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30th Anniversary
of Saint Thyagaraja Festival in Cleveland, Ohio
This year, along with music they had one complete day dedicated for dance. I was fortunate to attend the Bharatanatyam competition in which so many talented youngsters took part. The dance competitors had to be initially screened through a video clip, which was sent to India. Then the 21 competitors were chosen to take part in the competition. The amazing part of this whole event was that all the performers were dedicated youngsters who have done their arangetrams. Each dance had a different theme to convey and thus did not become monotonous. It was a pleasure to see these girls performing the various items. About 21 girls between the ages of 15 to 21 participated in the competition. Their facial expressions and their rhythmic movements were really superb. Of course the judges had a very difficult time choosing the winners, including the first prize winner. So, the judges decided to have two first prize winners!! One first prize winner happened to be Kanya Manoj from Atlanta, GA. The other first prize winner was Ranjani Murthy from Troy, MI. Both of these winners get to perform a solo recital in Chennai this music season. The second prize winner was Pooja Kumar from Cleveland, OH. I would like
to thank the organizers V V Sundaram and others and also the parents of
these deserving youngsters for having given us an opportunity to see such
a wonderful dance program. In my eyes, each one of them was a winner in
their own way. I wish them continued success in their future endeavors.
I would like to see many more of these types of dance and music programs
by such talented youngsters.
1st Place
(Tied)
Kanya Manoj,
Duluth, GA
2nd Place
The rest
of the finalists were:
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