THE Dancing Damsels Inc. – a non-profit multicultural Arts Promotion Company – hosted its 2nd annual Mother’s Day Celebration on Sunday, May 10 at Payal Banquet Hall, Mississauga, with a grand greet and treat party.
The event started with a colourful Mohiniyattam on Navarasa Anjali by Manjula Das Parakkot in a packed hall of mothers and their families.
Mary Ashok, Managing Director of the Dancing Damsels, spoke of the occasion of Mother’s Day, raising a toast honouring all mothers and Dancing Damsels’ Women Achievers 2015 and welcomed all the guests. The chief guests of the evening, Reeti Mishra and Akilesh Mishra (Consul General of India), together gave the Mother’s Day message to the gathering.
DD Women Achievers for the year 2015 – Asha Vishwanath (President of Kannada Sangha Toronto) – Community Leadership, Thresia Thomas (Woman behind the success – through various associations) – Community Service, Ramneek Singh (Indian classical vocalist) – Music, Reena Deon (South Asian creative still photographer, photo journalist) – Photography, Lata Menon (Barrister and Solicitor ) – Law, and Mary David (the first woman in the Seiwa Kai (“Say wa keye”) GoJu Ryu Organization in Canada to earn her 5th degree black belt) – Excellence in Martial Arts were honoured on this occasion.In appreciation to the unconditional support for Dancing Damsels Inc. Mridula Menon, Creative Director of Madurageetham, and Ruban Elayathamby of Ruban Cam were honored during the evening.
Bhavna Bhatnagar of Ceramic Expressions was the mega sponsor of the event.
The winners of the DD Rocking Mom photo contest were announced, followed by prize distribution and cutting of the Mother’s Day cake by the winners. Panorama India Chair and DD Advisory Board Member Anu Srivastava and Mississauga Arts Council Executive Director Anu Vittal gave away the prizes. Rinki Mohapatra was declared the winner of the photo contest and Thamilchelvi – the “Rocking Mom for Fame”. Prizes for the photo contest was sponsored by Sitara Jewels.
To promote and encourage women in performing arts, Dancing Damsels conducted a dance competition for Adult Women. SG Expressions and Rees Move and Dance were the finalists of the contest. Through audience voting, SG Expressions won the cash award sponsored by Sanjiv Puri and Mona Sharma of Supervisa Insurance.
Keeping up with their motto of P.E.A.C.E., the Dancing Damsels Mother’s Day event highlighted and encouraged local talent in the entertainment section of the event. Students of Kalai Aruvi Dance Academy, Hasan Mobin, Sanvi Mohanty, Adi Shankar, Sanskrithi Marathe, Harvi Karatha and Jenine Paulose performed a variety of dances much to the delight of the mothers.
Aleesha Thomas, Anjali John, Swara and Roopa Subramanyam, Nanditha Srinivasan and Sangeetha Ramachandran enthralled the crowd with their singing.
Dancing Damsels’ “Dance Fest 2015” fundraiser kickoff was headed by Chief Guest Anu Vittal with the lighting of the lamp in the presence of guests, sponsors and supporting organizers. It was announced that Manoj Karatha of Remax Realty Inc. will be the Grand Sponsor for the Dance FEST 2015.
The evening ended with cutting of the Mother’s Day cake by Rinki Mohapatra, the photo contest winner along with Team DD. The entire evening was handled by the emcees of the evening Annie Koshy and Jane Jomy.
The Fashion show sponsored by Divya Raj of Redknot Fashions was the highlight of the evening.
An event as magnificent and touching as this had the support and patronage of magnanimous sponsors – Supervisa Insurance, Premium Glass & Showers, Raymond James Ltd. UAE Exchange, AM Rubber & Foam Gasket Inc., Agincourt Nissan, Royal Kerala Foods, FDS Broker Service, Deepak Dani of Homelife Realty, Jayasri Kannan Insurance Advisor, Dr. Sunny Johnson, AJB Travels, Skylight Travels, AUM Beauty Clinic, Ajaara Ayurveda Wellness Center, Shallet Ann James – Royal LePage, SBI Canada, Tom Chacko – Royal LePage, Pankaj Bajpai – Sunlife Financials, Oswald Emmanuel – Royal LePage, Prabha Ranganathan, Nima & Harry – Homelife Realty, Kurien Xaviour & Anil Jose – Homelife Realty, Vince Thomas – Royal LePage along with Media sponsors Madhurageetham, Malayala Mayooram, Rogers TV, Analai Express, Ruban Cam, ATN, and Web Malayalee – online hub for news and publicity.
Under the leadership of Mary Ashok (Managing Director), Team DD – Asha Vishwanath, Sinthujaa Jeyarajah, Manjula Das, Aayesha Arshad, Shobha Shekar, Smarty Merin, Bhavna Bhatnagar, Suganya Sivaraja, Shalini Bharadhwaj, Brindha Muralidhar, Minu Jose, and Fawzia Khan worked hard behind the scene, for the success of this event.