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The Punjabi Cultural Society of Chicago presented the world famous Punjabi folk dance Bhangra first ever time at an NBA basket ball game in Midwest. Award winning Chicago Bhangra Team “UIC Bhangra” and UIC fusion dance group “Dhamaal” scored very high in performance on the court at United Center Stadium in Chicago minutes before the start of Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks basket ball game on March 6, 2009.
“This event raised the profile of our community and culture. Our performers did a fantastic job presenting our dances,” said PCS president Ronny Singh Kular. "I applaud P.C.S. for organizing such a wonderful community event that brings such a positive recognition to our community, and makes our children proud," said Harinder Singh, PCS Chairman and president of M.I.T.S. Inc. a computer training academy, who brought his family to the game. “Bulls beat Bucks 117-102, but the real winner was Punjabi Bhangra and Indian community who made history at NBA games in Chicago,” said Mohinderjit Singh Saini, one of the PCS organizers. More than 500 of the Punjabi/Indian community members were among 21,000 fans watching the game in the magnificent United Center stadium, in addition to many times more watching on TV. “These main-stream participations by PCS are building pride and excitement within our own community, and expanding our outreach into the larger main-stream American community,” said Rajinder Singh Mago, one of the PCS organizers. Live Punjabi Dhol (drum) beats rang out at United Center to start the performances. Next was UIC “Dhamaal” group highly styled performance that blended traditional Indian dance forms with modern hip-hop choreography in a medley of re-mix tracks starting with the blockbuster Oscar winner “Jai Ho….” Then came the “UIC Bhangra” group the final act, who rendered an excellent Bhangra dance performance, performed the first ever time at an NBA game in Chicago. The energetic Bhangra performance brought the crowd to their feet with their hands vigorously clapping to the beat. “This is an unforgettable diverse cultural experience,” said Patricia Michalski of Oak Park, a well known Chicago public servant, who brought twelve members of her family to watch this PCS event. The dhol players were Jaspreet Singh, Garvish Damania, and Sunny
Sekhon. The “UIC Bhangra” team consisted of Nakul Gulati,
Aveg Gupta, Anish Shah, Mayank Kumar, Venkat Murali, Pankaj Malhotra,
Chirag Makwana, Ankita Matharu, Deepika Bhagwat, Mohini Pathria,
Akshi Gandhi, Prashansa Sharma, Harleen Saini, Tania Vadakara, and
Prachi Shah. The event organizing volunteers included Ronny Kular, Mohinderjit Singh Saini, Balwinder Girn, Sunny Kular, Onkar Singh Sangha, Bhinder Singh Pamma, Amarjit Kaur Atwal, Sukhmel Atwal, Harwinder Pal Singh Lail, Jasbir Singh Palia, Baljeet Kaur Sangha, Jaspaul Saini, Pete Deol, Kevin Atwal, and Rajinder Singh Mago. The program was made possible with the help of Chicago Bulls, UIC
& UofC students, Sikh American Heritage Organization, and Punjabi
Cultural Society of Chicago.
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