Telugu mania to hit America

Grand arrangements for ATA 2014 to be held on July 3-5 at Philadelphia.

The 13th annual Conference and Youth Convention to be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia in the USA is going to be one of the biggest events in July.

Organising the biennial event, the American Telugu Association (ATA) is leaving no stone unturned. ATA is organising the event to celebrate Telugu culture and language.

ATA teamed up with the Telugu Association of Greater Delaware (TAGDV) to co-host the event. It is expected to attract 8,000–10,000 NRIs, besides representatives from India and a few other countries, particularly Canada and the UK.

ATA convened 50 committees to conduct the event. The teams have been working for the last nine months under the leadership of conference convenor Parmesh Bheemreddy, Director Balwanth Kommidi and Co-Convener Bhuvanesh Bujala.

Celebrities like Miss USA Nina Davuluri, Executive Director of Select USA Vinay Thummalapally (who is a close confidant of President Obama) and Indian Ambassador S Jayashankar as well as union ministers and ministers from various Indian states are expected to attend the three-day event.

Marking her presence at the event from Hyderabad also is Dr Padmaja Reddy, a renowed Kuchipudi dancer and the Cultural Co-ordinator for ATA. Commenting about her dance, she says, “I am the only one to perform on Kuchipudi dance in Telugu traditional culture. Out of five students from our Pranav Dance Institute, one going to perform along with me. As a Dance teacher I felt very happy that my students participated at many international Telugu festivals like Australia Telugu Ugadi Festival, Dubai Telugu Festival, Khajuraho Festival. There are two branches of Pranav Dance Institutes in Hyderabad, located in SR Nagar and Kukatpally where our students have been performing for last eight years.”

Rana Daggubati, Nithiin, Shriya, Pranitha, Richa, Laya, Sonal Chauhan, Ankita, Rajendra Prasad, Sunil, Dil Raju, Sekhar Kammula, Sudha, Tammareddy Bhradwaja, Tanikella Bharani, Vamsi Paidipally and others from the film world would grace the occasion.

The final episode of the ETV-Paadutha Teeyaga season 2 competitions would be conducted on the main stage and would be hosted by S P Balasubrahmanyam.

P Susheela, Mano, Hemachandra, Malavika, Sravana Bhargavi, Pranavi, Ramachary, Bapu Sastry and Vijayalakshmi would render songs. A special folk dance presentation is being organized by world famous folk artists Rama Rao Burugupalli and his group.

Spiritual gurus Sri Vachanananda Swamiji and Swami Chidatmananda are expected to grace the occasion.

Literary legends like Garikapati Narasimha Rao, Jonnavithula, film writer Ananth Sriram, poet Acharya K. Venkata Reddy and writers Dr. Saradapurna Sonty and Satyam Upadrashta are going to attend the literary sessions.

“Women’s Day is organised every year by ATA and it will be a signature event at the convention. There will be a special focus on “saamaajika seva” (social and charitable service) both in the US and India.

- Details of programs are available on the conference website.

For information and registration one can visit www.ataconference.org