BY SONAM MIRPURI
BELLFLOWER, CA - Today’s youth desires, aspires, and strives to continue the cultural practices and traditions of previous generations with their skills and talents. The Organization of Hindu Malayalees sharing the same thoughts created a dance competition to promote the cultural tradition of Indian classical dance.
BELLFLOWER, CA - Today’s youth desires, aspires, and strives to continue the cultural practices and traditions of previous generations with their skills and talents. The Organization of Hindu Malayalees sharing the same thoughts created a dance competition to promote the cultural tradition of Indian classical dance.
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It is the first ever classical dance competition of its kind with hopes of encouraging upcoming and talented dancers in Southern California.
OHM presented the competition `Shivam’ on Oct 21 at the William Bristol Civic Auditorium here.
Guests took their seats and the afternoon began with an introduction of Shivam followed by a lamp lighting ceremony performed by Rema Nair, President of OHM.
Demonstrating their dance talents and their abilities to critique such a competition, the judges graced the stage by performing as featured artists. Aishwarya Venkat from the Bay Area performed a Shambo Nattam/Pushpanjali, Nita Mallya from Phoenix, AZ, performed Thulasi Bhajan, and Gomathi Manoj from New Jersey performed a Shivapriya Keerthanam.
The judges were chosen based on their unique styles and decades-long expertise in Bharatanatyam. These three dancers have also had significant experience judging prominent Bharatanatyam competitions in their respective states. Jagruthi Gandhi congratulated OHM for taking the initiative to launch such a competition giving the parents and students a stage to showcase their talents. Master of ceremonies, Shaheen Sheikh, came to the podium to present the contestants as their turn arrived to perform . Sheikh, a lawyer by profession, is passionate about the Bharatanatyam art form having nearly 16 years of training. The 16 participants ranging in age from 12 to 18 years were Shelly Murugantham, Urmila Vudali, Hansika Sundaresan, Shruthisri Ravisankar, Isha Gondi, Sumana Srinivas, Anjli Gandhi, Sahiti Kadiyala, Anagha Satish, Nithiyashree Moorthi, Ananya Kumar, Ashly Jose, Keerthana Girish, Prerana Rao, Kiara Gunawardhana, and lastly Akshya Ranjit.
Each performance presented essentially was an act that described either a story or a portion of a story generally associated with Indian history and/or mythology. This was a solo artist competition due to the fact that most students undergo rigorous training for several years in Bharatanatyam and have limited opportunities to do a solo performance. Shivam intends to fill the void and give dancers the deserving platform to help them transition into a performer. Upon completion of all of the dances, while the judges were taking important decisions on the winners, Dr. Ramadas Pillai, ex-President of OHM, addressing the gathering revealed that the primary reason to start OHM was to practice and promote traditions such as Kshetra Kalakal (temple arts) including Bharatanatyam.
Vinodh Bahuleyan, Secretary, gave the vote of thanks. Bahuleyan took a moment to talk about the floods in Kerala. He thanked the judges, sponsors, volunteers, OHM board members as well as everyone who assisted in making Shivam a seamless success.
Finally, the judges returned to announce the winners, however agreeing that each contestant was a winner because it took courage to come on stage and perform. They also encouraged all participants to continue to practice and hone their skills as practice makes perfect. All of the participants were presented with a certificate. The third place winner was Ashly Jose who won $250, in second place was Sahiti Kadiyala who won $500, and the first place winner was Urmila Vudali who won $1,000.
OHM presented the competition `Shivam’ on Oct 21 at the William Bristol Civic Auditorium here.
Guests took their seats and the afternoon began with an introduction of Shivam followed by a lamp lighting ceremony performed by Rema Nair, President of OHM.
Demonstrating their dance talents and their abilities to critique such a competition, the judges graced the stage by performing as featured artists. Aishwarya Venkat from the Bay Area performed a Shambo Nattam/Pushpanjali, Nita Mallya from Phoenix, AZ, performed Thulasi Bhajan, and Gomathi Manoj from New Jersey performed a Shivapriya Keerthanam.
The judges were chosen based on their unique styles and decades-long expertise in Bharatanatyam. These three dancers have also had significant experience judging prominent Bharatanatyam competitions in their respective states. Jagruthi Gandhi congratulated OHM for taking the initiative to launch such a competition giving the parents and students a stage to showcase their talents. Master of ceremonies, Shaheen Sheikh, came to the podium to present the contestants as their turn arrived to perform . Sheikh, a lawyer by profession, is passionate about the Bharatanatyam art form having nearly 16 years of training. The 16 participants ranging in age from 12 to 18 years were Shelly Murugantham, Urmila Vudali, Hansika Sundaresan, Shruthisri Ravisankar, Isha Gondi, Sumana Srinivas, Anjli Gandhi, Sahiti Kadiyala, Anagha Satish, Nithiyashree Moorthi, Ananya Kumar, Ashly Jose, Keerthana Girish, Prerana Rao, Kiara Gunawardhana, and lastly Akshya Ranjit.
Each performance presented essentially was an act that described either a story or a portion of a story generally associated with Indian history and/or mythology. This was a solo artist competition due to the fact that most students undergo rigorous training for several years in Bharatanatyam and have limited opportunities to do a solo performance. Shivam intends to fill the void and give dancers the deserving platform to help them transition into a performer. Upon completion of all of the dances, while the judges were taking important decisions on the winners, Dr. Ramadas Pillai, ex-President of OHM, addressing the gathering revealed that the primary reason to start OHM was to practice and promote traditions such as Kshetra Kalakal (temple arts) including Bharatanatyam.
Vinodh Bahuleyan, Secretary, gave the vote of thanks. Bahuleyan took a moment to talk about the floods in Kerala. He thanked the judges, sponsors, volunteers, OHM board members as well as everyone who assisted in making Shivam a seamless success.
Finally, the judges returned to announce the winners, however agreeing that each contestant was a winner because it took courage to come on stage and perform. They also encouraged all participants to continue to practice and hone their skills as practice makes perfect. All of the participants were presented with a certificate. The third place winner was Ashly Jose who won $250, in second place was Sahiti Kadiyala who won $500, and the first place winner was Urmila Vudali who won $1,000.
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