Post Event Report Holi Mahotsav 2015 1

Let noble thoughts come to us from every side
Holi Mahotsav 2015
Post Event Report
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Australia celebrated its 13 annual Holi Mahotsav.
The grand festival of harmony & friendship is celebrated with colour, culture
and vegetarian food at Tumbalong Park in Darling Harbour over the
weekend of 28 & 29 March. In spite of fresh challenges this year, the event
was a great success.
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The number of people visiting the festival on Saturday 28 March was more
than the usual numbers in previous years despite the State elections being
held on the same day. However the audience turn out on Sunday 29 March
was less compared to previous years due to Cricket World Cup finale. An
estimated 10000 - 15000 people attended the festivities over two days.
300+ artists performed during the festival days and represented a rich mixture
of culture, spirituality and entertainment. The cultural performances included:
Scottish Dance, Gypsie Dance, Street Dance – Japanese, Traditional belly
dance, Indian, contemporary, classical, folk and fusion, Punjabi folk
(Bhangra), Rajasthani folk (Garba), Western traditional dance, Kathak and
Bharatnatyam among others engaged the standing audiences into dance
and music.
Spiritual performances included Yagya/Sacred Fire Ceremony, Yoga, prayers,
chanting, and meditation. Belinda Johan joined with her colourful fortune
telling and tarot card reading marquee, devotional dance and art
workshops over the two days.
Due to popularity of our Holi Mahotsav at international level we have
requests from several overseas artists and schools to perform at Holi
Mahotsav. Last year we had Bhavan’s Chandigarh Vidyalya (School from
Chandigarh, India), they presented high quality classical and folk dance &
music.
This year we had international students from Birla Public School, Doha, Qatar
participated by means of classical, semiclassical, folk and contemporary
dance performances along with their professional teachers. A total of 33
members from Birla Public School participated of which 23 were students, 3
professional dance teachers and 7 accompanying family members.
GPO Box 4018, Sydney NSW 2001
Tel: 1300 BHAVAN (1300 242 826) Fax: 02 9267 9005 Email: pr@bhavanaustralia.org
www.bhavanaustralia.org www.holimahotsav.com.au
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side
Local Students from St. George Girls High School performed on contemporary
Indian film music.
The festival started on a spiritual note on Saturday with Yagya – Sacred Fire
Ceremony followed by yoga. The traditional Rath Yatra, the festival of
chariots, started around 2:30. This parade started from Tumbalong Park after
passing through Day Street, Kent Street, King Street, George Street and
Liverpool Street culminated at Darling Harbour. Rath Yatra was presented by
ISKCON/Govinda’s and Govinda Valley.
Like every year the audience enjoyed delicious vegetarian food and fresh
sugarcane juice, coconut water and other juices from stalls at the festival on
both the days.
This year the traditional practice of colour playing sessions took place in the
designated area throughout both the days.
This joyful activity brought many people of different cultural background
together and was celebrated with happiness and harmony among the
participants and viewers.
During the special VIP session held on the Sunday the special guests
expressed the importance of such events as Holi Mahotsav and
demonstrated their support and pleasure of being part of the celebrations.
Among the respected speakers who graced the festival there were: The Hon.
Tony Burke MP, Manager of the Opposition; Mr Brendan Burke, General
Manager, SHFA; Ms Sushmita Chadha, CEO, State Bank of India; Mr Vibhava
Tripathi, AD, India Tourism Sydney; Ms Marie Anderson, Sales and Marketing
Manager, Air India; Mr S. Rengarajan, CEO, Bank of Baroda; Ms Meiling Guo,
Marketing Executive, Lyca Mobile; Shanker Dhar;
The success of Holi Mahotsav could not have been possible without the
selfless untiring support of artists and performers from a large number of
dance academies and cultural groups. We bow before and salute them with
humility and greatest gratitude. The crowd passionately danced and sang
with the performers and enjoyed every bit of the multicultural program.
