By Elizabeth Miller ’15, Co-Editor-in-Chief
When Pratiti Ghosh-Dastidar ’15 set herself a goal to raise $2000 for cancer research, she didn’t think she was going to be able to make it. And then, she raised more than double her goal.
In March, Ghosh-Dastidar started planning a benefit show for CancerFree KIDS. CancerFree KIDS is a non-profit organization whose mission is to “support research by raising funds in a myriad of ways—through special events and corporate alliances—and to make a real difference in the research community.” With the help of Pranav Madabhushi ’15, she decided to name it “Rhythm”. Then, the real work started.
Rhythm was planned out as a dance and music event, in which there were multiple dance genres, as well as a variety of musical performances. Ghosh-Dastidar, who has been doing Kathak, a form of traditional Indian dancing, for ten years, spent most of her summer choreographing and practicing dances. She was joined by 18 dancers from her old dance studio, ranged from age eight to age 18, to perform seven dances. The other large dance group was Zabava, a troupe of traditional Georgian—the country, not the state—dancers.
Other acts came from dances performed by smaller groups of Kathak dancers, a Bollywood number, popular songs covered by four singers, and a few piano pieces. These performers included three Country Day juniors: Apurva Bhattacharjee, Elizabeth Miller, and Connor Wiley. The show was run by stage managers Alex Warner ’15 and Rachel Epstein ’14, as well as backstage hands and decoration helpers Soham Basu ’16, and Hannah Taylor ‘15.
Throughout the show, there was a series of six videos that told the stories of different cancer survivors, as well as explaining how CancerFree KIDS is helping to defeat cancer. Ghosh-Dastidar explained, “Our goal was to really celebrate how far cancer research has come. We did this by sharing stories from three cancer survivors.” These success stories showed that although cancer is a difficult enemy to overcome, it can be done, and with the help of organizations like CancerFree KIDS, there will constantly be more and more stories like them.
Rhythm was a great success. In total, Ghosh-Dastidar sold 409 tickets, almost filling up the Keeler Theatre. Ticket sales along with donations produced a total of $4,266, all of which will be given to CancerFree KIDS. This is far above and beyond anything that anyone involved in the show could have imagined.
Although she is “not sure yet” as to what the future will hold, Ghosh-Dastidar knows that “if [she] got another chance to do another show for CancerFree KIDS (or maybe [even] a different organization) [she] would love to.”
