FRAMINGHAM, MA— Natarajan Alagappan, Rayna Parikh, Smriti Deshpande, Kathir Meyyappan and Sanjay Jain bagged first prizes in the solo dance and song competition in various age groups at SwaRaag. Over 100 contestants participated in the competition, which was judged by an independent panel of judges. (See the names of all winners below

“It is exciting and wonderful to see how dedicated the contestants are towards their competitive performances, and the parents who have clearly given much time and thought to designing creative background props adding theatrics to their child’s performance,” said Swathi Subramanian, president of SwaRaag Performing Arts, Inc, the organizer of the event. “SwaRaag is proud of their participation.”

Airtel Super Singer Rohini Rajaraman was the featured artist of the evening. The event, which was hosted by Subramanian, was held on Dec. 3 in Framingham, MA. The competitions included all age groups in several categories, including Solo Song, Solo Dance, Duo Dance, Group Dance, Spot and Choreography.

SwaRaag founder Subramanian this year opened a new age division in group dances called “Dazzling Moms.” Several new choreographers brought unique dance styles and semi-classical elements of choreography that added a good blend to the Bollywood styles, Subramanian said.

This year Spot Choreography category for the first time was opened to guests, which brought a lot of energy from young kids who showed their confidence on stage. At the close of the event, over 500 guests were treated to a special prime time engagement of RAHMAN Rock Fusions by Airtel Super Singer Rohini Rajaraman. Accompanying her on instruments were professional musicians from Berkelee School of Music Christy Mathew (keyboard) and Oleg Smirnov (guitar) along with Hiral Parikh (drums), and Sam Rao (octapad). A.R. Rahman hits like ‘Key Sera Sera’, ‘Muqqala Muqqabala’, ‘Kwaaja’, ‘Jai Ho’ got the crowd roaring.

Choreographers represented at SwaRaag 2016 were:   Meena Unni, Devika Dhawan, Jai Kishan, Udaya Rani Umesh, Shaila Verma, Bina Negandhi, Pushpa Rajanna and Jyothi Setty.

 SwaRaag team included Subramanian, Vaibhav Dabade, Shobha Shastry, Gopi Bala, Shikha Bajpai, Anushree Bopardikar, Kalaimangai Anbalagan, Anandini Sekhar, Shailesh Salgar, Hiral Parikh, Asha Manish, Jai Kishan, Swetha Subramanian, Rens Methratta.

 Presiding over the SwaRaag Panel were honorable Judges:

 Final Dance Judges: Sridevi Ajai Thirumalai, Arsh Mehrotra, Jayshree Bala Rajamani, Krishnakali Dasgupta.

Final Song Judges: Aparna Balaji, Abhilash Mehta and Ravi Torvi.

Audition Dance Judges:   Kalaimangai Anbalagan, Anandini Sekhar, Swathi Subramanian

Audition Song Judges:   Preeti Nagar, Sarita Deshpande, M. Rama Rao.

SWARAAG 2016 WINNERS

SOLO DANCE SENIORS

1^st Place:   Natarajan Alagappan

2^nd Place:  Shirin Bakre

 

SOLO DANCE JUNIORS

1^st Place:   Kathir Meyyappan

2^nd Place:  Shreya Soni

 

DUO DANCE SENIORS

1^st Place:   Ruhi Patil & Hirni Patel

2^nd Place:  Aneesha Mahapatra & Aashi Kulkarni

 

DUO DANCE JUNIORS

1^st Place:   Shreya Godhani & Isha Mehta

2^nd Place:  Siri Harish & Shreya Harish

 

SPOT CHOREOGRAPHY

Winner:   Sruthi Ramesh

SOLO SONG Junior (Age) 9 – 15

1^st Place:     Rayna Parikh

2^nd Place:   Medha Morparia

 

SOLO SONG Inter (Age) 17 – 35

1^st Place:    Smriti Deshpande

2^nd Place:  Sadhika Hiremath

 

SOLO SONG Age 36 and Up

1^st Place:   Sanjay Jain

2^nd Place:  Radhika Dixit

GROUP DANCE SENIOR Winning Teams

1^st Place:   Nashua Angels Fire Dance | Choreographer – Meena Unni

Group Members: Devika Nair, Namitha Nair, Anna Mathew, Meera Kurup, Sithara Nambiar, Parvathy Sreekanth, Jessica Joseph, Navya Sebastian

2^nd Place:  Intense Dance Styles Fusion | Choreographer – Jaikishan | Jai Ho Dance School

Group Members: Meghana Nair, Sanjana Basu, Pooja Hingorany, Tishya Marwah, Vrinda Punj, Infanta Anthony, Sreya Nimmagada, Crispy Sharma, Reeya Kansra, Sareena Kansra

2^nd Place:   Human Emotion | Choreographer – Devika Dhawan | Devika Fusion Dance School

Group Members: Ritika Singh, Meghna Iyer, Arya Anand, Aanya Parmar, Sana Nadkarni, Preksha Munot, Sneha Shetty, Neha Chandra, Amy Koleth, Arpita Sharma, Anika Shroff, Somin Virmani, Anushka Philip, Meghana Edpuganti, Shreya Godhani, Aahana Tiku, Isha Mehta, Shruthi Puranik,

GROUP DANCE JUNIOR Winning Teams

1^st Place:   New England Sparkles | Choreographer – Udaya Rani Umesh

Group Members: Madhav Girish, Daivik Pillai, Edwin Eldho, Neha Ninan, Ishaanvi Rajesh, Shika Amin, Saandrika Gopal, Soorya Soorej, Cicilia Thomas, Sharon John, Hannah Thomas, Madhav Nair, Arlene Chacko, Kezia Kuriakose, Gopika Nair, Teresa Mathew

2^nd Place: Bannada Navilu | Choreographer – Pushpa Rajanna

Group Members: Bhavana Heggadahalli, Stuti Patil, Aishwarya Patil, Deeksha Gouda, Nishta Kumar, Neha Gopinath, Swara Igoor, Diya Sharma

GROUP DANCE ‘DAZZLING MOMS’ Winning Teams

1^st Place:   Rajasthani Folk | Choreographer – Shaila Verma | Shaila Verma School of  Dance

Group Members: Divya Rani, Kalyani Kanuri, Resmi Nair, Srividya Ramachandran, Shraddha Patel, Pratyusha Myneni, Ankita Saluja, Lakshmi Jemolla, Neetu Gupta

2^nd Place: Dance Spirit – RaasLeela | Choreographer – Bina Negandhi

Group Members: Khushi Morparia, Medha Morparia, Devam Morparia, Alpa Khatri, Rheeya Khatri, Urvi Gandhi, Chaitanya Chintala, Sarah Semy, Rayhan Semy, Yamini bhagadia, Reetika Bhagadia, Dharini Kapadia, Hemali shah, Vidhi shah, Deepal Vora, Dipti Patel, Rupal Patel, Pranathi Srirangam, Bina Negandhi, Archana Swami, Abhilasha Banka.