Amid cloudy skies on Sunday afternoon, the New Art Center brought vibrance to the Newton community with their fourth annual Holi Festival, drawing in an estimated crowd of 300 to celebrate the Hindu festival of color, love, and spring.
The event offered an array of interactive art activities for attendees to enjoy, such as coloring pages created by guest artist Chaitrali Kate-Yadav, coffee filter butterflies, rangoli collages, and tissue paper flowers.
In addition to crafting activities, there were performances by two of Newton’s Indian dance schools, Anvita Natyalaya and Vidyanjali Dance School of New England.
The festival is part of the New Art Center’s cultural access programs, which offer opportunities for everyone to engage with art.
“What these events are supposed to be showing is that everyone has a place here,” said Sarah Moriarty, education manager at the New Art Center. “There are all different forms of art from all around the world that can be appreciated and uplifted in our program.”
The event began with traditional Indian dance performances from students of Anvita Natyalaya, a Bharatanatyam dance studio. Mari Shakthi Muthuswamy, the artistic director and founder of the studio, introduced the performances.
“Our students are all Indian American kids born and growing up in Newton, who are not just getting an opportunity to learn but an opportunity to showcase what we are learning to the wider community here,” said Muthuswamy.
The group performed six dances, with themes of flowering, new beginnings, and springtime–all essential elements of the Holi celebration. All performers were dressed in vibrant pinks and greens, colors representative of springtime.
Some dances had mother-daughter duos to reflect Holi’s celebration of rebirth, unity, and the joyful approach of spring.
Nirmala, one of the mother dancers from Anvita Natyalaya, has been a part of the group for a year and shared that it was her first time dancing for Holi.
“This is my first time performing here, and looking at the audience up close, I was scared,” said Nirmala. “But the audience was very encouraging, and I saw a lot of energy out there.”
After each dance, the audience’s applause roared through the building. Dancers’ family members and friends cheered them on, in addition to the many community members looking for a fun, culturally immersive experience.
Ian and his mother, Paola, came to the Holi celebration at the New Art Center last year, and they couldn’t help but come again. Paola emphasized the impact the Holi celebration has on Newton’s youth.
“It’s really great to see so many kids participating and learning traditions year after year,” said Paola. “It’s beautiful.”
Following the performance by Anvita Natyalaya, the young students of Vidyanjali Dance School performed a dance drama. It told the story of Krishna, a Hindu deity who inspired the tradition of throwing gulal, a colored powder, during Holi.
Nick Butler, father of two dancers in the performance, noticed the upbeat, lively energy among the audience, which added to the excitement of seeing his daughters perform for Holi for the first time. Butler explained that he celebrated Holi in the past, but this was the first time his daughters performed in a Holi festival.
“My wife and her family are from South India,” Butler said. “We aren’t Hindu ourselves, but our girls dance the traditional Bharatanatyam dance, so we’ve learned bits about these festivals through the years as they’ve done these performances.”
Following the second performance, everyone headed outside to participate in the highly anticipated color play. The crowd’s throwing of colorful powders into the air brought vibrancy to an otherwise cloudy afternoon.
Shikha, an attendee doused in colors, explained that it is a celebration of good.
“This is a celebration of colors, so this means that we forget everything negative about each other when we try to embrace the good within us,” said Shikha.
The event gives people of all backgrounds an opportunity to experience Indian customs via dance, art, and community, explained Moriarty.
“Art is a universal language that everyone can connect with,” said Moriarty. “Whether or not you celebrate this holiday, or if you knew about it before or didn’t, you come in and you get to experience a little bit of Indian culture in a really fun environment.”
Leave a Reply