A dance drama steals the show at Asavari's concert

Gargi Bagchi in a dance mudra

Chandon Sethi performing Hiphop to Bollywood Music

The Asavari School of Classical Indian Music and Dance held their 12th Annual Concert on June 21 in the Asbury Hall Auditorium of the Memorial United Methodist Church in White Plains, NY.

They performed various bhajans, bandishes, and qawwalis followed by a play with a few dance sequences woven in.

The drama went by the name of "Dr.Q?" and was written by Gargi Bagchi, director of the school. Chandon Sethi, and his mother, Sangeeta Sethi were both Masters of Ceremony, and. Ashok Vyas from ITV was the guest of honor. Along with the story, Gargiji made all dialogue, direction, and music selections with the help of co-director Chandon Sethi. Both director and co-director played main roles in the drama.

"Dr. Q?" was an ingenious play that told the story of two dance schools competing for fame in the field. Sushila, played by Nabeena, a student of Asavari, runs one of the two competing dance schools and schemes to take over the school run by Priyanka, played by Gargiji. Apart from that, Sushila also plans to win over Vishal, played by Shubir, who is in love with Priyanka. Sushila, the evil mastermind, sends her brother Hritik, played by co-director Chandon Sethi, on a mission to entrap Priyanka in the net of love and lust. Once Priyanka is trapped, Sushila attempts to persuade both Priyanka and father into merging both schools into one, but all plans are foiled when Priyanka finds Hritik with his new girlfriend and is heartbroken. Priyanka is thrown into turmoil and goes insane, thus losing her mind and ability to dance. Sushila keeps her hopes up all this time, and tries convincing Vishal to fall in love with her. But in the end, evil comes a cropper when Dr. Q, played by Satish, cures Priyanka, using the power of music and she regains her ability to dance. Priyanka has an epiphany, that she should love Vishal, just as he has loved and cared for her even in her rough times, and in the end the lovebirds get married.

Throughout the drama, there were Kathak sequences performed by students of the school. There were also dances performed by both Gargiji and Chandon. Gargiji presented a Kathak dance with exceptional expressions and graceful movement to the song "Mere Dholna" from Bhool Bhulaiya. Chandon performed various times in the show, with both singing and dancing acts. But unlike Gargiji, Chandon performed dances with a heavy amount of hiphop and executed moonwalks with great skill, along with other moves that require great flexibility. Through this show, Asavari showed the open mind it has towards the art and culture of Indian generations from today as well as those of the past.

By Nupur Joshi