The event was inaugurated by the distinguished Odissi dancers Guru Sujata Mohapatra and Niharika Mohanty, creative dance choreographer Sheejith Krishna, independent literary scholar and theater artist Dr. Akhila Ramanarayan, dance performer and teacher Manjari Chandrashekhar, and Kalakshetra-trained independent artist K. B. Madhusudhanan. The dance festival began with a welcome address by Poornima Risbud, chair of the organizing team from ‘Rasarang School of Performing Arts’, followed by Swaagatanritya by acclaimed Bharatanatyam teacher Smt. Sunanda Narayanan from Greater Boston.

A new addition to this year’s festival was a classical dance competition that featured promising young dancers from New England. This session was emceed by Smitha Radhakrishnan, professor of sociology from Wellesley College. Smitha’s idea to interview the competitors added an entirely new dimension to the experience and allowed these young artists to share their views and thoughts with the audience. The judging panel for the final round comprised of senior artists Manjari Chandrashekhar and K. B. Madhusudhanan and leading young exponents of Bharatanatyam Kiran Rajagopalan and our own Mesma Belsare. The judges had a challenging task of selecting a winner and a runner-up in each category from among 15 solo performers and 2 groups. The audience was given a task as well, to nominate the best performance of their choice for the “People’s Choice” award.

Here are the placements received by the competitors.

Solo Junior: Khushi Morparia (Winner), Dhwani Sreenivas (2nd place)

Solo Youth: Ashwini Vytheswaran (Winner), Nitya Yelamanchili (2nd place)

Solo Senior: Prerana Patil (Winner), Niveda Baskaran (2nd place)

Group: Aishwarya Chakravarthy and Group (Winner), Srimayi Chaturvedula and Group (2nd place)

“People’s Choice” award: Khushi Morparia

Khushi presented Odissi dance tuned to ‘Gururbrahmaa…’, Ashwini Vytheswaran presented Bharatanatyam Varnam ‘Sami ninne’, Prerana Patil presented Bharatanatyam choreography tuned to Kannada Padam ‘Neenyako ninna hangyako ranga’, the group led by Aishwarya Chakravarthy presented Ganeshavandana in Mohiniyattam.

The session after the lunch break featured back-to-back performances of Sattriya dance, Odissi dance, and a workshop on Yoga Dance led by Smt. Ranjani Saigal and Smt. Suman Adishesh. 

The ‘Sattriya Dance Company’ of Philadelphia brought the dance of the hills of Assam to Boston’s audience. Sattriya traces its origins to 15th century Assam and was recognized one of the eight major classical dance forms of India in 2000 by the Sangeet Natak Akademi. As per the Sattriya tradition, a small monastery without any god inside was set up in the stage-left. The audience was thoroughly immersed by the experience created by Madhusmita Bora, Prerona Bhuyan and Willow Swidler Notte. The trio presented a variety of pieces from the Sattriya repertoire, showcasing “nritta” or pure dance as well as “lasya nritta” as well mimetic dances depicting episodes from the Ramayana, Krishna’s life and the Dashavatar. The presentation was fascinating in terms of its similarity to the more known dance forms while creating an entirely unique artistic experience.

This was followed by an Odissi presentation by the renowned Smt. Sujata Mohapatra and her troupe of talented dancers. The troupe presented several pieces from the classical repertoire. The presentation had many moments of visual impact, such as the stunning depiction of Narasimha avatar and Lord Jaganatha. Smt. Sujata Mohapatra shone as the star of the performance, creating perfect beauty of languorous form and movement.

The time required to prepare the stage for the evening performance was put to excellent use with an interactive Yoga workshop open to all.  The event started with Smt. Suman Adishesh leading the group through basic yoga moves.  Smt. Ranjani Saigal then shared with the audience the fundamentals of Natya Yoga in a simple and relatable way.  The audience was then treated to a session with the Sattriya Dance Company during which we had the opportunity to try basic postures and movements (which didn’t feel so basic!)  Kiran Rajagopalan then closed the session with an informative session on Dhrishti Bheda, perfectly calibrated to the younger members of the audience.  This was a very enjoyable session that hopefully will lead to similar sessions in next year’s event.

Finally came the much awaited presentation of Don Quixote from the Sahrdaya Foundation, the work of genius by Sri Sheejith Krishna that has taken the Indian dance world by storm.  Sri Sheejith’s creation is perhaps more aptly described as an adventure into a world of knights and dragons as we rasikas joined Don Quixote on his journey.  Stage, theatre, music, painting and dance, glorious dance, came into a seamless whole to create Spain of the Golden Age.  This was no work of “fusion” or superimposition; rather, it was art in its entirety.  It is hard to describe – it can only be experienced - why and how movements and expressions of Bharatha Natyam so naturally told this tale of Spain, transporting us to the marketplace, the villages and the mountains of Sierra Moranna.  The quality of the dancing and the genius of the choreography – the windmill scene will be forever in our minds - goes without saying - but what does require very special mention is how Boston’s own Soumya Rajaram, sparkled on the stage, very much having earned her place in a production of this caliber.  Sri Sheejith in the title role and Sri Madhusudhanan became Don Quixote and his faithful Sancho Panza, in turns eccentric, humorous, pathetic, lovable and heroic; and altogether human. How interesting that a complete embodiment of elements from the Natya Shastra was captured by this Spanish tale with Senors and Senoritas dancing “dhith thith thai”!

An event of this magnitude could only have been achieved with the selfless efforts of many. The organizing team including Kedar Risbud, Shachi Risbud, Pallavi Nagesha, Venki Nagesha, and Madhusudan Akkihebbal ensured that the entire program ran flawlessly and in a timely manner.  Our most hearfelt thanks go to the following volunteers: Ranjani Saigal, Suman Adishesh and Kiran Rajagopalan for leading the yoga session; Yaso and Aravinthan, Jothi and Raghavan, Sangita prasanna and Soumya  Rajaram for hosting the artists; support from Boston area dance teachers Sapna Krishnan, Meena Subramanyam, Jeyanthi Ghatraju, Mouli Pal, and many others; our generous sponsors and advisors Mahesh and Asha Navani, Prashant and Anuradha Palakurti, Drs. S. B. Rajur and Krupa Rajur, Manohar and Lata Rao, Sunil and Suneha Kadimdiwan, Harish and Bini Dang, Pradeep and Sunitha Shukla, Santana Krishnan, Pushpa Karla (Aalok International), Hema Kannan; the Ticketing team Rekha Palriwala, Mahesh Palriwala, Saroj Karla and Shreyas Risbud; the Dance Competition team Jyothi Nagraj, Shruti Das, Srilakshmi Bangalore, Valar Jayprakash, Kausalya Jagadisan, the Food team - Raghu Mavinahalli, Anirudh Nagesha, Pratit Kadimdiwan, Nishant Kadimdiwan; Audio and back stage help by Ashay Phulgirkar, Pavan, and Avinash Padhye, Sam Chirayath for photography, Manoj Panicker for Videography; lighting setup by New England Stageworks; Media partners Lokvani, Foundations TV, TV Asia, Radio Music India, Gunjan Radio, New England Kannada Koota, and India New England.