FREMONT: On March 19, a small team of ten aspiring young Bay Area Bharatanatyam dancers from the Shri Krupa Dance Foundation, between the ages of 11 and 18, boarded a plane at the San Francisco airport. Destination: Barcelona. They were off to compete in the Barcelona Dance Award 2008 one of the largest International amateur dance gatherings in Europe. They were representing the Shri Krupa Dance Foundation at this Festival.

This year, 1200 performers from 20 countries across five continents converged into this historic city. While these numbers seem both impressive and overwhelming at the same time, what is truly astounding is that within three days these young girls would dance their way into everyone's hearts vying for glory in 30+ categories of judgment.

Shri Krupa Dance Foundation has been a staple fixture and center for excellence in Bharatanatyam teachings in the Bay Area for 30 years. It is one of the elite schools here that will be reaching a significant milestone of ascending over 100 dancers to their solo-stage performance during this golden era.

Its Founder and Artistic Director, Vishal Ramani (a resident of Morgan Hill) was unable to join her team, as she found herself bound to the demands of the school and scheduled workshops. Preparation for the two short dance ballets for this competition had started late, but the dancers were determined and worked very hard with Guru Vishal Ramani after school hours and on weekends.

Armed with all their hard work, the good will and blessings all packed into a roll-on, these girls appeared at ease, excited and patient as they waited their turn. A total of 285 dances were performed and judged over a period of three days.

When it was their turn to be on stage, one could not tell if they were nervous, confident, excited or quite simply cool and calm. The costumes were colorful and glittering, their ankle bells jingling, but what set them apart was their energy and their lit up faces. Their costumes were colorful and glittering, their ankle bells jingling, their faces lit up.

Lights-camera-action! As the music started, they instantly transformed themselves into the roles they played in this poignant ballet, a timeless classic tale from Hindu mythology, where a young Krishna vanquishes a multi-headed serpent.

A complex tale of emotion and elation, played out to the judges, who perhaps had never witnessed such an art form. The crescendo of deliverance from a venomous serpent was depicted in a beautiful mural of dancers on stage as the ballet came to an end.

Only silence (with some broken applause from the five chaperones of Shri Krupa) and a dark stage greeted the dancers as they made their exit. The awards ceremony ran a marathon six hours from 4pm on the final day. Flags and banners waved in that thick tense air of anticipation.

Seventeen from our group joined 20 other performers from a Ballet school from the US in chanting "USA-USA-USA". Running up against the clock and against some stiff competition, the awards were going fast and furious.

Then came the announcement for the Classical Folk Custom category and there it was: Shri Krupa was the winner! Time stood still as the seemingly silent screams escaped the ecstatic Shri Krupa competitors. Before this had sunk in, Shri Krupa was announced again: Third in the Global Ethnic dance category.

What a fantastic finish for an absolutely unsuspecting departure on the 19! It was a defining moment for this small group from the Bay Area, but what was more significant in the eyes of these and every one of the 1200 competitors was the realization that the "Future of all Dance form is safe" and will continue to bring "countries and cultures" together like nothing else.

The ten Shri Krupa dancers that brought brief fame for the Bay Area in the world arena of dance are: Nadya Agarwal (Los Altos High School), Anjana Bala (Mission San Jose High School, Fremont), Priya Banerjee (The Harker School), Soumitha Bose (Cupertino Middle School), Pooja Chirala (The Harker School), Geeta Bharathi (Miller Middle School), Krithika Krishnamurthy (Lynbrook High School, San Jose), Vinodhini Lakshmanan (Mission San Jose High School, Fremont), Anu Ramachandran (The Harker School), Laxmi Sastri (Lynbrook High School, San Jose).