Arts & Entertainment
Viewfinder: Art, Dance, Music and Costumes Bring Indian Culture to Life
Traditional and modern Indian cultures come alive in the last installment of "Becoming American."
The has become the showplace for the Indian-American Experience: Featuring Images from Tribal India by Dr. Mahendra Paul along with The Art of the Sari. Mim Fawcett, executive director of the Attleboro Arts Museum, also played host to an opening reception and two interactive programs.
Created by and the Attleboro Arts Museum, the series began last February and has highlighted Jewish-Americans, Latino-Americans, Cambodian-Americans, Italian-Americans and, now, Indian-Americans who have made Attleboro their home.
Subhash Chander, assistant principal at John F. Deering Middle School in West Warwick, RI and director of the India Heritage Museum was elated with the response of the community to their celebration of the Indian-American experience.
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Chander contacted Prafulla Velury from Cranston, RI and asked her to bring her school to conduct a demonstration of Indian classical music and dance. Velury has taught Kutchi Pudi dance style for eight years. The dance form is one of the eight classical dances from India and is distinguished by its fast, rhythmic footwork and expressions.
The performance opened with a Hindu Prayer to invoke Lord Ganesha, the Elephant Head God who serves as a mascot for all the Hindu functions. The beautiful costumes along with the music and dance kept the audience captivated along with the live music provided by a local Bollywood band Dinchek, led by Jolly Bhatia.
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"Becoming American series has been a laudable attempt to focus light on several of the communities residing in Attleboro," Chander said. "As a matter of fact each participating community has once again realized what a great experience all of their members have had by migrating into United States and enjoying the fruits of freedom and wealth that it has brought to all of them."
"Every immigrant has a story to tell and this has been a useful event to refresh our minds about the great struggles and strife's through which we have all gone while getting assimilated into American culture," Chander added. "The beauty of American culture lies in its being a combination of several cultures and each culture maintaining and saving its identity and the American culture not only allows you to do it but also to practice your religious, cultural and ethnic traits."
