SWARAAG amazes with new teams, choreography … ringing in 2016 Winners!

New choreographers and groups, over 100 contestants bringing unique routines and the sparkle of Airtel Super Singer Rohini Rajaraman – with ties to Rahman and the music industry, made SwaRaag 2016 a memorable year of amazing performances. The effortless and engaging hosting of Swathi Subramanian, Founder/President of SwaRaag kicked off the evening with excitement and a competitive challenge. The regular competitive categories of Solo Song, Solo-Duo Dance and Group Dance were held in various age groups. In trying to be inclusive of moms who love the dance, Ms Subramanian decided to open a new age division in group dances called ‘Dazzling Moms’. Extremely competitive groups of ‘moms & more’ gave impactful performances in the first half that became the talk of evening during break-time. Several new choreographers brought unique dance styles and semi-classical elements of choreography that added a good blend to the Bollywood styles. Ms. Subramanian shared ‘It is exciting and wonderful to see how dedicated the contestants are towards the competition, and their parents who have clearly given much time and thought to designing creative background props adding theatrics to their child’s performance. SwaRaag is proud of their participation!’

This year Spot Choreography category was opened to guests for the first time, which brought a lot of bold energy from young kids in the audience who showed their confidence on stage. The 2016 show reflected an array of remarkable performances reflecting all ages.  At the close of the event, over 500 guests were treated to a special PrimeTime engagement of RAHMAN Rock Fusions by none other than SwaRaag’s Celebrity artist Airtel Super Singer Rohini Rajaraman - who has worked with A.R. Rahman in India and other renowned music directors from the south  Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vidyasagar, Bharathwaj. Performed - toured with playback singers S.P.Balasubrahmanyam and Srinivas - performed for Indian President A.B.J.Abdul Kalam and recently gave concerts in UK, Europe, Sri Lanka. SwaRaag was proud to feature her as their Celebrity Artist presenting RAHMAN Rock Fusions along with professional musicians from Berkelee School of Music Christy Mathew (keyboard) and Oleg Smirnov (guitar) along with Hiral Parikh (drums), and Sam Rao (octapad). Judges took the stage at the end to share their thoughts on the high caliber contestants and unanimously remarked that they were captivated by Rohini Rajaraman’s performance.

Rahman hits like ‘Kay Sera Sera’, ‘Muqqala Muqqabala’, ‘Khwaja’, ‘Jai Ho’ got the crowd roaring. Ms Subramanian stated, ‘Rohini Rajaraman’s rendition of Rahman’s Vande Mataram moved so many in the audience, that guests had their cell phone torches turned on and were waving their hands as they repeatedly chanted Vande Mataram with her. It was so moving. The live band and her flawless singing with her ability to reproduce songs in original scale were captivating beyond reach!’

PrimeTime Musicians: CHRISTY MATHEW [composer/keyboardist], Hiral Parikh [Drums], Oleg Smirnov [Guitar], Sam Rao [Octapad]

Past Winners from 2015 SwaRaag also added a little spark to the prime-time presentation: Shailesh Salgar, Shrvani Balaji, Sruthi Ramesh, Kathir Meyyappan

Choreographers represented at SwaRaag 2016:   Meena Unni | Devika Dhawan | Jai Kishan | Udaya Rani Umesh | Shaila Verma | Bina Negandhi | Pushpa Rajanna | Jyothi Setty

Swathi Subramanian: Founder/President/Program Host of SwaRaag Performing Arts, Inc.

