The YCEP group of the New England Hindu Temple in Ashland , MA held  its annual Nrityanjali function on Feb 23, 2008 at the Sri Lakshmi  temple in Ashland,MA.  This is a unique celebration where dancers make an offering of dance to Lord Shiva to celebrate Shivarathri.   The audience gets to see some of the finest classical dance performances at this event for dancing for the Lord motivates the dancer to  present his or her finest work.  

Students of Meena Subramanyam, Sunanda Narayanan, Sangeeta Vijey, Sapna Krishnan, Jayashree Bala Rajamani, Jothi Raghavan, Jeyanthi Ghatraju, Poornima Risbud, Sridevi Thirumalai and Ranjani Saigal presented a range of items mostly in the Bharatanatyam dance style.  The high quality of the presentations was a testimony to the dedication of the students and teachers to classical dance in the New England area.  Many senior dancers including, Jayashree Bala Rajamani, Prakruthi Mavanur and Jeyanthi Ghatraju presented items that added a special sparkle to the evening.

The audience witnessed a rare performance of Kerala Natanam by a professional dancer Prateesh Sivanandan who is currently touring the states. His presentation of Kubjera Moksham and the Ramayanam were unique.

The temple has played a huge role in keeping the classical arts in the New England Area. It is the temple that presents opportunities to children to perform classical music and dance. This year under the leadership of Rajagopal and thanks to the generosity of Harish Dang the temple instituted a $1000 scholarship that dance students can use towards their college education.  A competition was held and the winner Shivani Srivastav will be awarded the scholarship.

The temple actively seeks donations so that it can expand its scholarship and other activities to support the youth in community. To learn more about the activities please visit http://www.nehti.org

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