Celebrate with an evening of dance, music, and food — Bollywood style — to benefit the West Windsor Arts Council on Saturday, November 19, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the West Windsor Arts Center, 952 Alexander Road, in Princeton Junction. The event includes a mini lesson on Bollywood dance steps, dance performances led by students of West Windsor Arts Council artist-teachers Jharna Rastogi of Plainsboro and David Austin of Trenton, and community dancing for everyone to join in and dance to some high octane Bollywood music. Indian food will be catered by A Taste of India. Tickets are $25 for adults.
The evening begins with a performance by Rastogi’s students. The West Windsor and Plainsboro students participating include Ruhani Nigam, Simran Lalwani, Simran Verma, Veena Pasupuleti, Sonal Gupta, Shagun Rath, Anusha Gurram, Sanjana Shankar, Nora Peachin, Caleb Tomey, and Marcy Bohannon.
The lessons begin after the performance. “The steps are simple and fun and there are a few movements we always have,” says Rastogi, wo has studied dance for 25 years. She began dancing when she was nine. “It was my passion,” she says. “I would only eat, sleep, and dream of dance.” Rastogi teaches both at her home and at the West Windsor Arts Council.
Dances include Bharatanatyam, a classical dance based on Carnatic classical music from India, usually danced by women dressed in costumes, jewels, and special cosmetics. Dandiya Raas, the traditional folk dance of Vrindavan, India, may be danced with a partner or alone. It stages a mock-fight and is performed with dandiyas (sticks) representing swords. Garba is performed in a circle as a symbol of the Hindu view of time symbolizing birth, life, death, and rebirth. “The movements are simple and flowing,” says Rastogi. “It keeps you wanting to move and looks pretty in a group.”
Born and raised in India, Rastogi came to the United States as a young married woman. “It was too difficult to transfer credits so I finished my education through correspondence school,” says Rastogi, who received degrees in psychology and history. She moved to West Windsor in 1981 and to Plainsboro seven years ago.
A Reiki grand master, she also teaches transcendental meditation and white light. “I help students and private clients achieve a sense of clarity, focus, harmony of oneself, and an overall state of well-being,” says Rastogi. “They are intertwined and present a clear vision of what you want.”
Her son, Aditya, 30, graduated from West Windsor-Plainsboro High School in 2000, received a degree from RPI, and works in IT at Paramount in Los Angeles, California. Her daughter, Aashima, graduated from High School South in 2002, received a degree from Bryn Mawr College, and is working on her MBA at UCLA. Her son, Aman, 17, is a senior at High School North, where he is president of the choir and sings with Out of the Blue.
“We want the audience to participate,” Rastogi says. “It is more than just a performance.”
Bollywood High, West Windsor Arts Council, 952 Alexander Road, West Windsor. Saturday, November 19, 5:30 to 8 p.m. Bollywood costumes invited. Register. $25; $15 for ages 6 to 22. 609-716-1931. www.westwindsorarts.org.
