Family Dance Day, March 7th
Family Dance Day with Rupa Datta
and book launch party for Christine Chitnis
with food from Providence restaurant India
Saturday, March 7th
book party 11am, dancing begins at noon
RSVP below
Family Dance Day returns in March with a feast for the senses that draws on the contributions of three Gordon families. The dancing will be an all-ages, family-friendly introduction to Bhangra and Bollywood styles led by Rupa Datta. The day doubles as a launch party for Patterns of India, a new book by Christine Chitnis, and food will be provided by Ajay Vinoben and Alli-Michelle Conti of the Providence restaurant India.
Rupa Datta is the co-founder of Dance Bollywood Fusion and Fitness and the parent of a Gordon seventh grader. A lifelong dancer, she teaches exercise and dance while also working as a nonprofit administrator. Through Dance BFF, she has worked with hundreds of students of all ages and brought Bhangra and Bollywood styles to dozens of regional festivals and concerts. In the fall of 2019, she was featured on the Mosaic podcast produced by the Public's Radio.
Christine Chitnis is an author, a photographer, and the mother of two Gordon Lower School students. She authored Patterns of India: A Journey Through Colors, Textiles and the Vibrancy of Rajasthan after a decade of traveling to India with her husband and children. Organized by the region’s five dominant colors—royal blue, sandstone, marigold, ivory, and rose—the book explores the relationship between color and pattern in over two hundred vibrant photographs.
The event begins at 11am, with dancing starting at noon.
Coffee, fruit and juice will be provided from eleven am to noon, and dancing will be followed by finger foods courtesy of India, the Blackstone Boulevard restaurant owned and operated by Ajay Vinoben and Alli-Michelle Conti, parents of a Gordon fourth grader.
Family Dance Days at Gordon are free and open to the public, with a mission of bringing generations together through music and dance. The first two Family Dance Days were led by Rodney López, an arts educator who uses the conventions of ballroom dance to build social skills and strengthen the sense of community among with Gordon's fifth grade.