TAGC (Telugu Association of Greater Chicago) celebrated the Sankranti Festival with a kaleidoscope of cultural events on 16th of January, 2010 at the Samarathi Auditorium of the Hindu Temple of Greater Chicago, Lemont. About 1000 people attended the event that fostered a strong sense of cultural bonding, community warmth and unity.
Excerpts of the program:
*President Amarendar Nettem started out by welcoming the guests to the Sankranthi celebrations.
* Celebrations started at 5pm with a delicious dinner catered by Priya Restaurant followed by an entertainment program that lasted well past midnight.
* The first half of the program focused on Sankranthi and Republic day themed productions, while the later half of the program entertained the audience with movie songs, movie dances and semi-classical performances that brought the crowd to standing ovations
* Classical dance performances like Rama Sabdam, Fusion and Brahma Kadigina Padam directed by Mrs.Shobha Tammana, Mrs.Janaki Anandvalli and Mrs.Hema Yeddanapudi provided an excellent start to the Sankranthi celebrations.
*Choreographers Vandana Reddy, Radha Thota, Radhika Modi, Abhi Jampana, Devaki Janaki Raman, Sridevi Dhonti presented a number of movie dance remixes in the latter half of the program.
* Secretary KSN Reddy delivered a Vote of Thanks address, thanking cultural committee for bringing together a wonderful program; Murthy Pisapati for doing an outstanding work on the website redesign; members Srinivas Pedamallu, Kalyan Anandgula, Narendar Chemarla, Chalma Reddy Bandaru, Srinivas R Kasireddy, Pradeep Kandimalla, Bhanu Swaragam and Jyothy Chintalapani for doing outstanding work before and during the program; and felicitating a number of other people who were responsible for the success of the program.
* Ms. Sai Shivani’s musical night was the highlight of the evening. Ms. Sai Shivani, a 16-year-old classically-trained accomplished playback singer from Hyderabad, AP, India, sang to a packed auditorium. Ms. Shivani and her mother Mrs.Aliveni were later felicitated by Amarendar Nettem and Madhavi Angara, Cultural Committee Joint-Secretary
* Masters of Ceremonies Ramesh Garapaty, Padmaja Sonti, Ananth Sonti, Nidhi Chintalpani and Sahiti Madireddy ensured the programs stayed on track. Rangoli competitions were held and winner, in adults & kids categories, were given gift cards.
* Abhi Jampana a 15 year old sophomore from Naperville North High school, choreographed 3 dances with children from 4-15 years old and in addition she participated in two of these dances.
* One of the Sankranthi Theme Programs, highlighted the roots of Indian Mythology, Indo-American cultural adaptation, and North-South Indian traditions. The Indian Mythology play was directed by Raghu Angara; the Indo-American dance-drama was written by Dorbala Prabhakara Sarma and choreographed by Subha Bolisetty, Jyotsna, Swapna and Anup Kilani. The overallconcept was conceived by Nalini Yedavalli and Madhavi Angara. The Theme Program was a grand success, receiving rave reviews and applause from the audience.
* TAGC Youth Volunteers Sandeep Bharadwaj, Tanvi Jatla, Prudvi Nettem, Jitesh Abbavaram, Vahini Ummalaneni, Nikitha Garapaty, Bhavya Thota, Akhila Thota, Jyothy Thippana, Nikhil Dittakavi, Sreya Gutta and Abhi Jampana played a major role in ensuring the celebrations ran smoothly by staffing in various areas including dining, membership desk, auditorium, stage decorations etc., TAGC Youth Volunteers also conducted an impromptu fund-raising effort for Haitian earthquake victims, generating $650 in cash donations. .
* Past presidents of TAGC were felicitated by Amarendar Nettem, Rohini Bokka and Sundar Dittakavi.
* The newly designed TAGC website www.tagc.org was introduced to the audience.
* The Couples Variety Show segment, directed by Padmaja Sonti and Shubha Bolisetty, was well received by the audience.
* The Kilani family – Anup, Jyotsna and Swapna Kilani – enthralled the audience with their tribute to Michael Jackson with a well choreographed dance routine.