Celebrating
Diwali

Indian classical dancers perform at Arts Center’s first official event marking the holiday

The lights and the smiles were bright when NJPAC held its first celebration of Diwali in October, at an event for its Business Partners — companies that support the Arts Center’s work. The evening was illuminating in multiple ways.

Wesley Mathews, President & CEO of Choose NJ and Chair of the NJ-India Commission, and Dr. Balpreet Grewal-Virk, a Women@NJPAC Trustee, shared firsthand insights about the impact of economic missions to India led by Governor Phil Murphy. Andrew Moy, Head of Commercial Banking Client Growth Segments at Wells Fargo (which sponsored the event), spoke of how Indian culture touched his family in Fiji.

Another Women@NJPAC trustee, Vani Krishnamurthy, the founder and Director of Arts India US, which supports artists working in classical Indian performing arts, offered those gathered a deep look into the meaning of the holiday.

“Diwali invites us to think about … the act of seeing — of recognizing what is
often unseen. It’s about looking beyond what feels familiar, and finding meaning, beauty and humanity in the places and people that may not have always been visible
to us before,” she said.

“And that idea — of making the unseen seen — is also what the arts do best. They expand our vision. They help us see each other more clearly. NJPAC has long been a leader in doing just that — creating a space where difference is not just welcomed, but understood and celebrated.”

A troupe of Arts India US performers then presented a work called Lit! which blended two different classical Indian dance traditions, Kathak and Odissi, with Hindustani music.