Varsha Naik of Navrang Dance Academy, New Jersey launched first ever ‘USA Dance Day’. USA Dance Day is a unique dance platform where dances from all over the world come together on one single platform promoting unity, Harmony and brotherhood between people. To further add more value to ‘USA Dance Day’ Varsha joint hands with Bollywood celebrity choreographer Sandip Soparrkar’s National Award winning initiative ‘Dance for a Cause’, the event took place at the prestigious J.P Stevens High School in Edison, New Jersey
The theme of the show was ‘Stop Acid Attack on Women’. Acid attack not only happens in India but in Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, Cambodia, Italy and UK as well as in the United States and other parts of the world. The event started with Beautiful Anthem of both the countries USA and India followed by the Ganesh Vandana ( A prayer said before starting anything new and positive) USA Dance Day had around 15 performances where varied dance forms like -Ballet, Bollywood, Garbha, Kuchipudi, Bharatnatyam, Chinese, Hip-hop, contemporary, Pakistani, Jazz and many more were showcased. It was wonderful to witness various cultures from different parts of the world coming together for a cause.
The Chief Guest of the ‘USA Dance Day – Dance for a Cause’ was – Ms. Monica Mahendra Singh who is an acid attack survivor herself. She is a strong woman and successful fashionista and an UN Women Global Youth Champion, speaking out against gender-based violence and using fashion to empower and encourage survivors to pursue their dreams. Naik also thanked the community at the press conference for the support and encouragement for the event. “The event is gaining a lot of momentum on social media already and we have participation entries from some well-known dance institutes and individuals too. Keeping in mind all the wonderful and passionate participants who have already registered we are sure the audience and the community are going to enjoy and have a great time,” Naik said.
Special Guests like padmashree H.R.Shah(CEO TV Asia), Antonio N. Sabas – American Politician & Philanthropist, Megumi N. Sabas (Founding member of Freedom of Choice USA), Mr .Gulshan Chhabra ,Dr. Daniel Sussot (M.D., MPH, Specialist on General Preventive Medicine & Public Health), Prakash Patil (Mr India United Nations), Promila Suri from United Nations, Jyoti Singh from Atijeevan Foundation, Haleh Darabnia (a renowned social activist), Madhu Valli (Miss India Worldwide 2017) and many others were thrilled to see amazing performances and spoke about the issue on acid Attack.
Honourable Mayor of Edison Township, New Jersey, Mr Thomas Lankey honoured Sandip Soparrkar with a Proclamation for his contributions to the art of dance and humanitarian efforts on behalf of the less fortunate. The musical drama performed by Sandip Soparrkar and Varsha Naik moved the audience. The act was so beautifully enacted and absolutely heart wrenching with a perfect message to create awareness on Acid Attack brought tears to many. Dance and Music is universal and connects people across the world. American Dance Studios, Sowparnika Dance Academy, Centre for Kuchipudi ,Berwinart. FalunDafa , Zumba dance fitness along with country participation like India, China , Hongkong, Pakistan , took part in International Dance Concert to awareness about Dance for a cause for this year “Acid Attack ”
As a closing note Varsha Naik said, ‘Navrang Dance Academy promises to continue Dance for a Cause every year and we promise that each year we will try n bring to light various causes that are prevalent in the society.’
Pigeon Media- (Abhishek Dubey)