It was a vibrant evening of colorful Indian dances presented by Chicago and Midwest region dance schools at the Dance Festival hosted by Sri Balaji Temple of Aurora, on Saturday May 1st at the temple auditorium.
This event showcased the classical dance styles of India which were choreographed by eminent dance teachers and performed by their dedicated students. The central theme assigned to the dance schools was 'Amma' - the divine mother, in celebration of Mother’s day and all performances represented this theme.
It was an opportunity to witness the rich cultural traditions of Indian classical dance forms all on one stage. The dance styles presented were Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, Odissi and Mohiniyattam. A total of 195 performers participated in this grand event.
The evening commenced with an invocatory dance item performed by students of Radhika Raghuvir, in Bharatanatyam style. This was followed by students of Asha Srinivasa Acharya who presented items on Krishna and his mother Yasodha.
Next came students of Anupama Rajesh of Nritya Geethanjali dance academy.
Kuchipudi dance items were presented next by students of Sobha Tammana
of Kuchipudi Natya Vihar.
A student of Poonam Mahesh performed a Tillana on goddess Parvati which was followed by students of Ipsitha Satpathy performing Odissi dance style. students of Vijayalakshmi Shetty of Natraj Dance Academy performed next which was followed by students of Sowmya Kumaran of Nrithya Sangeeth school of dance.
Kuchipudi was presented next by students of Hema Yaddanapudi and following that was Bharatanatyam by students of Vanitha Veeravalli of Bharatam Academy of Dance Arts.
Kathak was performed by students of Gauri Jog of Indian School of Dance. Students of Rupali Chaudhari of Aavishkar Dance Academy presented a Vandemataram fusion followed by an enchanting Kuchipudi presentation by Janaki Anandavalli Nair and her student.
Students of Nrithyanjali School of Dance performed next along with their guru Sushmitha Arunkumar. A professional performing troupe from Michigan, Odissi Dance Academy performed next. The dancers were Shreelina Ghosh, Manasi Mishra and Tanvi Joshi.
The beautiful dance style from Kerala, Mohiniattyam was presented next by Janaki Anandavalli Nair and her student which was followed by a Bharatanatyam fusion presentation by Mohana Swamy and her students. Natyarpana Dance Company , a professional performing troupe from Milwaukee, WI led by guru Kripa Bhaskaran presented a few dances next. 
This was followed by a professional dancer,
Vyjayanthi Vadrevu who performed Bharathanatyam - Odissi fusion.
This event concluded with a Saraswati Vandanam which was performed by students of Sushmita Arunkumar.
All the dance teachers were recognised on stage for their efforts and honored with an award plaque which was presented to them by the Chairman of the temple, Dr. Ramaraja Yalavarthi.
The cultural committee of Sri Balaji Temple was honored to organize this event which helps in promoting and propagating the diverse dance styles of India among the younger generation of children living in the US. Their next cultural programme will take place on June 19 featuring the famous Gundecha Brothers who will be performing at the temple auditorium. For more details visit www.balaji.org
Photos by Ravi Ganapathy of IvarPix.com
