TANA hosts 'Kalyana Srinivasam' dance ballet in Dallas

Dallas: Telugu Association of North America (TANA) on Sunday, June 17 hosted 'Kalyana Srinivasam, a mega Kuchipudi Dance Drama on Lord Srinivasa, at the Eisemann Center, Richardson TX.

TANA, founded in 1977, is one of the oldest and largest Indo-American national-level organizations with its charter to perpetuate, integrate, and assimilate the cultural heritage of the Telugu-speaking people of the North American continent into the mainstream of the cultural heritage of North America.

This program was Co-hosted by the Natyanjali Kuchipudi dance School of Srilatha Suri established to promote the exquisiteness of Kuchipudi dance in North America in general and Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex in particular.

Rajeswari Udayagiri and Chandrahas Maddukuri duo served as the leaders of the ceremony for the evening. Manjulata Kanneganti, TANA Southwest Regional Representative extended a warm welcome to the visiting guests and several hundreds of local Telugu community members for this one-of-a kind dance drama.

The event was attended by Upendra Chivukula, Deputy Speaker of the Assembly, NJ as a Chief Guest. Chivukula speaking on this occassion congratulated TANA for bringing the Telugu community together and promoting the rich Indian culture in North America.

TANA honoured Chivukula with a "Distinguished Service Award" for his impeccable public service and for being a beacon for the upcoming leaders of the Indian origin.

'Srinivasa Kalyanam' is a romantic devotional ballet depicting the story and the wedding of Lord Srinivasa with Padmavathi. The ballet has been divided into a dozen different complex scenes with unique set of situations involving many characters for the clear understanding of the story.

Each scene is uniquely choreographed with various characters supported by breathtaking sounds and techniques to simulate the respective environment. Use of special equipment in almost every scene is an indication of the effort level from the choreographers.

Various events leading to the romantic union of the Lord with Padmavati is well presented. The audience was enthralled and taken in by every scene and and passion of the performers is clearly visible.

Prasad Thotakura, President of TANA reiterated TANA's continued focus on serving the Telugu community with result oriented programs and enabling a new breed of ambassadors to bring the community together.

He invited everyone to attend the 19th TANA Convention to be held from July 4-6, 2013 at the Dallas Convention Center in Dallas.

He commended Padmasree Dr. Sobha Naidu for her decades of accomplishments and service to the Indian art and culture. Prasad also thanked Srilatha Suri of Natyanjali Kuchipudi dance school and her disciples for delivering the mesmerizing performance to the Dallas area Telugu community.

The 'Kalyana Srinivasam' team leader Padmasree Dr. Sobha Naidu was felicitated with a title 'Viswa Natyaachaarya Siromani' and the Artistic Director of Natyanjali Kuchipudi Dance School Srilatha Suri was bestowed with 'Natya Kala Choodamani' and all the performers were recognized with certificates and bouquet of flowers by the TANA executive team starting with Prasad Thotakura, President, Ram Yalamanchili, Secretary, Manjulatha Kanneganti, Regional Representative, Murali Vennam, 19th TANA Convention Coordinator, Geeta Dammanna, President of TANTEX, Dr. Sridhar Reddy Korsapati, IANT President, Rao Kalvala, Regional Vice President of NATA, Satish Reddy, Board of Director of ATA, Special appreciation and mementos were presented to all the sponsors and Chandrahas Maddukuri and Rajeswari Udayagiri for doing an outstanding job as the emcee of the day.

TANA Sub-committee Chairs ' Chalapathi Rao Kondrakunta, Rajesh Veerapaneni, Vinod Uppu, Ratnakumar Daggubati, Samba Dodda, Srikanth Polavarapu, TANA Convention Coordinator Murali Vennam, TANA Foundation Trustee Dr. Prakasa Rao Velagapudi and Dr. Bhanumathi Ivaturi also graced the occasion.

The mesmerizing Kalyana Srinivasam dance drama came to an end with vote of thanks by Ram Yalamanchili, Secretary of TANA to the audience for their attendance, visiting guests, volunteers like Narasimha Reddy Urimindi, Vasanth Suri, Vara Senapathi, Sridhar Kodela, Samba Dodda, Srikanth Polavarapu who spent countless hours of their valuable time, Eisemann Center management for providing excellent support and facilities, the event sponsor Natyanjali Kuchipudi Dance School, Grand Sponsors; Fortune Butterfly City, Horizon Travels, Mayuri Indian Restaurant, Our Place Indian Cuisine, Riya the Travel expert, Gourmet Foods, Unisis, Vindu Indian Cuisine, Vish Palepu, and Vinod Uppu & family for sponsoring "Srivaari Prasadm". Special thanks to our media partners Eknazar, FunAsia, Yuva Telugu Radio, TV9 for their excellent coverage before and after the event.