The Orissa Society of New England (OSNE) celebrated 25 years of its presence in New England with a brilliant display of performing arts showcasing the greatness of Orissa on August 1 2009 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Italian American Center in Worcester, MA. People from Orissa are inheritors of a treasured heritage  including dance, music, philosophy, architecture and literature and the event presented a glimpse of those treasures.

The event opened with a welcome by the OSNE chairperson, Mr. Budhinath Padhy who introduced the chairperson of the Silver Jubilee Committee Ms. Rita Mohanty. The lighting of the lamp was performed by the chief guest of the evening Massachusetts State Rep. Honorable Karyn Polito who addressed the group.

The powerful oriya anthem Vande Utkal Janani was presented by Sudhira Misra, Mahesh and Nibedita Pati, Satybrata and Bijoylaxmi Mishra, Saroj and Kalpana Panigrahi, Nityananda Misra and Arun and Namrata Mohanty.

This was followed by a children's group song by Rishi Advani, Ayush Mahapatra, Sneha Mahapatra, Arya Mohanty, Ashwin Panda and Harsit Panigrahi.

The musical selection added on a surprise visitor Shiva Ramakrishan a tamilian who decided to join in the celeberation provided accompaniment on the flute.

Satyabrata Misra then detailed the history of OSNE and this was followed by a Odissi dance by Anindita Mohapatra. Dr. Bijoy Misra,  Bikash Behra and Arabinda Swain presented a tribute to Oriya literature.

Abritee Dhal presented a bharatanatyam piece set to the famous Geeta Govind ashtapadi , Pralayapayodi Jale describing the ten incarnations of Vishnu. Sangya Padhi-Bramha presented a Sambalpuri folk dance. Dr. Susan Thompson-Tripathy gave an overview of Chhau dance tradition.

Neha Agrawal, Anjali Kumar, Sneha Mahapatra, Radhika Mehta, Arya Mohanty, Megha Panigrahi, Neha Panighrahi , Poonum Sahu and Roshni Sahu presented a bollywood number.

Kalpana Panigrahi, Abritee dhal and Smrutirekha Panda presented a cute modern oriya number. Bikesh Behera and troupe followed with a play.  Ankhan Dhal, Abritee Dhal and Alka anu presented a Sambalpuri folk dance. Subh Agarwal presented a Rajasthani Folk dance .

Budhinath Padhy gave the vote of thanks and honored the founding members with Plaques.

A fabulous meal brought a delicious ending to a wonderful evening.

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