Kousanee Chheda, a senior at Edwin O. Smith High School in Storrs, CT, organized, choreographed and presented a charity Bollywood dance show at Mark T. Sheehan High School in Wallingford CT on Saturday, September 26, 2009.  Kousanee is trained in various forms of Indian dances, including Bharat Natyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi (forms of Indian Classical Dance), Bollywood dance, Ballet, Break dancing, Salsa, Hip Hop, and Modern dance.  She has been choreographing Indian dances for the past seven years.  

This show was a result of her Girl Scouts Gold Award project, for which she conducted several Indian dance workshops.  These workshops were open to all, and attended by 82 neophytes, experienced dancers, and choreographers of ages ranging from four to forty.   The dance workshops were held in New Haven, Hartford, Trumbull, and Glastonbury, CT.  Eventually, Kousanee decided to extend this Girl Scouts Gold Award project into her high school Senior Project, for which she organized this charity show.

The show turned out to be a grand success.  A total of 80 participants portrayed what they had learned in these workshops in front of an audience of about 400.  Several of these participants had opportunity to learn dance and perform on stage for the first time in their lives.  As of writing of this article, a net total of more than $7,500 was raised.  Kousanee has a target of collecting $10,000.  Donations are still accepted and a DVD of this program can be ordered ($10+$ 2 Ship.) by contacting Kousanee@hotmail.com.

The net proceeds of this show will be donated to Bhojay Sarvodhay Trust in Kachchh, Gujarat (India).  This trust funds several projects, two of which are ‘Manas Mandir’ and ‘Mansi.’  Manas Mandir currently houses about 50 mentally challenged boys and trains them to be self reliant.  Mansi is a similar upcoming institution for the training of mentally challenged girls and is anticipated to start by summer of 2010.

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