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‘Association of Women of India in Canada’ AWIC, a non profit
organisation with the mandate of helping women and families
integrate into Canadian society whilst retaining their cultural
heritage – celebrated its 25th anniversary with a
unique programme entitled “Rhythms and Moods”. Some of the best
young Indian classical dancers in G.T.A and Ontario showcased
their talent in a ten-minute dance recital followed by a
three-minute innovative contest in which they used their
classical dance to interpret modern Canadian poetry.
The artists
who participated in the event were Regina Anton student of
‘Indian Classical Dance Centre’ run by Mrs Siva Sakti. Regina
who is now pursuing her law degree captivated the audience with
her interpretation of Meera Bhajan and a poem entitled, ‘He’s in
control’ by Heather Richardson in Bharat Natyam style. Malini
Guha and Tanya Raha both students of Chitralekha Dance Academy
gave an impeccable performance in Odissi style. Nirally Shastri
currently doing her masters in civil engineering and Sukaneya
Subramanium currently pursuing her bachelor’s degree in
psychology and education, both senior students of Dr. Meneka
Thakkar’s Nrityakala Dance Academy performed in Bharat Natyam
style.
Trisha Roy
the youngest participant at 15, a student of Sampradaya Dance
Academy run by Lata Pada charmed the audience with her Bharat
Natyam performance and her beautiful interpretation of a poem
entitled “kids” written by Gloria Song. The two winners of the
contest were Upekha Jain also a student of Sampradaya who
performed in Bharat Natyam style and Meera Ruparelia of Disha
Arts Academy run by Vrinda Bhagvat. Meera was the only student
who performed in Kathak style although Meera is equally at home
in Odissi dance. Both winners’ imaginative interpretation of the
poem ‘I am’ written by Erin Sprin was well received by the
audience. The talented students excel in their studies as well
as share a passion for dance.
The
distinguished panel of judges included Sukalyan Bhattacharya
renowned choreographer, producer teacher and dancer, Bhupatrai
Bhuta a retired architect, town planner, artist connoisseur and
patron of Indian classical art and music, Sally Jones founder
and artistic director of Rasik Arts as well as a Kathak dancer
and Rina Singha founder of the Rina Singha Kathak Dance
Institute and a recipient of several awards.
Following
the featured dances and contemporary pieces there was a brief
performance by Kamla Sathisivam noted flute player, Gauri Guha
an acclaimed Indian classical singer and teacher and Aruna Kaley
the only woman Sarangi player in the world, whose music is
featured some Hollywood films. Her twenty-minute recital held
the audience spellbound. AWIC honoured the above-mentioned three
mature artists for their contribution to music.
Ranjna
Sharma president of AWIC praised the different schools and the
artists for “Keeping alive the traditions of our heritage and
culture by teaching our children the beauty and the values in
our dance and arts. The co-ordinator of the programme was Vanita
Seth who holds the AWIC portfolio for education. Vanita states
that our pristine, rich classical dance and music is taking a
backseat to pop Bollywood vulgar pseudo culture and that it is
time to give our classical traditions their due importance.
To
encourage the participants each one was awarded a plaque and a
gift. With the success of the show AWIC now hopes to hold a
similar contest every alternate year with the help of sponsors.
The even was held at Fairview Library Theatre and the main
sponsors of the programme were HSBC bank Canada and Royal Bank.
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