ISW Harvest Festival 2021

On Sat, Feb 13, 2021, we kicked off the first major event of the ISW calendar year – The Harvest Festival. And what a great way to start!!

This was our way of beginning the new year with positivity, prosperity and happiness. As per Indian mythology, Harvest festival (which is known by different names in different regions in India) marks the end of an unfavorable phase and the beginning of a holy phase. Particularly in the villages of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Himachal, West Bengal and Punjab, people celebrate the harvesting of new crops with bonfires, carnivals, songs, dances, kite flying and rallies.

For obvious reasons, we could not gather in person as in previous years. However, we invited the extended ISW community to come participate in the cultural event and dance competition virtually. And it was met with tremendous interest.

The event was kicked off virtually and streamed LIVE on ISW’s Facebook page.

The program ran for more than 3 hours and consisted of 35 performances ranging from Indian classical dances to semi classical dances interspersed with Bollywood medleys, poem recitations and even a very lively debate. All the dances were brilliantly choreographed and extremely entertaining to young and old alike.

If you missed the event, you can still view it at the following links -

Live 1 - https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=923983718407338&ref=watch_permalink

Live 2 -https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=901184797402446&ref=watch_permalink 

As always, these events are not possible without our ISW family and community participation. Each one of them contributes to the success that we talk about here.

We thank our participants for sharing their talent and love with us.

We thank our judges for sharing their knowledge and time to encourage our participants.

We thank the ISW Cultural committee and our volunteers for putting countless hours into making this event a success.

And we cannot do this without our sponsors, a BIG thank you to them as well.

COngratulations!! Nartika (dance contest) winners!

Semi classical/Bollywood

Classical

Below 9 years: Ekta Dance Academy - 1st winner Street Dancers - 2nd winner Academy of Creative Arts - Little Kids - 3rd winner 9-12 YEARS: Odhani - 1st winner Girls on Fire - 2nd winner Performing Arts of New England - 3rd winner 13-17 years: Performing Arts of New England - 1st winner Vande Matram - 2nd winner Girls of the Galaxy - 3rd winner 18+ years: Boston Desi Hoppers - 1st winner The Dholikaars - 2nd winner Hellaro - 3rd winner

Below 9 years: Amudhasri Dance School - 1st winner Mona's Dance Academy - 2nd winner 9-12 years: Upasana - 1st winner Amudhasri dance school - 2nd winner Amudhasri dance school - 3rd winner 13-17 years: Performing Arts of New England - 1st winner