Ramayana Dance Drama Attracts Hundreds From Multicultural Communities

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The International Ramayana Institute of North America (IRINA), in cooperation with the leading Indian, Indonesian and Thai Dance Drama Academies held the Ramayana Dance Drama at the Rosary High School auditorium in Aurora, Illinois Dec. 2.

Some 350 people from various communities came to the show. Leaders from the different communities such as Indian, Thai, and Indonesian, jointly organized the event, according to Asian Media USA.

The chief guests included Neeta Bhushan, consul general of India and in Chicago; Rosmalawati Chalid, consul general of Indonesia in Chicago. All office bearers, past presidents, trustees and other guests were also participated in the opening ceremony which included lighting the traditional lamp to kickstart the event.

The IRINA was founded in Chicago in 2000 when several volunteers came together to promote the exchange of the literary, artistic, cultural, educational and scientific aspects of Ramayana epic among different countries worldwide. The organization has held three international Ramayana conferences where Ramayana scholars from more than nine countries participated and presented research work and findings on Ramayana. In his speech, Subhash Pandey, past president and trustee of IRINA described the organization as a model for the “Unity in diversity”. Both consuls general appreciated the efforts of IRINA for putting together 12th Ramayana dance drama and congratulated office bearers and volunteers of IRINA.

Several dance directors from the Indian, Indonesian and Thai communities took part in the dance drama with more than 100 performers from Chicago and outside Chicago. Classical musical performance by artists from the Academy of Thai Classical music at Wat Dhammaram; a puspanjali dance; a Balinese. welcoming dance from Indonesia by dancers from the Indonesian Performing Arts of Chicago; Dancers from Indian Dance School choreographed and directed by Gauri Jog, were part of the program. The Srujan dance presented “Ghoomar” dance-a traditional folk dance of Rajasthan, was choreographed by Swati Shah.