Photo above by Larry Felton Johnson/Cobb County Courier

By Larry Felton Johnson

On Saturday, May 10, I had the good fortune to be in the audience of the Naach Dance Academy‘s recital, entitled Jazbaat 2025.

Jazbaat is Hindi for “emotion,” and according to a press release distributed by Naach Dance Academy, each dance within the recital followed the Nava Rasas, the nine emotions from Indian scriptures. Those emotions ranged from love and laughter to anger and sadness.

Over 70 students and instructors from the Naach Dance Academy, ranging in age from 4 to adulthood, performed the dances.

The guests of honor for the event included the following leaders from metro Atlanta’s Indian-American community:

• Gaurav Kumar Narayan, President of the Andrew J. Young Foundation
• Samir Patel, Superior Court Judge, Cherokee Judicial Circuit
• Aparna Bhattacharyya, Executive Director of Raksha, Inc.
• Dr. Nazeera Dawood, CEO of Vendorship Inc.
• Parmesh “Bob” Erramilli, Johns Creek City Council Member and founder of the “I Rose Up” youth mentoring program, which has graduated 80 high school students.

The auditorium at Cobb County’s Smitha Middle School was filled with family members and community supporters of the dancers.

Origin and growth of Naach Dance Academy

Before the performance, the Courier spoke with Sareena Nagpal, who founded Naach Dance Academy in 2019. Her excitement and enthusiasm as she described the evolution of the academy was infectious.

“I’m an architect by my background, and I have a masters from Carnegie Mellon, and I was doing something very different,” Nagpal said. “And then dance pulled me, because I’ve been dancing since the age of four.”

“I started Naach Dance Academy six years ago with the motive to get everybody dancing, not just people who have the moves, but somebody who doesn’t also, they could also dance,” she said. “And so when we started, everybody came in and it’s as if they got wings, they were dancing, the community was coming together.”

“And that was the most beautiful thing for me,” Nagpal said. “We all stood as a family, like you see here,” said Nagpal.

She said that when the COVID pandemic began, she thought it would stop her efforts, but it didn’t. Students continued online, and it helped stave off depression.

Nagpal said that the academy grew, and organizations ranging from the YMCA to corporations called her to participate in festivals and events.

“We spread the message of dance as well as our culture, spreading the Indian culture and … this cultural exchange would give them so much joy,” she said.

“The major highlight was last year when we got invited by the Braves to perform,” she said.

Asked how she would describe the style of Indian dance in the recital, Nagpal said, “This is the Bollywood style of dancing, the Indian style.”

She said the Bollywood style brings together a number of different styles of Indian dance.

“I also teach folk dancing from India, various folk styles,” she said. “This style brings about emotion, form, energy, everything at play together.”

“It’s beautiful how Bollywood can bring in contemporary folk, hip hop, classical folk, all forms together,” she said. “And I’m trying to bring a melting pot and bring them all together today.”

The performance

The costuming was colorful and spectacular, and the dances were performed against a well-integrated mixed-media backdrop.

A highlight of the event was enthusiastic performances by small children, including the one pictured below, which represented the emotion of humor and laughter.

And of course, there were performances by teens and adults also.

For me, the creative and artistic costuming was a particular favorite aspect of the recital.

Below are two photo galleries from this outstanding event. The first is a gallery of photos provided courtesy of the Naach Academy. The second is a set of shots taken by the Courier.

Photo Gallery courtesy of Naach Academy

Photo Gallery from the Courier