Nadanta dancer Priya Bhadwar (fourth from left) ac-cepts congratulations on the dance group’s perform-ance at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Cen-ter in Dearborn. From left are her parents, Downriver physicians Avlokita and Manmohan Badhwar, for-merly of Riverview; Bhavna Gupta; and Shelley and Richard Dalley, all of Grosse Ile. Gupta, also a Nadanta dancer, was part of the backstage crew for the July 31 performance.
By Evelyn Cairns
Approximately 1,000 people filled the auditorium of the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center in Dearborn July 31 for the world premiere of “Rhythms of India,” presented by the Nadanta Indian dance company.
Featuring dazzling costumes and sets, the per-formance by some 45 members of the company took the audience on a journey from classical to contempo-rary Indian music and dance.
Music was by A.R. Rahman, winner of two Os-cars, two Grammys and a Golden Globe Award for the movie “Slum Dog Millionaire,” and choreography was by Chaula Thacker, founder and artistic director of Nadanta.
Thacker, who has won more than 100 awards for choreography and costume design, created dance moves for Charlie White and Meryl Davis of Bloomfield Hills, winners of the Silver Medal in Ice Dance at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Both are students of Thacker.
Members of Nadanta include Anjali Garg of Wyandotte, Bhavna Gupta of Grosse Ile and Priya and Jaya Badhwar of Wyandotte.
Fund-raising cruise slated
A cruise aboard the Ovation on Aug. 29 will raise funds for the 2011 Grosse Ile Boar’s Head Festival and celebrate the 30th anniversary of the festival’s founding.
Tickets for the cruise, $150, include a strolling supper, open bar, dancing and entertainment. Partici-pants will meet at the Grosse Ile Presbyterian Church at 4:30 p.m. and be chauffeured from the church to the General Motors dock in Detroit for the three-hour cruise, which starts at 5:30 p.m. Passengers will re-turn to the island at 9:15 p.m.
For reservations, call Wendy Moco at (734) 692-1163.
The festival, a medieval Renaissance celebration of the birth of Christ, will feature the talents of some 600 people in the community though pageantry, drama and music. The production is scheduled in De-cember 2011.
Fash Bash is Aug. 26
Fashionistas will flock to the Somerset Collection on Aug. 26 for Fash Bash, which returns as a fund-raiser for the Detroit Institute of Arts after a hiatus of several years.
The event, presented by Saks and the DIA Foun-ders’ Junior Council, coincides with the 125th anni-versary of the institute and the grand opening of Saks’ Contemporary Collection Department.
The evening will begin at 6 p.m. with cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a strolling supper under a tent on the parking-deck roof adjacent to Saks. A runway fashion show at 8 p.m. and an appearance by de-signer Robert Rodriguez will follow.
Tickets, $125, also include a Saks gift card and complimentary valet parking.
For additional information, call (313) 833-4025 or visit www.foundersjuniorcouncil.org/tickets.asp.
The deadline for reservations is Thursday.
Coming up . . .
Aug. 18 — Slide presentation/lecture by Michael Farrell, art professor at the University of Windsor, on “Botticelli and Medici Intrigue”; 7 p.m. at the Wyan-dotte Arts Center, 81 Chestnut; the program will ex-amine works of Sandro Botticelli, painter for the Med-ici family in Florence during a period of intellectual fervor and violence; $15 per person ($10, Downriver council for the Arts members; $5, students); for more information, call (734) 720-0671.
Aug. 25 — Slide presentation/talk by the Ghost Hunters of Southern Michigan on GHOSM investiga-tions of the Wyandotte Arts Center, the Whitney and Weber’s restaurants, Holly Hotel, Bonstelle Theater and the Center for Creative Studies and other build-ings; 7 p.m. at the Arts Center, 81-chestnut; a tour of the Art Center will follow; tickets, $10 ($5, students); for reservations, call (734) 720-0671.