Indian Dance Recital at the College of Medicine

July 28th, 2009 at 02:07pm Rebecca Fetter

The University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford hosted its first Asian American cultural event on July 22 with approximately 200 students, staff, faculty members and members of the Rockford community assembled in the lobby. The event began with an introductory speech by Dr. Neelu Puri, and a ceremonial lighting of the lamps. Patricia Lee, a summer high school student at the College of Medicine, started the evening with a piano sonata. Then, the featured dancer, Anjal Chande, performed several pieces in the classical Indian dance form Bharatnatyam.

Anjal Chande began her dance performances with an invocation, “Ganesh Kavuttwam.” She then danced a traditional piece “Bhavayami Gopala Balam,” which describes Yashoda’s observations of baby Krishna. This was followed by “Yahi Madhava Yahi Keshava”, a dance that depicts the antics of an older Lord Krishna. The dancer preformed these dances telling the stories using her facial expression and intricate footwork. Anjal also performed a piece to an original composition of poetry written by herself titled “Darkness”: a very unusual combination of English poetry with Indian dance style. She concluded her dances with a finale, “Thillana.” The dances highlighted Anjal’s abilities to move with intricacy and deliberation. Very expressive facial movements and precise arms and fingers, accompanied by intricate footwork helped to convey to the audience the various emotions and meanings that are an integral part the stories of the Bharatnatyam dance. Anjal described her passion for the dance form and enlightened the audience to the stories behind the pieces before performing.

Following her dances, Michelle Zheng, a summer student volunteer at the College of Medicine, played a classical violin piece. The Bharatnatyam theme was then continued with a dance by Vidhya Chandrasekaran, a medical student at the College of Medicine. Her dance, Boshambo, portrayed Lord Siva with a complexity of foot work and rhythmic dance movements and a commanding presence.

Click here to see what else the College of Medicine is doing in Rockford.

Click here to learn more about the work of Anjal Chande.

Thanks to Cynthia Hall and Dr. Neelu Puri of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford for their collective insights and contribution to this report.

Entry Filed under: Performing Arts, Local Artists, Arts Advocacy, Literary Arts