This year's Holi Talent Competition was yet another spectacular show put up by fifty five young children coming from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. It is a big thank you to our beloved Gurumaa, whose resolve to keep in the fore front and make premier, Indian Classical Music and Dance here in the US and seeds of her efforts that we see to fruition.
Her vision was to bring to every one here, the best of the best, through our Vedic Heritage Inc.'s program for the Maestros we have all grown up with along with Avides competition winners who are the Masters of tomorrow in the fall and the Holi Talent Competition in the spring for children dedicated to Indian Classical Music and Dance under the age of twenty five. These programs are high lights and now bear significant recognition of events at the Hanuman Temple in Hempstead, New York.
It takes a few months to put the program together, but, when the day comes and the little children adorn the stage with breath taking performances, beautiful traditional attires, expertise beyond their age, much discipline in their line of art and deliver beyond expectation, there is much pride and honor to be shared. It is Vedic Heritage Inc.'s privilege to bring young talent from the tri-state area to now a much revered stage of the temple's Pandit Jasraj Auditorium where over the years great performances have been seen and heard.
All those who come and watch these programs, share their experience for a long time to come, because, some segments remain embedded in memory to be repeatedly talked of with awe and admiration. Standing ovations, full audience that mostly stay till the end, emotional award giving and a lingering buzz of how nice the program was or how talented the children were or word searching for apt description is the testimony that everyone takes home. It was sheer delight and almost enchanting.
As per all programs after a brief introduction to the proceedings of the day by myself, there was a Diya Lighting ceremony conducted by the members of Vedic Heritage's board along with the judges for the evening amidst chants by the temple's priest Shri Rameshji. All judges were then given bouquets and requested to introduce themselves briefly and state their own achievements they bring to the chair.
On an experimental basis and to take another step to encourage children, a group of six little children from our temple were chosen to be masters of ceremony. Must say, they sounded great in unison trying to keep up with the script and held up by pairs of twos until reality kicked in and they got hungry, fidgety and what else, so the remainder was handled by me. They still deserve recognition for doing their best, especially the write up on Holi that was read by little Ashcharya Balaji.
We began the evening with a five year old Mansi Sinha who sang 'Nani Teri Moorni' and set forth the stage for the Vocal and Instrumental sections. Reema Shah sang a very melodious Bhajan called, 'Jai Jai Sut Mahesha'. Following this was our returning winner Tejas Tope on tabla and needless to say he always manages to get rounds of applause from the audience for how well he can play at this young age of twelve.
The next participant was the highlight of the entire program. When his father had wanted to enter him in the contest and gave me the age of five, I had to ask, " so, can he play a little and are you sure he will be ok on stage?", to which he had in a non assuming way said that he would try and be alright. As little Vivek Pandya he walked on stage, I had to actually call attention from the audience and let them know that this literally two and half foot child was not just loitering on the stage, but, was the next participant and a collective sigh in amazement was my response. Before he started the audience was amused by the attempt, when he started they could not believe their eyes and ears, as he went on they applauded and applauded, when he recited the 'taal' and beats they said, "bahut ache", when he played highlights they were mesmerized and when he finished the entire thrilled and pleasantly surprised audience gave a standing ovation for minutes in a row. A true 'Ustad' and 'a born Star' was this little Vivek Pandya. An absolutely gifted child who made his parents and all of us proud of our heritage. He tied in first place with Tejas Tope.
Other vocal/bhajans were sung by Priyanka Tope and Subhi Khanna who were followed by little children from Connecticut who attempted to put together a Karnatak vocal and instrumental piece completely done by themselves. An older fourteen year old Keshav Gadiraju from New Jersey and Adity Sampat gave more mature Karnatak recitals. This was introductory in this years competition.
The opening dance was an 'Allaripu', performed by six year old Ayushi Gupta. She looked very cute and courageously head started the dances with her little feet and hands in Bharatnatyam mudras which to say the least, inspires confidence in parents teaching their children young and encouraging them to come on stage.
