Vision-Aid held its annual fund raising event “Golden Armor, Golden Heart” on July 22nd at Littleton, MA. For the eleventh year in a row, the Broadway-style dance show was a sold-out mega-event, with over 70 dancers on stage and 720 members in the audience. The show was produced and directed by renowned producer Madurai R. Muralidaran and ably supported by Boston area Artistic Directors - Jeyanthi Ghatraju, Sujatha Meyyappan, Sripriya Natarajan Moorthy, Thenu Rajan and Hema Iyengar as well as senior teachers like Kalpana Balachundhar, Sheethal Dwaraka and Ranjini Saigal. 

These Vision-Aid annual events have become one of the signature events in Boston’s summer  calendar each year and one of the hallmarks of the events is the collective effort which is put in by a large part of the  community to make these shows a grand success. Since their inception, these shows have seen over 500 dancers participating from dozens of dance schools around the region, including many school-age children as young as 10. Not only do these amazing dancers and their families put in countless hours in attending dance practice sessions for weeks leading up to the event, they also help to raise valuable funds towards Vision-Aid’s fund-raising target.

Each year, Vision-Aid presents the Vision-Aid ambassador medal to outstanding contributors based on the total funds these individuals helped to raise for the cause. This year, Vision-Aid recognized the following five outstanding contributors: 

Jeyanthi Ghatraju is a Bharatanatyam dancer, choreographer and teacher with a mission to perform for the needy. Through her dance school, Natyanjali, she inculcates the essence of the art form to her students and strives to enrich the lives of the elderly and those in rehabilitation, along with fund raisers for many charities, notably Vision-Aid. Jeyanthi has been recognized with the US President’s Gold service award in 2014 and 2018 for her community service. Jeyanthi offers online programs in Performing Arts through her affiliation with Alagappa University in India and several students have graduated. Jeyanthi has conducted several arangetrams (Student debut) and loves to collaborate with artists from different art forms. Jeyanthi is a plant geneticist by training and Software Quality engineer by profession.

Varshini Arumugam is a sophomore in Archbishop Williams High School, Braintree MA. Hailing from a family of dancers over three generations Varshini started her dance at the age of 9 with Smt. Veena Teli, and in 3 years, she performed her Arangetram. Varshini has completed her Diploma in Bharatanatyam and is the first place winner of many Dance competitions including NEMA, KANE and UCONN Sanskriti. She performed at Cleveland Thiyagaraja festival in 2017 and made it to the top finale. She regularly performs dance items during Navrathri Natyanjali and Karthikanjali in NESSP Sai Baba temple, Sri Lakshmi temple and Sri Kaligambal temple in the Boston area.  Varshini is learning Carnatic music from Smt. Rasika Murali Mohan and has been participating in Vision-Aid productions for over 3 years. Varshini was the best outgoing student from Quincy Catholic Academy and was accepted into Arch Bishops with President scholarship throughout her high school.

Adhithi Venkatesan is a rising sophomore at Nashua High School South. She has been learning Bharatanatyam for 8 years from Smt. Sujatha Meyyappan at Kolam Academy of Dance. She has won many competitions at IANH, NEMA, and UConn for both Bharatanatyam solos and groups. This is her third year performing for Vision-Aid and she feels very fortunate to help with the fund raiser for the visually challenged. Dancing is one of her biggest passions and she loves sharing that with the younger kids by teaching them Bollywood dance. Other than dancing,  she loves to volunteer at the Nashua Soup Kitchen every month. She has been a Girl Scout for 10 years, and is continuing as an Ambassador this upcoming year.

Nithya Jonnavithula is a rising sophomore at Acton Boxborough Regional High School. She enjoys learning Madhubani/Mithila art from Smt. Sunandha Sahey. Mithila art is a folk painting of northern India, taught through generations from mothers to daughters. She learns dance from Smt. Jasmine Shah, from whom she learns various Indian dance forms such as Bollywood, Garba, and Bharatanatyam. Additionally, she regularly competes in Lincoln-Douglas debate. This is her 3rd year participating in a Vision-Aid production. She raised funds by selling her Madhubani painting "The Generous Karna", which was bought by Chairman of the Boston Group, Subu Kota.

Pavitra Balachundhar is a rising eighth grader at Jonas Clarke Middle School, Lexington, MA. She loves to dance and has been learning Bharatanatyam for eight years from her mother, Smt. Kalpana Balachundhar of Chandra School of Dance. Pavitra is in the Junior Olympics track for competitive gymnastics. She was the Floor Championship at the State Competition and qualified for the Regionals. She won the Regional 6 Gymnastics Championship (MA, NH, VT, CT, NY, RI and ME) in April 2018 for her age group. She also does track and field during the school year and represents and has won awards for her school in state meets. She also enjoys singing Western Classical, adventurous outdoor and water sports.