Judges

Alpana Kagal Jacob was inspired to join the Arathi School of dance after watching her Guru, Shrimati Revathi Satyu’s riveting performance. Alpana began training and performed her Arangetram, or solo debut recital in 1987 under the guidance of Smt. Revathi Satyu. She has continued studying and deriving inspiration under the guidance of Smt. Revathi Satyu, where she has participated in dance dramas such as Anmol Bhakti, Virangana, Nava Rasa Sansar, and Akhilam Madhuram. She has had furthur training with Guru’s Mahalingam Pillai, U.S. Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi,Padmini Ravi, Priyadarshini Govind, Smt. Maya Rao, and Radhika Ganesh. In 1994 She was presented by her Guru, in Bangalore and Mumbai, India. In 1995 Alpana was featured as a lead dancer with the folk dance company called ‘Sundara Mana MadhiBurli’. Alpana was a resident artist and performer with Big Thought of North Texas.

Mrs. Shabnam Modgil is the CEO of Radio caravan - join the caravan. Mrs. Modgil grew up in New Delhi and has been a skilled orator all her life. She has served as the president of IANT - Indian association of North Texas and was the Chief Marketing Officer at Fun Asia Radio as well. She was involved with the United Nations association in addition to serving in the boards of several organizations and prestigious non profits.

Akhila Rao has been in the field of Kathak for over 40+ years. Inspired and supported by her father K J Rao, a leading Kannada stage Actor-Director, Akhila was trained from an early age under the guidance of Guru Shri Ganesh Hiralal in Mumbai, performing her Rang Manch Pravesh in 1978 and presenting at leading venues in India. A Recipient of the "Singar Mani" title, awarded by Sur-Singar Samsad at the Kal-Ke-Kalakaar Festival in 1981, Akhila was also winner of The "Menaka Trophy" for Kathak, at the Bombay University Youth Festival. Akhila has also had specialized training for teaching students the finer aspects of Kathak, under the guidance of Guru Late Smt. Asha Joglekar in Mumbai. Kathak Rhythms is her school that she started in Dallas which has over 350 students.

Rupal Desai Dev is the director of Arya Dance academy in Dallas. Arya is a premium Bollywood dance acedemy in the the USA. Since 2004, Arya Academy has been responsible for dancers and choreography displayed at the Bollywood Movie Awards, Bollywood Music Awards, Bollywood Fashion Awards and the Unforgettable Tour. In addition, in 2010, Arya Dance Academy was asked to perform at the 84th annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This was the first Indian dance troupe to perform in the parade's history.

Srimati Indu Mangrola is an icon of Indian performing arts in the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex. She is the director of Sur Sangam a renowned dance troupe and music group, active for the past 30 years. Indu-ji’s dance choreography in traditional garba, folk, and Bollywood dance can be seen at local performances, such as India Nite, and also at the national Federation of Gujarati Associations of North America (FOGANA) dance competition where her items have been nationally ranked.