"Kollattam', a stick dance choreographed by Ms.Radha Vardhachary, from Smt. Tejaswini Raj's school was the first group performance and was very well presented, coordinated and enjoyed by all. Next was a solo by Dimple Shah whose prostrations and precise technical steps were a pleasure to the audience. She won rounds of applause when she bent half way and pivoted all around on one foot. It was an advance composition by Maharaja Swati Thirunal.
More group performances were done by Ms Satya Pradeep's students who did a 'Thillana' and 'Thadu Paadam'. The two groups were set apart and not back to back but did very well and captivated attention for the rhythm, their smooth movements and transitions in both the items. Heena Khanijou had presented a solo 'Kathak Dance', and as usual had the crowd cheering when she came on stage as she has always been graceful and has always been a part of all our programs.
A 'Diya Dance', was performed by students of Smt Laxmi Kurup where the girls had two earthen pots one on top of the other and the top one had a few candles in it. They were a group of teenage girls who demonstrated a wonderful sense of balance and technique along with well crafted Bharatnatyam steps. It was a performance that differentiated Bharatnatyam to another level.
A live group 'Kathak' performance was given by Shri Sayeed Asghar Tiemizi's students, Archa Joshi and Naqiya Chonawala accompanied on tabla by Tejas Tope and Vocals by Priyanka Tope and Guruji himself. It is one thing to have music provided by a CD playing in the background and quite a fresh experience when it is played out live. They were absolutely enchanting as they circled the stage and breath taking when the hold their feet in the air with diminishing the sound of their bells(gunghroos) till only one of them jingles. Mind you, that is a feat very experienced dancers attempt!
Another surprise of the day was little Yanna Gupta another five year old who danced in a semi classical style to 'Yeh Kisna Hai'. If we were all in awe of this little charming performer, so were the judges of 'Dance India Dance', where she was chosen to be among the forty best from a whopping group of four hundred children. She stole every one's hearts! A much grown up solo folk performance was given by Devika gupta who was flawless and brought the stage alight with her swift swinging, graceful movements and lovely expressions.
The day's last and most unique concluding item was a skit by the Bagul family with their episode of 'Lanka Dahan', taken from the Ramayana. Their simulations were well made and props well designed. they always manage to make their presentation unique and give all a chance to say, "Jai Shri Hanuman'' aptly right at his feet in the temple.
Now for the finale we had on stage all the children bubbling with enthusiasm and impatience to see who won and a panel of utterly confused judges as to who actually won!! They all did, literally! It was just such a wonderful day that given the littlest ones being five years old and the oldest being twenty five years, they had a rough time giving decisions and demanded that to be fair going forward an age based demarcation had to be in place and that we in turn promised will be given due consideration. The awards therefore not much to surprise, were a lot of tie positions and the judges tried to make every participant who wholeheartedly performed 'a winner'. The stage was full of delight and excitement as the trustees came to the stage with appreciative remarks and gracious thanks giving to all.
To repeat once again, it was a wonderful day that many will remember for a long time to come and surely they look forward to the Holi Competition 2011.
Participants in no particular order.
Manasi Sinha - Reema Shah -Tejas Tope -Vivek pandya- Subhi Khanna -Priyanka Tope- AdeethyiaShankar- Anika Malayappan - Maathangi Nellicherry - Ahjeetha Shankar - Varisht Nellicherry - Rahul Malayappan - Keshav Gadiraju - Adity Sampath - Ayushi Gupta Samiksha Vittalraj - Apoorva Ramaniyam - Kruti Narasu - Sapna Swayampakula - Mahima Gurushankar - Sikata Sengupta - Krupa Sourirajan - Sumana Gadiraju - Shreya Kartikeyan - Harshita Ramakrishnan - Vaishnavi Nasani - Rasika Dronamraju - Dimple shah Jiana George - Julia Xavier - Kalpita Chakote - Prachi Udeshi, - Mili Shah - Heena Khanijou - Shanu Mathew - Sherry Oommen - Rebbecca Mathai - Athira Sivan - Anjali Pillai - Rensy Daniel - Deepa Paulus - Deeti Patel - Rishi Kudaravalli - Megha Reddy - Rashmika Beesam - Aditi Tawde -Anushka Roy - Archa Joshi - Naqiya Chonawala - Yanna Gupta - Devika Gupta - Aayush Bagul - Aadya Bagul