Dance Pe Chance: Hundreds competed in popular competition organized by Federation of Indian Associations for India’s Republic Day

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More than 500 participants competed in 21 performances at the 36th annual Dance Pe Chance contest Jan. 25, 2020, at the Patriots War Memorial Theater in Trenton, N.J.

It set a new milestone for the Federation of Indian Associations – NYNJCT, which organizes the signature cultural event which, to date, has touched the lives of over 18,000 second-generation Indian-American children.

Celebrity Judges and distinguished invitees included India’s Deputy Consul General in New York Shatrughna Sinha , actor and Kathak dancer Prachee Shah Paandya, and actor and athlete Prachi Tehlan. The chief guest was Anand Kumar, the mathematician of  Super 30 fame.

The FIA of Tristate, one of the oldest and the largest non-profit umbrella organizations of the Indian diaspora, celebrated India’s 71st Republic Day with this annual show.

Youth from various dance schools of two different states participated in the festive spirit to prove their mettle at the “Dance Pe Chance” (DPC) competition, a press release from FIA, said.

Thirteen dance schools performed in front of a full crowd in four categories: Minor, Junior, Senior and Adult. Aum Dance Creations, Arya Dance Academy, Aatma Performing Arts, B2Z Dance School, Dancing Shiva, Nruthu Aaloka Dance Vision, Nirmiti School of Dance, Nritya Creations, Shake It Up dance school, Dance4Ever, Taal Institute of Performing Arts, Dansation, and Taraang with Mitali were among the schools that participated.

The event commenced with the national anthem of United States and India. , during his welcome address DPC Chair Saurin Parikh welcomed the spectators and applauded the children, parents and choreographers. He also dedicated the 36th year of DPC to the more than 18,000 children who have participated enthusiastically over the last three decades.

The community event also honored the dignitaries in attendance, including judges, and guests. The traditional ceremony of oath-taking by the FIA’s incoming executive committee of 2020 took place. Those sworn in included – incoming President Anil Bansal ; Executive Vice President; Vice President Saurin Parikh; General Secretary Praveen Bansal; Treasurers Amit Ringasia, Himanshu Bhatia; Immediate Past President Alok Kumar; and Joint Secretary Mardavi Patel. The oath was administered by Deputy Consulate General Sinha who also expressed his appreciation for the role FIA has played in the community for 49 years and how CGI-NY and FIA working in sync was pivotal in benefiting Indians and Indian-Americans in the Northeast.

Also present was Representative from the Governor’s office, aid to the Governor Rajpal Bath, who administered the oath to two new members added by FIA to the Board of Trustees – Past Presidents Srujal Parikh and Andy Bhatia, both long-time FIA veterans.  Chairman Ramesh Patel recognized the support of the FIA Board that currently holds a line of distinguished community leaders including Ramesh Patel, Padma Shri H R Shah, Padma Shri Dr. Sudhir Parikh, Albert Jasani, Ram Gadhavi, Dipak Patel, Chandrakant Trivedi, Pravin Pandhi, Ankur Vaidya, Jayesh Patel and Yash Paul Soi.

Incoming President Anil Bansal thanked the 2019 team and expressed his gratitude for the trust placed in him by the FIA fraternity. He assured continued engagement with the diaspora assistance programs as well as the big celebrations to mark FIA’s 50 years in existence.

Participants were judged by an array of talented personalities including Anindita Nanda, an exponent of Odissi, acclaimed classical dancer and an Indian vocalist,  Paromita Chakravarty, an accomplished Bharatnatyam practitioner, theater artist and choreographer, Pranaya Akula, trained in Bharatnatyam and a dance teacher, and Swati Vaishnav, the owner of Nartan Rang Dance Academy which has won multiple dance competitions both nationally and internationally. The event was sponsored by Radio Mirchi, Air India, Republic Tv, TV Asia, Parikh Worldwide Media, and South Asian Times.

The FIA, in a first, launched an e-bi-weekly diaspora news mailer and performed a beta app test for popular audience voting app which saw an accumulated total of more than 7,000 votes cast.  The app vote scores were not included due to the beta version of the app being tested.  FIA plans to incorporate this as a part of the counted vote score in the coming competitions, the press release said.   Concluding with the announcement of results, FIA also honored all the dancers, choreographers and judges with Prize-Winning amounts, mementos, and certificates.