From Diversity to Diwali - SDA grooves through Fall 2019

Fall semester kicked off to a busy start for Shehnaaz Dance Academy as we performed and participated in over 5 different events across Jersey City & Hoboken. Honored to be a part of each of the celebrations, SDA greatly appreciated the love and support of our appreciative audience at all of our performances.

We started our month of revelry with the largest indoor Garba/Dandiya Raas in Downtown Jersey City organized by Indians in Jersey City. The women dancers of SDA glided across the floor of McNair Academic School in bright yellow floral skirts and danced to an outstanding medley of traditional and popular Gujarati Garba songs. The performance was followed by a fun interactive session where our performance choreographer Krupa taught a few basic Garba moves to get the audience grooving on the dance floor.

JC families Annual Diversity Festival at City Hall is a celebration of the unique blend of cultures, traditions, dances and music from countries all over the world right here in our diverse city of Jersey City. SDA was proud to represent India and its iconic Bollywood dance forms. The medley started with a solo rendition of 2019’s classical blockbuster Ghar More Pardesiya by SDA Company Director Shalini who was followed by the fun and peppy Nachde Ne Saare rocking performance by SDA Company Dancers Mehali and Anushya. Our team’s hip hop crew – Rajul, Krupa and Jessica — set the stage ablaze with the latest soundtrack Ghungroo and ended SDA’s fabulous line up with the groovy Dhagala Lagli number.

The Fall-A-Palooza festival at Hamilton Park was an enjoyable event for people around the neighborhood. The weather was perfect and once again the Garba dancers of SDA swept across the park in their flowing skirts to dance to the traditional dandia beats of this season’s favorite medley. Two of our talented young dancers Yashvi Bharaiya and Nishka Bansal also won hearts with their classical performance of Satyameva Jayate and Vande Mataram.

With Diwali events popping up all over the neighborhood, SDA loved showcasing our company’s amazing talent across all genres of dance. We were invited by Namaste Hoboken to perform at its first Diwali event hosted at Antique Loft in Hoboken. The venue was gorgeous with breathtaking views of the Manhattan skyline and the ambience was lively and vibrant. SDA grabbed the limelight with its super fun lineup. We started with a lovely semi classical piece of Ae Watan, added a dose of high energy Bhangra with Morni Banke and wrapped up the celebration to the peppy tunes of Dhagala Lagli.

We also participated in the Diwali celebrations at Cornelia Bradford Elementary School. Our little dancers took the stage by storm in elegant tricolor outfits for their classical and folk performances. From Vande Mataram to Rind Posh Maal, our little divas portrayed the true spirit of SDA – Team Work makes the Dream Work. The event ended with a semi classical rendition of Ghar More Pardesiya. The audience was a delight and the applause was humbling.

SDA is now gearing for its Winter Recital 2019 on December 14. It’s going to be a riot on stage with talented kids and company dancers transporting you to the Retro era of Bollywood. We can’t wait to have you grooving to those bygone beats of Bollywood!