Greater Atlanta Telangana Society (GATeS) celebrated Fifth Telangana Formation Day on Sunday, June 23, 2019, at Forsyth Conference Center at Lanier Technical College,Cumming, Georgia. More than 1000 people from all age groups and all regions have gathered to witness spectacular celebration of Telangana Formation Day and Khaleshwaram celebrations. Several local and state officials joined the celebrations including Todd Jones, GA State Representative, Dennis Brown, Forsyth County Commissioner, Kevin Mcdonough, Chairman Forsyth and Cumming Chamber of Commerce, Vivian Vakili – Economic Development Director and James McCoy, CEO & President of Cumming, Forsyth Chamber of Commerce
GATeS team spearheaded by Board Chairman Anil Boddireddy and President Thirumal Reddy Pitta led an extraordinary celebration of Telangana formation day with unique shows of rare performances depicting the rich and unique cultural heritage of Telangana. GATeS team has endeavored to dedicate this event to showcase traditional dances from Telangana regions that are fast disappearing and towards that end has programmed the celebrations with unique blend of local and professional artists(from India).
The evening was kicked off by Lighting the Lamp by GATeS Board Members followed by evening cultural extravaganza showcasing the unique and rich culture of Telangana. Some of the cultural highlights of the event include:
• Gananayaka dance by the students of Pushyami Lanka, a well-known Dance Teacher followed by Telangana Songs by Srikanth Lanka from Dallas, TX
• EDM Alarippu Fusion presented Indian Raaga (Rani Gopireddy)
• Burrakatha, a traditional story-telling form of art, was used as an interlude to narrate each performance by artists. The anchor (Kathakudu) was played by Mimicry Ramesh and was supported by Niranjan Podduturi and SriniShanagarapu
• Rani Rudramadevi, a Dance Drama narrating the story of the monarch of the Kakatiya dynasty in the Deccan Plateau with capital at Warangal and Perini Thandavam, a dance performed by males and it is believed that in ancient times this was performed before the soldiers set to war, were presented NeelimaGaddamanugu, Natarajan NatyanjaliKuchipudi Academy
• Gussadi and Lambadi Dance, Bathukamma and tribal dances from Telangana Region were presented by artists trained by Harini, Hema shilpa and Shruti
• Telangana SamarayodhulaNatyaRoopakam – a dance drama presenting the valor and sacrifice made by people during India’s Independence Struggle, received a lot of applause from the audience. This masterpiece was presented byShivs Institute of Dance Academy
• Showcased Telangana festivals of Bonaludance presented by NeelimaGaddamanugu, Natarajan NatyanjaliKuchipudi Academy
• Showcased Telangana festivals of Bathukamma dance presented by Harini, Hema shilpa and Shruti
• The closing ceremony was as exciting as the beginning. Dappu, the band played by Dinesh/Parai group to resonate the celebration mood and as a fitting tribute to the event was the real highlight of the evening and kept everyone spellbound.
• Event concluded with video conference by Erraballi Dayakar Rao speech (Minster Panchayathi Raj of Telangana Govt)
GATeS EC and Board members Thirumal Reddy Pitta – President, Anil Boddireddy -Chairman, Rahull Chikyala – Vice President, Kishan Thallapally – General Secretary, Anitha Nellutla -Treasurer, Janardhan Pannela – Youth & Sports, Sunil Gotoor -Event Secretary, Srinivas Parsa – Cultural Secretary, Sreedhar Nelvalli, Raghu Banda, Chittari Prabha, Rama Chary, Ganesh Kasam, Chalapathi Vennemaneni and Satish Nandala have spent countless hours to make the event a great success with able support from GATeS Advisory Board consisting of Karun Asireddy, GouthamGoli, Prabhakar Boyapally, Sridhar Jullapally, and Sathish Cheti
Another objective of GATeS team is bringall of the Telugu regional and national community leaders on one stage to signify the unity and togetherness of all of the Telugu community. Towards that end GATeS team recognized and felicitated several community leaders including BhuvaneshBujalaGaru -ATA, Ramakrisha Reddy Ala – ATA BOT, Anjaiah Chowdhary Lavu – TANA, BalaIndurti – NATA, Bharath Madadi – TATA and Dr. SriniGangasani, Convenor, AAPI Convention, 2019, Sunil Savili and Srinivas Peddi – IFA, Dr. Satyanaraya Reddy Tangirala – GATA, Venky Gadde and Vinay Maddineni – TAMA, Ravi Kandimalla – GATeS, Kiran Pasham – ATA, Bapureddy – TDF. Past Presidents, Chairmansand Officers of GATeS were also recognized for their exceptional contribution to the organization –SrijanJoginapally, Venkat Veeraneni, VijuChiluveru, Narendar Reddy, Dr. SreeniGangasani, Ranjit Ganta, PrashantiAsireddy, Mahesh Nilagiri, RatanEluganti, Prabhakar Boyapally, Nanda Chatla andRavi Chandar. GATeS teams recognized Mrs. Sulochana Reddy garu wife of Founding father G.S. Reddy garu.
Sponsors for the event IST, SplashBI, RapidIT, CaridoVascular Group, Suvidha, Ecovue, Dr, Venkat Veeraneni, Dr. Satish Cheti, Softpath, Reddy CPA, Aperio technologies, Orpine, Shekhar Realty, Rahull Chikyala, Srinivas Vuduta, Umesh Muthyala, Sridhar Kanchanakuntla were thanked for their unconditional support to GATeS.
GATeS specifically recognizes all the chairs and volunteers Sandeep Reddy, Prabhakar Madhupati,Saritha Chakkila, Suram Surender, Madhav Kusam, Venu, Kumar, Naveen Bathini, Prashant Podduturi, Prashant Errabelli, Praveen Enabothula, Anil Arshanpally, Ranjeet, Ramu, Subbarao, Yugandar, Krishna who has spent countless hours has immensely contributed to the success of the event.
GATeS would also like to thank Madhavi Korrapati – Production Manager, Vakiti Creations – Photo and Video, Tillu, Satya Karnati, and DevanandKoduru– Audio, Briyani Pot, Deccan Spice, Cafe Bahar and Kakatiya sponsored food for the event.
About GATeS
GATeS is a Community Organization founded by a few families led by Late G.S. Reddy in 2007 has grown over the years and is now a 1000-member strong group. GATeS celebrates Telangana Culutral Day, Bathukamma and Vanabhojanalu each year to bring Telugu families under one roof.
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