Sun Oct 29, 2017 | 1:00PM 1-4 PM
137-35 Northern Blvd., Flushing, NY 11354

Celebrate Diwali, the festival of lights, with this all-ages festival and dance party, featuring Kathak classical dancer Abha Roy and the Basement Bhangra’s DJ Rekha. Each artist will introduce you to her form and invite you to learn traditional Kathak dance moves and bhangra folk dances mixed with hip-hop. Then hit the dance floor! Join us for Kathak and bhangra dance lessons, cooking workshops, and henna painting, with Indian handicrafts and Indian foods for sale.

The three-hour celebration features master artists: master Indian dancer Abha B. Roy with Sarika Persaud, and the Srijan Dance Center; and for one day only DJ Rekha returns to the stage for a Bhangra dance party. Join us for henna painting, rangoli (decorative design) workshops, a dance workshop, and cooking workshops led by The League of Kitchens’ Yamini. Delicious Indian foods and handmade Indian jewelry also will be for sale during the lively event.

Participants at the event include:

– Abha Roy has blazed a trail of her own in the sphere of Kathak, a classic northern Indian dance form. Abha started her career as a classical dancer in 1984, completing her diploma in Kathak under the guidance of late great Guru Kundan Lal Gangani. She attained professional precision under the training of Pt. Durgalal when she completed her specialization in Kathak Kendra, New Delhi. She has served on the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, dancing Kathak around the world as commissioned representative of Indian dance. Abha has conducted workshops and classes for New York City schools, universities, libraries and museums since 1992 and is the founding director of Srijan Dance Center.

– Basement Bhangra’s DJ Rekha is a London-born, Flushing-raised musician, DJ, producer, curator and activist. She has been credited with pioneering Bhangra music – which emerged in the Punjabi countryside – in North America. In 1997, she founded Basement Bhangra, which since had been held at SOB’s on Varick Street and began with dance lessons that evolved into a dance party. The event, which has become an international phenomenon, drawing an extremely diverse audience, recently celebrated its final show, on August 6 because Rekha was leaving to pursue other projects.

– Yamini, of The League of Kitchens, Born and raised in Mumbai, Yamini started cooking with her parents when she was ten years old. She remembers watching her father cook for the large religious festivals her family attended, as the women weren’t allowed to cook for them. She moved to Kew Gardens, Queens with her husband and three daughters in 1999 and has worked in Manhattan at a jewelry company for many years. In 2009, after years of bringing lunch in for her co-workers, she delved into the catering business. She now prepares food for non-profit and corporate events around the city. In addition to cooking, Yamini paints and loves to sing and dance, especially at parties. The League of Kitchens is an immersive culinary adventure in New York City where immigrants teach intimate cooking workshops in their homes, and participants encounter a new culture, cuisine, and neighborhood with every experience. Each workshop offers opportunities for culinary learning and discovery, cultural engagement and exchange, meaningful connection and social interaction, and exceptional eating and drinking. Through this experience, we seek to build cross-cultural connection and understanding and increase access to traditional cooking knowledge.