Vision Aid, a non-profit based out of Lexington, MA, is getting ready for their annual event. In the past they presented Ramayana and Krishna, two sold-out dance dramas that received rave reviews. This year Vision Aid has once again partnered with local dance teachers and a renowned choreographer from India, to bring to you another amazing and timeless masterpiece. This year the dancers supporting the Vision Aid cause will be dancing to directly fund efforts in West Bengal where Vision Aid has partnered with an existing organization to bring vision care, computer training and early intervention to several kids and young adults in the rural areas in West Bengal and parts of Bihar.

This year’s dance ballet, Justice of the Anklet, weaves the haunting tale of two women, the innocent Kannagi, a commoner, and the gorgeous Madhavi, a famous dancer who is hopelessly in love with Kovalan, Kannagi's husband. The intricately woven tale culminates in a tragic but dramatic finale with Kannagi transforming herself into a powerful Goddess to seek retribution and justice. Combining graceful Bharatanatyam dance form, with vibrant music, creative choreography and English narration, this story will make for another rare treat for the senses.

The dancers in this production are drawn from the best of Boston’s dance talent and have selflessly devoted a lot of their time and energy towards this show.  Particpants in this show are Abritee Dhal,  Aditi Bhivandkar, Amrita Saigal, Anand Ayyagary, Chitanya Gopu, Hema Iyengar, Hemalatha Gopalakrishnan, Jeyanthi Ghatraju, Kalpana Balachunder,Maithreyi Shankar, Meyya Muthu, Neha Pillai, Nithisha Prasad, Ramya Ragupathy, Ranjani Saigal,  Saravanan Chithambaram, Sravanthi Puranam,  Sripriya Natarajan Moorthy,  Subha Kannath, Sujatha Meyyappan,  Susruthi Rajanala, Thara Thattachery, Thenu Rajan, Thivya Ragupathy.

It is this unique partnership with local teams that helps Vision Aid move closer to their goals and serve more and more low vision poor in India, with new and improved programs.  Several of these programs have received national awards and drawn a lot of praise from the media.  India’s best-selling news magazine India Today carried a special feature in April 2010 that highlighted Vision Aid's work in the field of innovating devices for the vision impaired.

“While winning awards and getting media attention is flattering, the real reward comes from knowing that we are helping the blind and low vision acquire skills that make them employable,” says Anu Chitrapu, President, Vision Aid. “Whether it is someone like Suresh, a blind young man who received computer training at Vision Aid and is now working for the Indian Railways; or a group of blind schoolgirls who got on to the internet for the first time through a program from Vision Aid, the fact that some people’s lives have been transformed makes it all worth while,” she added.
 
Vision-Aid founder and Executive Director, Ramakrishna Raju says he is lucky to work with a dedicated group of directors who help manage the affairs of Vision-Aid on a completely voluntary basis. Current directors Anu Chitrapu, Shailesh Durgapal, Paramesh Garimella, Supriya Lagu, Ramakrishna Raju, Revathy Ramakrishna, Sudhir Varma, Santosh Vempala and Anupam Wali, are committed to the cause and don’t think twice about spending weekends or late nights on Vision Aid related work.

Vision-Aid invites all Boston area residents to come and enjoy the show wile supporting a great cause.  More information about Vision-Aid programs and tickets for the event to be held on July 18th, at 3pm at Babson College, can be found at: http://www.VisionAid.org/event.html
 
The event will be inaugurated by Mr. Puran Dang, who heads the Minuteman Group and is Chairman Emeritus of MITHAS, IIT-SINE, Indian Americans Of Lexington (IAL) and Founder of The Leadership Program.

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