For over 12 years, Asavari School of Dance has been holding the annual Lalit Arpan Festival, a festival that had been started by late Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan (tabla maestro) and Padmashri Guru Shovana Narayan, featuring the torchbearers of the classical music and dance traditions.
The Lalit Arpan Festival 2014 unfolded on 17 September at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Centre in the presence of LK Advani with performances by renowned artistes, Shounak Abhisheki (Hindustani vocal) and Grammy award winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohan Veena). The show also featured Surya Naman a repertory by Asavari School of Dance.
The second day of the festival witnessed the performances of renowned artists, Vidushi Manju Mehta (well-known sitar artist) and Vidushi Jayantimala and Rishika Mishra (Kathak) in the presence of Meira Kumar. The show also featured a repertory by the Asavari School of Dance - Shringara.
The Lalit Arpan Samman awardees on the two days were - Satish Gujral (Padma Vibhushan and an icon in the field of art), Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Grammy award winner and maestro of the Mohan Veena), Vidushi Shobha Koser (preserver and propagator of classical arts in Punjab), RK Dhingra (SNA awardee and a pioneer in the field of light design), Laxman Krishnarao Pandit ( eminent Hindustani Vocalist of the Gwalior Gharana), Sushma Seth (theatre and film actress), Niren Sengupta (senior artiste and art educator) and Harish Narula (social philanthropist, Founder President, Bharat Shakti Cultural, Educational and Spiritual Society).
Present at the festival to support the artistes were Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, MP, Foreign Minister of Bangladesh, Tariq A Karim, High Commissioner of Bangladesh to India.