Our special thanks come to all performing artists – All World Gayatri Parivar From Haridwar; Sahaja Yoga; Ghawazi Carvan; Naomi Csoke / Eden Green;
The Jashn Team; ISKCON - Rath Yatra; Rhythm Hunters; Shiamak Dance Team;
Nartan Institute of Performing Arts; Ignite Bollywood Dance Troupe - St
GPO Box 4018, Sydney NSW 2001
Tel: 1300 BHAVAN (1300 242 826) Fax: 02 9267 9005 Email: pr@bhavanaustralia.org
www.bhavanaustralia.org www.holimahotsav.com.au
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side
George Girls High School; Nartan Institute of Performing Arts; McPhillips
Highland Dancers; Dynamite; Ekaterina Chmeleva; Holiya Dance Academy;
Shyam Dance; Gopi Dance; Holiya Dance Academy; Gypsie Spirit; Mayura
Academy - School of Performing Arts; Mad Unity; Arpita Shome; Chandana
Brijesh; United Bhangra club; Electric Korma; ISKCON / GOVINDA'S; Drama
Queens; Nritya Pratibha Dance Group - Birla Pubic School from Doha, Qatar;
Nritya Niketan School of Dance; Expression; Geetanjali School of Performing
Arts; Mango Dance; Nupur Dance Group; Shysta Sodi; Rhythm of Gujarat;
Swati Hainalkar.
The stage performances were provided under direction of our eternal and
incredible stage managers Dr. Manju Chand Raja and Bhoji Watts assisted by
great ceremonies: Monalisa Grover, Soiam Raja and Seema Bharadwaj.
The food stalls during the Holi Mahotsav pepped up the festival by adding
variety to the event. A wide selection of delicious Indian vegetarian meals,
beverages and sweets was offered by renowned Indian restaurants: Taj
Sweets & Restaurant, Auntie G’s Fine Foods, Taza Tandoori Restaurant, Saini
Food Stall and Khaana Khazanna. Heart & Soul Cafe, Stay Cool Tropical Sno,
Tall Grass Cane Juice brought cooling and calming drinks.
Pristine Living showcased traditional dresses, tops, fashion accessories, fancy
bangles, artistic Henna tattoos and face painting. Other major supporters
participated through arts & crafts marquees: Air India, All World Gayatri
Pariwar, Bank of Baroda, Central Equity, KonnecTV, Lycamobile, Sahaja Yoga
Australia, State Bank of India and Jagannath Temple.
We express our heartfelt gratitude to our main sponsors and supporters: NSW
Government: State Bank of India, Sydney Branch; Premier of NSW,
Multicultural NSW; Incredible India – India Tourism, Sydney; Sydney Harbour
Foreshore Authority, Living in Harmony- City of Sydney. We are grateful to the
LAC City Central NSW Police for supporting with street parade and ISKCON
Sydney for organising and running Rath Yatra.
Holi Mahotsav has become an integral part of the month long Living in
Harmony Festival hosted by the City of Sydney and we are grateful to them
for inclusion.
We are grateful to our media supporters Sydney Morning Herald, ZEE TV,
Easter Suburb Newspapers, The Indian Telegraph, Indus Age, Indian Link, The
Indian Down Under, Punjab Herald, Pardes Express, Punjab Times, Navtarang
GPO Box 4018, Sydney NSW 2001
Tel: 1300 BHAVAN (1300 242 826) Fax: 02 9267 9005 Email: pr@bhavanaustralia.org
www.bhavanaustralia.org www.holimahotsav.com.au
Let noble thoughts come to us from every side
Newspaper & Radio, Nepalese Times, SBS and websites – whatson,
harmony.gov.au, trudeindia.com.au, desi.com.au, weekendnotes.com,
Sydney.com, theindiansun.com.au and aroundyou.com.au, who join us in
making this 2015 festival even brighter and diverse.
We applaud with immense gratitude the help of the volunteers Sophil Raja,
Karina Flores Sasse, Nagma Ansari, Shirin Ansari, Shantelle Maree Munday,
Jamie Cakmak, Jagrati Gurnasinghani, Dhiraj Punjwani and Nicholas ArnottJob.
And we acknowledge with deep gratitude the contribution of Mr Sridhar
Kumar Kondepudi – Director Bhavan Australia and Mr Govinda Watts in
managing the security and our incredible staff Jesica Flores Sasse, Shabana
Begum, Parveen Dahiya and Patricia Cornejo for their valuable contribution
without which we would not have been able to host the festival.
We are grateful to Brendan Burke, General Manager, Jenna McMurray, Jo
Thatcher, Simon Wilson, Warren Luke, Peter Baker, Rowan Marchingo, Pat
Sullivan, Kathryn Chamney, Terry Bader, Sean McLeodother and other staff
from Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority for their valuable contribution in
hosting this festival.
GPO Box 4018, Sydney NSW 2001
Tel: 1300 BHAVAN (1300 242 826) Fax: 02 9267 9005 Email: pr@bhavanaustralia.org
www.bhavanaustralia.org www.holimahotsav.com.au