Nrityamala x UNICEF: War in Ukraine

Who We Are

Founded in 2006, Nrityamala is Pittsburgh’s premier Indian classical team. Its dancers strive to preserve, practice, and spread awareness for the Indian classical arts. We promote the art by in and around the Pittsburgh area, at events such as Bhangra in the Burgh, UPMC Children’s Ball, Dhirana, and the SPIFPA Cultural Festival. Nrityamala also participates in several national competitions every year, and is an award-winning, highly ranked team.

Our team consists of passionate dancers trained in various classical dance forms, including Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, Kathak, and Mohiniyattam. Each year, we choreograph our own pieces to create a unique dance presentation on a specific idea or theme, sharing with our community and taking to competitive events.

Following our 1st place win at Laasya 2011, we hosted the Laasya national dance competition in February 2012. The event had 1,000 attendees and raised nearly $10,000 for the charity Unite for Sight. From the success of Laasya 2012, we founded Dhirana, our very own annual Indian classical dance competition, which raises money for the Birmingham Free Clinic. Over the past ten years, we have grown and donated over $100,000 from ticket sales!

In addition to this contribution to our community, Nrityamala has played a significant role in inspiring young dancers to continue to learn and grow as dancers and promoting respect and appreciation for the Indian arts in our community. We look forward to continuing our mission for generations to come!

Our Project

Nrityamala’s second virtual benefit showcase, Nrityapriya, is in support of UNICEF’s children-centered refugee response to the ongoing war in Ukraine and, as you may have noticed, it is our goal to raise $1000! Since the war began on February 24th, more than half of Ukraine’s 7.5 million children have been displaced. But the insecurity and deprivation started long before in March of 2014. Since then, UNICEF has provided humanitarian aid with a huge amount of funds required to continue its efforts. Although we alone cannot fulfill their needs, we believe our support matters.

Nrityapriya will feature several pieces by Nrityamala, as well as exhibition acts from other Indian dance teams. It will be live-streamed via YouTube on the afternoon of April 23rd. We hope you can tune in!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to any event organizers. You can also contact us on Instagram (@nrityamala_412) or Facebook (@Nrityamala).

How You Can Help

Since this showcase is free to all those who wish to “attend”, we need your help to support UNICEF via donations! We want to reiterate that any amount counts and thank you profusely for supporting this wonderful cause.

We also hope that you save the date (the afternoon of April 23rd) for the showcase and can support our year’s work as well as that of the other Indian dance teams at Pitt that have put together exhibition acts for you.

Finally, please share the event with friends, family, and colleagues who have an appreciation for the arts via social media, word of mouth, or email. We need all of the help we can get to make this event a success! Thank you again!