“Taj Mahal is one of the seven wonders of the world. Do you know the other six? Come, witness the stories of love and war behind the seven wonders enacted through dances from around the world.” Nearly seven hundred people responded to this invitation and packed the Granville Arts Center in Garland at 4pm on November 22 to witness a unique and novel dance ballet titled, The Seven Wonders! This novel dance concert was organized by an equally novel nonprofit organization called Charity through Art (CHAART) Foundation.

Three unique features characterize CHAART Foundation. First, CHAART is wedded to the notion of diversity and organizes multicultural art events to raise funds for charities. Second, CHAART bears all the expenses toward hosting the concert so that every dollar from ticket sales goes to the benefiting charities. Third, CHAART empowers the audience to donate to a charity of their choice, among a list of benefiting charities. This year, CHAART helped four nonprofit organizations in India and USA dedicated to serving children’s educational and health needs – Asha for Education, Pratham USA, Plano ISD Education Foundation, and Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

The Seven Wonders dance ballet was the brainchild of Mrs. Madhusri Sethuraman, director of Plano-based Srutilaya School of Classical Indian Dance (www.madhudance.com), to commemorate her 20th anniversary of teaching dance in the United States. Though Madhusri has choreographed many international ballets such as Sneetches and Pandora’s Box, according to her, this project was particularly challenging and exciting because it involved adaptations of dances, music, costumes, props, and backdrops from seven different cultures. The audience was treated to a medley of Indian classical dances that harmoniously blended with Egyptian dances for the Pyramids wonder by Sa’diyya and the Danza della Luna Performance Co., Greek Dances for the Temple of Zeus wonder by Holy Trinity Hellenic Dancers, Italian dances by I Colori Italiani to showcase the Coliseum wonder, and Chinese dances by Jiaping Shi Dance School to represent the Great Wall wonder.

The event was a big success by all counts. As one member of the audience summed up, the confluence of different cultures under one theme and roof is itself an “eighth wonder!” Charity through Art Foundation is happy to report that it raised over ten thousand dollars for the four worthy charities helping needy children worldwide. More details about the concert are available on their website www.chaartfoundation.org.