List of Governing Board Members

AVLOKITA BADHWAR, M.D.

Dr. Avlokita Badhwar is a internist practicing in southeastern Michigan since 1992. She practices primary care in her office in Brownstown, makes rounds regularly at Oakwood Hospital, Dearborn, and Southshore Hospital, Trenton, Michigan. Once a week she makes housecalls at American House, Riverview, Michigan.

Dr. Badhwar has been teaching medicine to medical students and residents since 1990. She is an active member of the Medical Education Committee at Southshore Hospital, Trenton, Michigan.

In spite of her busy schedule as a physician, she is devoted to multiple social, cultural and religious activities. She organizes multiple cultural shows all over the state and in Canada as a volunteer. She is a volunteer at Nadanta performing all kinds of activities like designing costumes, stitching costumes, shopping, organizing, helping performers with their dresses, scripts, make up, packing, transportation, cooking, cleaning. She is one person who can be depended on 24/7 throughout the year. She is very well known to all the participants in Nadanta ever since she joined the Nadanta organization in 1989. She is known by her nickname, Gigi Auntie, by all performers.

Avlokita has excelled not only in the medical field, but for her contribution to the world of dance and arts. Her dedication to the cause of spreading love and happiness through the medium of dance, music and art has definitely made this world a better place to live and enjoy life.

SOMIL SHAH

Somil Shah is a Finance Executive with over 30 years of experience in various industries, including construction and automotive. Somil is a licensed CPA in Michigan; he achieved his undergraduate degree from Detroit College of Business and MBA from Wayne State University.

Somil, who is a naturalized US citizen was born in Mumbai and moved to US in 1987 at the age of 17. Growing up in India, Somil has always had great exposure and keen interest in dance and music. Over the years, Somil has served on various non-profit organization boards – Treasurer and Board Member of The Hindu Temple of Canton for numerous years. He has also served as the Supervisory Committee Chairperson for the FME Federal Credit Union in Saint Clare Shores, Michigan.

Somil is actively involved in Nadanta since 2010, volunteering his efforts in marketing, collecting advertisements for program brochures, ticket sales and ushering. Somil’s daughter, Reeya, is also a student of Chauladevi Institute of Dance and Yoga, learning Bharat Natyam from her guru Chaula Thacker since 2010.

GEORGE J. MAGER, JR.

George Mager is a partner in the Windmill Group. He also serves as the Company’s Chief Financial Officer and legal advisor. A prominent Detroit-area real estate attorney with more than 30 years experience, Mr. Mager’s affiliation with The Windmill Group began as a consultant in 1990s.

Throughout his career, Mr. Mager has focused his legal practice representing prominent lenders, builders nad developers in the industry. He honed his expertise in the condominium and residential building market, learning the industry in the process.

Mr. Mager is a member of the American, Michigan and Detroit Bar Associations. He received his JD from Wayne state University Law School and his B.A. from the University of Michigan.

Mr. Mager was a member of the Nadanta Board of Directors for the first five years. He is now the President of Nadanta. He is actively involved in running Nadanta’s board.

AMI TURNER

Ami Turner has been a student of Chaula Thacker for over 25 years. She completed her Bharat Natyam Arangetram with Chauladevi Institute of Dance and Yoga in 1997 and completed advanced studies in Bharat Natyam with a concluding performance, Nritya Aradhana, in 2004. Today she continues to dance with Nadanta and has performed in nearly every annual production along with several performances throughout the year. When she’s not dancing, Ami enjoys spending time with her husband, Andrew, and their four kids. Her two oldest children are also currently
students of Chaula Thacker. Her dream is to, one day, share the stage with all of her kids, and to continue the mission of spreading the wonders of Indian culture through the art of performance.

KARISHMA PATEL PMP, ACP

Ms. Patel is an Information Technology professional for past 15 years and is currently working as a Program Manager at Ford Motor Company. Her specialties are leading large-scale program in IT software delivery, in various areas in the automotive industry from leading vehicle program, vender led delivery, global systems, etc. Ms. Patel has been with Ford Motor Company since 2007. She also has led huge building construction projects for the US Army Corp and US Wildlife. She is a certified Project Manager and a certified Agile Certified Practitioner through Project Management Institute (PMI).

Ms. Patel is born in Bombay, India and migrated to United States at an early youth age to accomplish her undergraduate education. She is married and has two beautiful daughters, who participate in Nadanta productions. Her passion is towards helping kids of this generation nurture and preserve the ancient art form of India. Her hobbies include listening to music, traveling the world, cooking dishes from different cuisines, scrapbooking, event management, travel planning, coaching project management to working adults, etc.

VIKAS BHATT

Vikas Bhatt is an Automotive Professional since 1999 working as an Engineering Supervisor at Ford Motor Company, Dearborn. Vikas Bhatt has a MS in Product Development – UDM and BSME degree – Mumbai University.

Originally from Mumbai – India, Vikas Bhatt is a naturalized US citizen, currently residing in Canton, MI. Although not having any formal training in music and dance he has impeccable knowledge and passion for both dance and music. Vikas was exposed to music in his early childhood; credits his interest and love towards music and dance to his dad who himself was an accomplished vocalist and great ambassador of Gujarati/Indian classical and folk music.

