Chicago IL: Over 400 people gathered to witness talent of Illinois area with outstanding performances of talent by youth. Association of Indians in America, Inc. Illinois Chapter (AIA) proudly organized ‘Group Dance Competition Youth Talent Show on Saturday – August 27, 2016 at Harper College Auditorium, 1200 W Algonquin Rd, Palatine, IL from 5:00pm to 8 pm. This was really a unique performance by the Best in the Business. High Voltage Dance Performances were presented by 19 top teams from Illinois. This was hailed by more than 400 strong appreciative Spectators. It was full house there was no place to seat including the audience where standing behind to get a glimpse of it. No one wanted to leave. The talent show consisted of performances by youth, as well as a talented group of elders between 60 to 65 years.
Program commenced by Beena Patel, 1st female President of AIA. She introduced additional AIA members, namely Vice President Neal Patel and Chairperson Santosh Pandey, past President Salil Mishra, Secretary Harish Kolasani, Joint-Secretary Dr. Hina Patel, Treasurer Sujata Sharma and Joint-Treasurer Nipa Shah.
Beena, in her welcoming speech, announced that as per tradition AIA will present three different events in 2016. 1st and foremost is the AIA Dance Competition being held today, 2nd, celebrating Gandhi Jayanti and finally Celebrating Asian American heritage month. She thanked both vice presidents Santosh Pandey and Neal Patel for helping organizing event.
Likewise she also thanked Secretary Harish Kolasani and Dr. Hina Patel for their eagerness to do whatever it takes to complete the task. Equally pertinent members Nipa Shah and Sujata Sharma received congratulation due their huge effort in promoting this event. Gratitude was also extended to Hina Trivedi’s and Lucy Pandey for their hard for making all these appreciation certificates for the participants. Beena Patel introduced members at large: Dr. Asish Sen, Lucy Pandey, Heena Trivedi and committee members: Om Dhingra, Sujata Sharma, Lucy Pandey, Prem Mehrotra, Manoranjan Mishra.
Santosh Pandey was the Emcee and conducted the program enthusiastically. He is also the Vice President was the brain child behind this spectacular show set the tone for the event. Throughout the show he kept the audience entertain and live with joke punches and taking skills. Sidharth Karnam began the program with” Shree Ganeshaaya Dheemahi”
Beena extended heartfelt congratulations to chorographers or Gurus of Dance Schools participating in today’s dance competition. Last but not the least, she acknowledged and thanked college students from Loyola University for participating in Acapella singing during intermission.
All the performance team where given a beautiful participant certificate from AIA which was designed by Lucy Pandey.
At the end of contest, three top winners were announced. Beena Patel invited all the participating groups on stage and commended their performances and said it was difficult for the judges to decide who the best is. Due to very close and fierce contest, judges took more than 20 min to decide the winners. Every group which had performed had unique style and presence. There was varieties of dance in competition representing the entire colorful vibrant India. It nice to see our Indian American youth performing so well. This was one of the best performance of year 2016.
Neal Patel from Medstar Laboratory presented the Trophies and the cash prizes of $750, $351 and to the winners as follows.
1st. Prize $750 to Jal – Soorya Dance School – Jinno Varghese;
2nd Prize 2nd prize 2nd prize of $351 to winner Agni – Bollywood Rhythms Choreographer Bhagya Nagesh
3rd. Prize $$151 to the winner Nache Mayuri Dynamites Choreographer Mayuri Rajesh
The Association of Indians in America (AIA) is the oldest national association of Asian Indians in America. It was founded on August 20, 1967 after the United States Congress passed the Immigration Act during 1965-66, repealing the Asian Exclusion Act of 1917. The Constitution of the AIA was adopted in 1970 and was incorporated in 1971. AIA obtained the IRS exempt status in 1973. AIA is the grass root national organization of Asian Immigrants in the United States, fostered on the democratic principles of “one member one vote”, with chapters and membership spread across the United States of America. AIA represents the hopes and aspirations of those immigrants who are united by their common bond of Indian Heritage and American Commitment.
Sponsors were Neal and Raj Patel from Medstar laboratory, Mafat Patel from Patel Brothers, Salil Mishra from Millennium Bank, Prem Marhotra from General Energy Corporation, Anil Sharma from Insurance World Agency, Inc., Ghanshyam Pandey, Papa Johns Skokie, State Farm Agent Esha Patel, Maya Patel from Holiday inn Rolling Meadows, Hina Trivedi Chicago Indo US Lions Club President, Dr. Hina and Hemant Patel, Dr. Ritesh Patel, Kishore and Deepika Chugh and Hema and Shashant Bhatt, Harish Kolasani from NRI Seva Foundation, Santosh Kumar from Metropolitan Asian Family Services.
Judges were Monica Kapoor, Madhra Sabe, Swapna pula, Chandrasri Das and Devi Annamalai.
The vote of thanks was proposed by the Secretary Harish Kolasani who thanked the Dance Gurus for continuing dance education to our children and parents for keeping and nurturing our culture alive for years to come by instilling traditional values in them. Harish Kolasani also thanked the Sponsors and Media.