Woman Care Trust, a community organisation for the women of South Asian and Indian ethnicities, hosted another massively successful Ladies Cultural Night event on Saturday, 23 January.
Ladies Cultural Night is an annual event that hosts an evening of dance, music, theatricals for women of the community, showcasing the richness of pan-Indian cultures, folk and contemporary music, and inviting non-Indian performing groups to exhibit their artforms.
The event was held at Vodafone Event Centre on Saturday, January 23, where approximately 2400 women from different corners of Auckland visited and enjoyed an evening of fun, music, food and dance.
Speaking to the Indian Weekender, organiser of the event from Woman Care Trust Abha Khanna said the annual cultural night is one of the most sought after events in the calendar of the women of South Asian and Indian community and like previous year, 2021 show too went sold out days before the event.
“Ladies Cultural Night is a place organised by the women, and for the women- where hundreds from the community come in their best ethnic outfits and have an evening of dance, music, friendship and delicious food,” Abha Khanna said.
The show last week presented Sri Lankan dance, Polynesian dance, Bhangra, Gidda, Brazillian dance, Belly dance, classical Indian dance such as Bharatanatyam and fusion and much more.
“We host several dances and aerobic classes at our centre in Papatoetoe for different age groups of women, right from young children to senior citizen, and at this big platform, everyone gets an opportunity to showcase their talents and what they have learnt,” Soni Dheil from Woman Care Trust, organiser of the event told The Indian Weekender.
She further added that all different dance groups, from other parts of India, and non-Indian performers, all show the richness of their artforms through their performances- their costumes, music, dances and what it means for their culture.
“We encourage young members of their community to perform in front of thousands, break away from their stage fear and dance their heart on the stage.
“We also get our senior citizens who have not danced in front of the public, and we train them to get on the stage and perform and feel rejuvenated and free,” Soni said.
The event also collected gold coin donations from the visitors, the proceeds of which will go forward to the farmers protesting back in New Delhi, India.
“We had a special prayer from the stage to give strength to our brothers and sisters protesting to repeal the farm laws in India. We dimmed the lights of our event hall and asked our attendees to light up their phone torches, and we witnessed a sea of white lights flashing and slow dancing in the event hall,” Abha Khanna said.
The event also housed food stalls, clothing and jewellery stalls, a photo booth for the attendees.