Vikas is actively involved in Nadanta, volunteering his efforts in tickets sales, props, food services, videography, backstage help, website maintenance and ushering for past 20 years. Vikas is married to his lovely wife Payal and have a cute daughter Nyari who is also a student of Chauladevi Institute of Dance and Yoga learning Bharat Natyam from her guru Chaula Thacker for the past 12 years.

NIRAV PATEL

Nirav Patel brings a deep and incredibly robust diversity of experience to his role as Board Member.

His professional background includes over 25+ years of experience in IT software development, Project Management, Program Management and managing IT consulting projects for Automotive, Aerospace, Architecture/Construction & Media/Entertainment industries.

There’s a famous saying that goes “One of the most effective ways of giving back is volunteering your time”. Nirav has never agreed with something more in his life. He firmly believes that giving time back to the community can make a world of difference in the lives of many.

In addition to being an Engineer/Program Manager – Nirav has significant organizing experience and has committed his time to serving communities and promoting awareness around culture, science and performing arts. He has been volunteering as a coach for Northville School District Science Olympiad teams since 2014. Nirav also has been involved in volunteering in various capacities at Nadanta since 2012.

Nirav is an active member of KAAD – A Volunteer group that helps the younger generation to develop an understanding of the relationship between art and engineering. As a Pro Bono Consultant, Nirav has volunteered his time on projects that align with Diversity, Equity & Inclusion. Few projects that he has worked on are – Free World, Kickstart & Rise Against Hunger.

Nirav is married to his lovely wife Karishma and is the proud father of Nishi and Aashi – both students of Chauladevi Institute of Dance and Yoga learning Bharat Natyam from their guru Chaula Thacker.

SHWETA PANDYA

Shweta Pandya has studied Bharat Natyam under Chaula Thacker for over 15 years and completed her Bharat Natyam Arangetram in 2011. She started dancing with Nadanta in 2002 but has been more active in the last decade. She has performed in over 10 annual productions and has helped create the musical pieces for various shows throughout the years.

Alongside Bharat Natyam, Shweta has been studying Kathak for the last four years. In 2019, she completed her Praveshika Purna from Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal (ABGMVM) under the guidance of Smt. Smruti Vora of Noopur Nritya Academy (Surat, Gujarat).

Other than dance, Shweta is a classically trained vocalist, having trained in Hindustani vocal music under the guidance of Smt. Mrinalini Arkatkar for over 20 years. Shweta completed her Madhyama Purna from ABGMVM in both vocal music and harmonium. She also holds a master’s degree in Hindustani vocal music from Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (Surat). Currently, she teaches both Hindustani vocal and instrumental music to students of all ages across the country through her academy, Sur Sangat.

VAIDEHI SAICHANDRAN

Vaidehi Patel is happily married to Subhash, and we have 2 wonderful kids Vansh and Sia, both do participate in Nadanta annual production and Sia is also a student of C.I.D.Y and working towards her Bharatanatyam degree. Professionally I work as Business Architect at Rocket Mortgage and have been working in IT space for last 20 years, I
moved to this country as a 19-year-old to pursue my bachelor’s degree in computer science
from Wayne State University, Warriors Strong!!!

I love to volunteer and give back to the community that we live, play grow in, we try to instill these values to our kids as well. Nadanta has special place in our hearts as this is truly a bridge to our rich culture and traditions and as performers of the academy learn it in the form of performing arts there is no better way to teach the rich culture to the future generations then this. I also on Board at my company’s Employee Resource Group on Asian Network.

RUPAL BAXI

Rupal Baxi is a proud arangetram alumni mom, who has been an avid admirer of Nadanta as an organization for over two decades, even before she had her own children. She has been involved with Nadanta’s Spring and Summer Productions and other outdoor events for almost 15 years as a dance mom and volunteered as backstage help, ushering, registration desk, and her favorite, prop design. Not only did all her family members participate in different events but even she participated in the 2024 production “Parthivi”.

She herself was a Grade A child artist for television and All India Radio at a young age and performed in many programs and stage plays. She was also part of Kala Niketan for numerous dance performances and part of the Music group Madhu Vrund to sing a variety of music. So art, music, and dance are her passions since then now continued with the Nadanta association.

She had been NSS candidate for four years and represented the state in 1994. That passion for doing her part for society is fulfilled by volunteering for Mai Family Services, an organization that stands for issues like domestic violence, youth mental health, and senior abuse, where she helps to spread awareness, arrange fundraisers, walkathons, and the annual gala.

She graduated with a degree in food and nutrition and did her masters in hotel management. She worked at 5 star hotels and resorts in India and in the US as the Director of Housekeeping for over 15 years. After that, she restarted her career in IT industry in finance, automotive, and now mortgage domains from last 10 years. As a Senior Quality Assurance Analyst, she has claimed many certifications like SAFe  Agile practitioner, AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner, and accomplished successful launch of multiple mobile applications, Omni channel notifications, Web applications and more.

Indian at heart, Rupal resides in Michigan since 2000 and has received so much joy and pride through her childrens’ artistic and cultural growth with Nadanta over the years, that she feels that its time to give back. & here she is!