IndiaFEST 2021 - Cultural
Learn about the different cultural activities happening during Indiafest below.

  • Nritya Vidyalaya - Bharatntyam

    Pushpanjali is a traditional piece in a Bharatanatyam dance repertoire. It is an invocatory piece paying obeisance to the almighty.Today Nrityavidyalaya would like to present a piece of Pushpanjali on Mother India as Vande Mataram. The lyrics are from the famous sanskrit poem written byBankim Chandra Chaterjee. Mother I bow to you who is rich with hurrying streams and blooming with bright orchard gleams.Oh mother who gives with happiness where multiple languages are spoken with ease. I bow to you Mother India.

  • Odia Society of MN - Folk

    The next item on our list would be the Paika dance, which is an ancient warrior dance from the state of Odisha.
    What many people do not know ... is that the famous Paika rebellion of 1817 is considered by many historians as the first armed revolution against the East India company rule in India.
    This dance is a depiction of the battlefield and was used to motivate the paika soldiers who stepped into battle.

  • Ragamala Dance School - Bharatnatyam

    Founded in the Twin Cities in 1992 by Ranee Ramaswamy, Ragamala Dance Company preserves and promotes the rich heritage and artistic traditions of India through Bharatanatyam. Ragamala’s Directors, Ranee Ramaswamy and Aparna Ramaswamy are senior disciples of legendary dancer and choreographer Padma Bhushan Smt. Alarmél Valli, one of India’s greatest living masters.
    At the Ragamala Training Center, with branches in Minneapolis and Rochester, we pass our artistic lineage on to the next generation, while instilling confidence, self-esteem, discipline, and connection to our rich cultural heritage.
    Intermediate students from the Ragamala Training Center will be performing an excerpt of Jathiswaram. This piece weaves together intricate rhythmic patterns and varied accent punctuation to the accompaniment of a repeated melody. This Jathiswaram was choreographed and taught to Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy by their guru, Padma Bhushan Smt. Alarmél Valli.

  • Team Naach - Bollywood

    More information coming soon.

  • Natyaprabha Dance Academy - Bharatnatyam

    Some of the tiny tots of Natyaprabha Dance Academy are about to perform a Pushpanjali, an invocatory item in Bharathanatyam, composed by Madurai R Muralidharan in Jog ragam, Adi talam and choreographed by Meena Janarthanan.

  • Natyaprabha Dance Academy - Folk

    Senior students of Natyaprabha Dance Academy will be presenting Garba folk dance of Gujarat. Garba is a Gujarati folk dance celebrated during the Hindu festival of Navrathri, a celebration lasting nine nights. Traditionally, this dance is performed in concentric circles and the entire group performs once step in sync, with the beat starting slow and slowly catching on speed.

  • Angika dance academy - Bharatnatyam

    This song describes the joyful dance of lord shiva. The lord of chidambaram dances the ananda tandavam, holding the deer and dhamaru in his hands wearing the snakes and crescent moon, he dances with his feet engulfing the skies and resonating with the sounds of anklets.

  • Chandrani Dance Academy - Bollywood

    More information coming soon.

  • Gujarati Samaj of MN - Folk

    Gujarati Samaj of Minnesota presents folk dance from Gujarat representing the welcoming of Ma Ambe to bless us with health, wealth and prosperity.
    The song speaks about the happiness and excitement to welcome the Goddess Ambe Ma, how we dress up, dance Garba, decorate our houses with pearls, flowers, and diyas and invite her into our homes and our lives; to shower us with blessings and prosperity.

  • Twin Cities Odissi - Classical

    In these trying times, when the world is facing hardships ,TwinCitiesOdissi group brings to us an Odissi dance about light and hope.
    In the song, the word Aalo means light.
    Light, my light, the world-filling light, the eye-kissing light, heart-filling light!
    The Bengali song is penned by Rabindranath Tagore and is sung by Indrani Sen.
    The English poetry is by Justin Farley, recited by Sanjay Mitra.
    The dance choreography is by Arpita Ganguly.

  • Sasae-Erg Be The Match - Junoon - Bollywood

    Ladies and Gentleman, we are proud to have Minneapolis’ own Be The Match serve as a sponsor today! Since 1987, Be The Match has been supporting patients with blood cancers and blood disorders by educating and registering lifesaving blood stem cell/marrow donors. They do this by matching donors, who are willing to donate their bone marrow or blood stem cells to patients in need. They have impacted over 100,000 lives including many patients of Indian origin who have benefited from their efforts.

    However Indian patients in the US and around the world continue to have a much more difficult time of finding committed and available donors. To learn more about Be The Match, hear from Vishal on how a stem cell transplant saved his wife’s life and how you can be a life-saving hero, we request you to visit their booth. Now let’s welcome Junoon, the U of M Indian competitive dance group that has stepped up to create awareness for this noble cause with their incredible performance.

  • Dipti Musalgonkar - Vocals/Musical

    More information coming soon.

  • Classical fusion - Odissi, Kathak, Bharatnatyam

    This performance by Classical Bandish is a celebration of the spirit of "unity in diversity" where we showcase a fusion of 3 distinct Indian classical dance forms - Odissi, kathak and bharatnatyam to the tune of legendary musician A.R. Rehman.