Highly Efficient and Rocking SwaRaag TEAM

Vaibhav Dabade | Shobha Shastry | Gopi Bala | Shikha Bajpai | Anushree Bopardikar | Kalaimangai Anbalagan | Anandini Sekhar | Shailesh Salgar | Hiral Parikh | Asha Manish | Jai Kishan | Swetha Subramanian | Rens Methratta | Swathi Subramanian

Presiding over the SwaRaag Panel were honorable Judges:

Final Dance Judges: 
Sridevi Ajai Thirumalai | Arsh Mehrotra | Jayshree Bala Rajamani | Krishnakali Dasgupta 

Final Song Judges:  
Aparna Balaji  | Abhilash Mehta | Ravi Torvi

Audition Dance Judges:         
Kalaimangai Anbalagan | Anandini Sekhar | Swathi Subramanian

Audition Song Judges:

Preeti Nagar | Sarita Deshpande | M. Rama Rao

SWARAAG 2016 WINNERS

SOLO DANCE SENIORS

1^st Place:   Natarajan Alagappan

2^nd Place:  Shirin Bakre

SOLO DANCE JUNIORS

1^st Place:   Kathir Meyyappan

2^nd Place:  Shreya Soni

DUO DANCE SENIORS

1^st Place:   Ruhi Patil & Hirni Patel

2^nd Place:  Aneesha Mahapatra & Aashi Kulkarni

DUO DANCE JUNIORS

1^st Place:   Shreya Godhani & Isha Mehta

2^nd Place:  Siri Harish & Shreya Harish

SPOT CHOREOGRAPHY

Winner:   Sruthi Ramesh

SOLO SONG Age 9 - 16

1^st Place:     Rayna Parikh

2^nd Place:   Medha Morparia

SOLO SONG Age 17 – 35

1^st Place:    Smriti Deshpande

2^nd Place:  Sadhika Hiremath

SOLO SONG Age 36&Up

1^st Place:   Sanjay Jain

2^nd Place:  Radhika Dixit

GROUP DANCE SENIOR Winning Teams                          

1^st Place:   Nashua Angels Fire Dance | Choreographer – Meena Unni

Group Members: Devika Nair, Namitha Nair, Anna Mathew, Meera Kurup, Sithara Nambiar, Parvathy Sreekanth, Jessica Joseph, Navya Sebastian

2^nd Place Tie:  Intense Dance Styles Fusion | Choreographer - Jaikishan | Jai Ho Dance School

Group Members: Meghana Nair, Sanjana Basu, Pooja Hingorany, Tishya Marwah, Vrinda Punj, Infanta Anthony, Sreya Nimmagada, Crispy Sharma, Reeya Kansra, Sareena Kansra

2^nd Place Tie:   Human Emotion | Choreographer – Devika Dhawan | Devika Fusion Dance School

Group Members: Ritika Singh, Meghna Iyer, Arya Anand, Aanya Parmar, Sana Nadkarni, Preksha Munot, Sneha Shetty, Neha Chandra, Amy Koleth, Arpita Sharma, Anika Shroff, Somin Virmani, Anushka Philip, Meghana Edpuganti, Shreya Godhani, Aahana Tiku, Isha Mehta, Shruthi Puranik

GROUP DANCE JUNIOR Winning Teams                          

1^st Place:   New England Sparkles | Choreographer – Udaya Rani Umesh

Group Members: Madhav Girish, Daivik Pillai, Edwin Eldho, Neha Ninan, Ishaanvi Rajesh, Shika Amin, Saandrika Gopal, Soorya Soorej, Cicilia Thomas, Sharon John, Hannah Thomas, Madhav Nair, Arlene Chacko, Kezia Kuriakose, Gopika Nair, Teresa Mathew      

 2^nd Place: Bannada Navilu | Choreographer – Pushpa Rajanna

Group Members: Bhavana Heggadahalli, Stuti Patil, Aishwarya Patil, Deeksha Gouda, Nishta Kumar, Neha Gopinath, Swara Igoor, Diya Sharma

 GROUP DANCE ‘DAZZLING MOMS’ Winning Teams   

1^st Place:   Rajasthani Folk | Choreographer – Shaila Verma | Shaila Verma School of  Dance

Group Members: Divya Rani, Kalyani Kanuri, Resmi Nair, Srividya Ramachandran, Shraddha Patel, Pratyusha Myneni, Ankita Saluja, Lakshmi Jemolla, Neetu Gupta

 2^nd Place: Dance Spirit - RaasLeela | Choreographer – Bina Negandhi

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