarita Deshpande played the harmonium.  An interesting Pallavi Jugalbandhi between Vinay and Sarita and percussion Jugalbandhi between Pravin and Amit was quite the highlight of the event.  It was one of most creative musical event seen in recent times. 

The dance section followed. The opening number titled "Peace and Harmony” was a blend of classical and semi-classical, Bharathanatyam, Odissi and Ashtanga Yoga. Deepa Srinath and Chand Sripad along with Pradhuman Nayak and Jane Wong, Anusha Mukunda, Sai Aishwarya Ganapathiram, Urvi Chakraborty and Shamoyita Mukherjee created a delightful choreography that ended with a focus on Harmony. 

 The segment was a pure classical segment with Sridevi Ajai Thirumalai and her students who presented Ulagam Payum Natiya Kalaye, a Rama Bhajan and a Thillana in classical Bhartanatyam style 

The final segment of the night was presented by Rasarang School of Performing Arts. Poornima Risbud and Pallavi Nagesha and their students presented a creative piece titled Panchabhootam. The choreography was very creative and the background lighting and costumes added a lot of jazz. It was a fabulous conclusion to the evening’s program. 

The program was a very interesting showcase of talent. Kudos to the organizers to put together a fine presentation while supporting two great organizations, Ekal Vidyalaya (http://ekal.org) and Samarthanam.