Telugu Association of Greater Greenville, SC welcomed “Vikruthi Namah Samvatsaram” during their 7th Annual Ugadi Celebrations on March 20th 2010 at the Ahimsa Hall ( Vedic Center) with all the glitter and grandeur. A near capacity attendance of 600 plus guests from in and around the Greenville town were treated to some great music, dance, food and fanfare.
It was a thrilling moment to sense the pride reflected in the faces of all cultural performers, residents of Greenville and visitors.Starting from the much inviting entranceway to the stage, the decorations were astounding and magnificent. Everything was planned with an eagle eye for perfection. The decoration team, consisting of Aruna Patchipulusu, Jyothi Garipalli, Pavani Thammana, Poornima Chaluvadi, Neeraja Sama, Srivalli Kondapalli and Vasavi Manthena deserve kudos for their creativity and hard work.
The evening kicked off at 5:30pm sharp with a prayer “Sri Ganesh Vandana” presented by Nutan Sangeet Vidyalay students. ‘Telugu Badi’ students followed it up with a program titled “Mana Pandugalu” - which enchanted the audiences with their costumes and dialogues describing the significance of various festivals celebrated by people of Andhra Pradesh.
This was followed by the ever popular, Kids fancy dress competition, where kids showed such fun and frolic which brought some mythological characters back to this computer age.
The parents left no leaf unturned in the design of their costumes and props.
The interesting part of this event was the participation of quite a few non-Telugu members of Greenville community. The stage setting of the fisherman village, cruise ship, raja kumari drawing picture and boys getting out of the helicopter for the ‘Billa’ song showed how much effort put in by the choreographers, participants and parents to present the dance items in addition to the dance steps.
The programs included participation from every age group starting from 4 year old to adults. The debut performance by the tiny tots, all aged 4 dancing to the tunes of “ringa ringa” is worth a mention. From the mesmerizing classical presentations by Mrs. Sunitha Raj, Shipra Bethi, Priyanka and Renjini Iyer to the foot tapping numbers from super hit movies by the boys and girls of all ages to the adult performances, all were awesome.
Like every year, variety was the very essence of the evening in the programs. Among so many fast beat dances, the slow dances for melodious songs were a big hit. The depiction of first love and college romance during the dance for ‘Mate Mantram’, took the audience to their college days . The women’s dance with a roll count of 20 participants was yet another outstanding presentation in commemoration of International Women’s Day.
Teenage boys who call themselves the TAGG Tigers danced to the rhythm of “Bangaru Kodipetta” which got the entire hall roaring with cheers and applause.
Teenage girls danced for a song recorded – in their own voice to depict how the modern girls transform from being innocent to street smart was very creative and wonderful.
The last two performances of the evening “Enduke Ravanamma” which stressed on the current job situation with light comedy and “Tight tonic” with befitting costumes to appropriate props were truly delightful and had the audience literally roll on the floor with laughter.
As always, Platinum sponsers and Telugu Badi staff was felicitated with plaques and souveniers. This year TAGG took a step further and also felicitated the choreographers with mementos, in recognition of their dedication and hard work.
The anchors of the evening Anita Budidi, Ram Garipalli and Ranjeeta Mote carried their roles with great poise and elegance and helped navigate the evening smoothly.
The guests enjoyed mouth watering delicacies like mirchi bajji, chekkara pongali etc. Caterers for the evening were M/S Swapna Indian cuisine of Atlanta.
‘Ugadi gala’ this year was a grand success. TAGG committee members responsible for organizing such a spectacular show are, Apparao Kondapalli, Dev Sunkara, Durga Prasad Nallamotu, Krishna Vallabhaneni, Krishna Vemuri, Prabhakar Budidi, Prasad Patchipulusu, Prashanth Mote, Ram Garipalli, Ramesh Venepally, Sasidhara Thammana, Sekhar Kappagantula, Shaker Manne, Sridhar Gangavalli, Sridhar Yarlagadda, Srinivas Varma Channamraju, Surya Narra, Venkata Gullapalli, Venkatesh Pudipeddi , Venkateswara Pitchala and Venu Sama. An event of this magnitude could not have happened overnight. Backed by a team of very motivated and dedicated committee and the dedication and hard work of volunteers, this event was indeed a grand success.