1,000 attend Indian dance event at Dearborn center

Nadanta dancer Priya Bhadwar (fourth from left) ac-cepts congratulations on the dance group’s perform-ance at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Cen-ter in Dearborn. From left are her parents, Downriver physicians Avlokita and Manmohan Badhwar, for-merly of Riverview; Bhavna Gupta; and Shelley and Richard Dalley, all of Grosse Ile. Gupta, also a Nadanta dancer, was part of the backstage crew for the July 31 performance.
By Evelyn Cairns: Approximately 1,000 people filled the auditorium of the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn July 31 for the world premiere of “Rhythms of India,” presented by the Nadanta Indian dance company.
Featuring dazzling costumes and sets, the per-formance by some 45 members of the company took the audience on a journey from classical to contempo-rary Indian music and dance.

Music was by A.R. Rahman, winner of two Os-cars, two Grammys and a Golden Globe Award for the movie “Slum Dog Millionaire,” and choreography was by Chaula Thacker, founder and artistic director of Nadanta.
Thacker, who has won more than 100 awards for choreography and costume design, created dance moves for Charlie White and Meryl Davis of Bloomfield Hills, winners of the Silver Medal in Ice Dance at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Both are students of Thacker.

Members of Nadanta include Anjali Garg of Wyandotte, Bhavna Gupta of Grosse Ile and Priya and Jaya Badhwar of Wyandotte.

Originally Posted by Times-Herald Newspapers on 8/14/10