Opening Ceremony - "The Journey"

Portrayal of a Maharashtrian's journey in the USA -from the arrival of the first few to the present. Story that traces our aspirations, struggles, compromises, feeling of loneliness and fond memories of our distant families in India. We have established our own identities in this glorious country, which we now call our own. We have made conscious, concerted and continuous efforts to maintain the fine emotional and cultural thread between our new identities and our Marathi traditions and heritage. Watch this time-lapse of the last 40 years of our journey condensed in one hour. This depiction is a multi-media event that includes flamboyant dances, heart-warming dialogues, melodious music, dazzling lights, and soothing sounds, all set against a backdrop of eye-catching visuals. We will surely touch a few chords in your hearts and bring back fond memories of your own journey. Over 70 enthusiasts from our Midwest community, including performers, choreographers and event organizers, have been toiling for the last 6 months to put together this impressive show. Their performance will set the tone for the BMM Convention 2011.

Conceived and directed by: Anupama Dharkar

Written by: Revati Oak

Managing Team: Sanjay Savkur, Supriya Joshi, Suneel Mundle, Sucheta Savkur, Kalpana Neklikar

Choreographers: Shalaka Kulkarni, Malvika Nemade, Radhika Akolkar, Deepali Lande, Manisha Dongre

Video compilation: Kunal Savkur

Music: Adwait Patwardhan

Participants (in the alphabetical order of last name):
Neil Akolkar, Radhika Akolkar, Sucheta Akolkar, Riddhi Andurkar, Anuradha Bangaley, Smita Bennur, Anupama Bhat, Manoj Bhat, Jaydeep Buzruk, Anita Chande, Nikita Chitnis, Charisma Dalvi, Anuja Dandekar, Mugdha Deo, Shubhankar Deo, Padmini Desai, Ravina Desai, Manjiri Deshpande, Rucha Deshpande, Sayali Deshpande, Anushree Dighe, Vaidehi Dongre, Prachi Gokhale, Manik Gosavi, Meera Gosavi, Nikhil Jalgaonkar, Prasanna Joglekar, Mansee Joshi, Radhika Joshi, Samrudhi Joshi, Supriya Joshi, Vidya Joshi, Vrunda Karmarkar, Sana Khadilkar, Rucha Kulkarni, Shalaka Kulkarni, Sharvari Kulkarni, Tanay Kulkarni, Deepali Lande, Jyoti Limaye, Jyoti Limaye, Riddhi Limaye, Ruchi Mahadeshwar, Amruta Mate, Rhea Mundle, Suneel Mundle, Saloni Nagarkar, Savni Nagarkar, Shama Naik, Nishad Navkal, Malvika Nemade, Jay Nimkar, Kalpana Nimkar, Reema Nimkar, Sandeep Nimkar, Nayna Oak, Bhargavi Ogale, Vrushali Panat, Archana Paranjpe, Isha Paranjpe, Roshan Pathre, Nihar Phadke, Vandana Patwardhan, Hrigveda Phansalkar, Devayani Potdar, Tanuja Potdar, Kashmira Pradhan, Ruchi Rachmale, Anu Rajadhayax, Bhushan Rajadhyax, Saili Raje, Shibani Raje, Milind Ranganekar, Anushree Rayarikar, Swati Rayarikar, Neha Salgaonkar, Namit Sambare, Nilesh Sansare, Gautam Sapre, Sucheta Savkur, Suchitra Shrikhande, Tejaswini Bangar, Tanisha Thatte, Girija Vaidya, Shounak Vale, Sayali Vilekar, Ganesh Yadav