Desi Talk

www.desitalk.com – that’s all you need to know Battery Dance Presents Free Performances In Battery Park City Parks, Including India Day On August 15 T he 44th Annual Battery Dance Festival, scheduled from August 12-16, in Rockeffeller Park, includes a whole day devoted to India, coinciding with Indian Independence Day which falls on Friday, August 15. Battery Dance celebrates the art of dance in its home community this August, in partnership with Battery Park City Authority. On Saturday, August 9, the Company celebrates the re-opening of Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park, following a two-year pause during which it was rebuilt as part of a coastal resiliency effort to protect Battery Park City and lower Manhattan from storm surge and sea level rise. The main festival begins August 12. For Indians and Indian Americans in the tri-state area, between the days of August 12-16, Rockefeller Park will be rocked on August 15, with a plethora of Indian local and North American dance troupes showing off their talent. Following is the schedule for India Day – INDIA DAY – SHAKTI: DIVINE ENERGY Rajika Puri , Sutradhar (Narrator) Nandanik Dance Troupe , founded and directed in 2006 by Nandini Mandal in Pittsburgh, has trained a cadre of American-born bharatanatyam dancers and regularly presents dancers and dance companies from India. For its first performance in NewYork City, the Company presents an excerpt from a new production, Dashama- havidya, literally the 10 incarnations of the mother god- dess Shakti, created by Kolkata-based choreographer and soloist Subhajit Khush Das. Bijayini Satpathy Dance Collective is a newly formed ensemble of dancers trained by the well-known Odissi dancer Bijayini Satpathy. Two duets will be presented, choreographed by Bijayini and performed by Ariaki Dandawate and Malavika Singh, under the title of “Lasya”, “Mahamaya”, and “Lathika”, celebrating the feminine power in sensuality and might. Sonali Skandan , Bharatanatyam soloist, will present “Durga,” created in collaboration with Maya Kulkarni, to a commissioned musical score. This work is a visceral invocation of the Divine Feminine, at once serene and ferocious. Sonali has performed solo and group works in the Erasing Borders of Indian Dance in prior seasons and elsewhere on tour in India and the U.S. Kalpavruksha Dance Ensemble , presents “The Flame of Destiny”, based on the story of Draupathi from India’s epic, Mahabharata. The original production for 16 danc- ers has been choreographed by Swathi Gundapuneedi- Atluri, originally from Hyderabad, an acclaimed exponent of Kuchipudi who established her dance academy in 1999 in New Jersey. Guest Kathakali dancers from Canada and NewYork will join the cast. Subhajit Khush Das , an award-winning dancer/choreog- rapher from Kolkata, will present the world-premiere of “MAA, The Protector”, in the style of Uday Shankar. An MFA graduate of Rabindra Bharati University, he leads his own dance company that has been widely seen in live and televised performances across India. Malini Srinivasan & Dancers will present “Devi Sabdam”, a work dedicated to the essence of divine feminine power and creativity, choreographed by Renjith Babu and set for the Festival stage by Malini Srinivasan. Based in NewYork City and trained by the late C.V. Chandrasekhar and oth- ers, Malini’s Bharatanatyam choreography, teaching and performance have nurtured a new generation of dedi- cated dancers, six of whom will join her on stage. Sampradaya Dance Creations of Canada presents “Dwitiya”, a Bharatanatyam duet celebrating the divine union of Shiva and Shakti, embodying balance and oneness of masculine and feminine energies. Choreographed by Lada Pada, Founder and Artistic Director of Sampradaya, the work is performed by Harikishan Nair and Atri Nundy. ABOUT BATTERY DANCE Founded by Jonathan Hollander in 1976 in lower Manhattan, Battery Dance is considered one of America’s leading cultural ambassadors, connecting the world through dance, a press release from the organization said. “Battery Dance is committed to enhancing the cultural vibrancy of its home community in NewYork City, ex- tending programming throughout the U.S., and build- ing bridges worldwide through international cultural exchange with programs in 75 countries to date.” Please RSVP to Michelle Tabnick: michelle@michellet- abnickpr.com, 646-765-4773 to attend. For more details, visit https://batterydance.org/ By a StaffWriter 7 CITY VIEWS August 8, 2025 A dance performance photo provided by Battery Dance. Community Op-Ed: Building, Preserving, and Planning 426,000+ Units of Housing to Make Our City More Affordable August 4, 2025 W hen I came into office, afford- able housing was at the top of my agenda, and I didn’t need any studies or polls to tell me why. NewYorkers were telling me every day, every chance they got. I heard it at the store, on the street, and in the subway; I heard it from young adults and seniors; I heard it from the Bronx to Staten Island. For me, this work is personal. Growing up on the edge of homelessness, I know what it feels like to worry about whether or not you will have a roof over your head at night. That’s a feeling that too many NewYorkers still feel, and that’s because too many administrations have kicked the can down on the road when it came to dealing with our housing crisis. When I came into office, I was clear that I was not going to let our administration continue to make excuses or tinker around the edges. We brought a whole new approach to housing, using every tool at every level of government to create new homes across the entire city. Last week, during “Housing Week,” we showcased our success and laid out ambitious initiatives to double down on our efforts to create the housing New Yorkers need. Thanks to historic investments and a relentless focus across our entire city government, our administration has shat- tered affordable housing records year after year. Now, we’re adding another “year” to that list: Fiscal Year 2025. This past fiscal year, we produced the most afford- able rental units in city history and the most homes for formerly homeless New Yorkers, too. We placed a record number of homeless NewYorkers into affordable homes and connected a historic number of people to affordable housing through our city’s housing lottery. And — for the first time —we revealed that when you put together all of housing initiatives, our administration has cre- ated, preserved, or planned over 426,000 homes for NewYorkers. This includes homes we’ve already built and homes we will build soon thanks to historic initia- tives like “City of Yes,” the first citywide rezoning in 60 years, that will change our city’s housing rules and build a little more housing everywhere. When you put together all the records, the rezonings, and the real progress we have made, there is simply no other way to say it: This is the most pro-housing administration in NewYork City history! But we know there is always more to do. That’s why I issued a historic executive order last year requiring every agency to identify city-owned sites that can become much-needed housing, and last week, we announced our vision to turn one of those sites, an abandoned airport in Queens, into 3,000 new homes. From old office buildings to sanitation garages, we are turning the outdated properties of the past into the homes of the future. We’re creating more homes and we’re helping connect more people to those homes. To do that, last week, we also an- nounced that we will double the percent- age of affordable homes in our housing lottery with a preference for veterans and city workers. Public servants sacrifice for our city every day, and this new policy will ensure they can continue to live in the city that they love. Additionally, last week, we officially changed our city’s senior af- fordable housing program to build more family-sized units. Lots of older NewYork- ers want to live with their adult children or live-in aids, and with this new policy, we will help them do it. No matter how old you are or what job you have, our admin- istration wants every NewYorker to find a place they call home. “HousingWeek” represented more than just the records we’ve broken or the prog- ress we’re making every day; it represented our commitment to every NewYorker. Our administration has focused relentlessly on creating more homes, connecting more people to homes, and helping keep more people in the homes they already have — it’s what NewYorkers need, and it’s what they deserve. That focus has delivered results three years in a row, and we’re not stopping there. We know that a house is more than just a roof with four walls — it is the key to unlocking the American Dream, and it is the key to keeping it alive. By NewYork City Mayor Eric Adams