By Steve Sears

Recent Livingston High School graduate, Nidhi Ladda, relives Saturday evening, July 9, 2022, when she stepped onto the Zankel Hall stage at Carnegie Hall.

“Walking onto that stage, it was amazing,” Ladda says. “It was an out of world experience that I don’t even know how to describe. You just have to be on that stage to know exactly how it feels. The lighting there and everything – it’s so perfect. Honestly, I wish I could keep dancing right there and keep it going.”

Ladda danced with her partner, Krupa Patel, performing an Arangetram – also known as a graduation dance. Ladda trains at the Kalashri School of Arts Dance School in Parsippany under Guru Bina Menon. “Arangetram is a debut performance. That is just saying that the dancer is ready to perform and she’s been fully trained. I’ve been preparing for the Arangetram itself for that performance for the past two months, and I’ve trained in classical dancing for 12 years now,” Ladda says.

For Ladda, it was her second time performing at Carnegie Hall. In January 2020, Ladda was on stage at Stern Hall as part of Festival World of Dance. 

Ladda is trained in three different types of Indian classical dance forms: Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, and Mohiniyattam. She explains. “These three dance forms are from the southern part of India. It’s all heavily influenced by the culture down there.” And Guru Bina Menon has been with her every step of the way. “My guru has to be my biggest inspiration,” she says. “And she not only gave me dance, she gave me the most valuable lessons of my life. She is really there for you and she guides you through every single thing every step of the way. Without her, I would not be here where I am today.”

Ladda also speaks highly of her dance partner. “Krupa is my best dance partner ever. We both have a healthy competition, and we’re always trying to push each other, making sure that we’re both doing our best. And that really helps me as a dancer because I’m always improving, and she’s always improving. We’re also so supportive of each other. Going through Arangetram was a very challenging process, and it can be emotionally challenging as well. But we have each other’s backs, and we’re always there to just support each other, keep pushing each other to keep going, and keeping ourselves grounded in that this is all worth it. It’s hard, but it’s all for something so great and for a day that we’re going to remember for the rest of our lives.”

According to Ladda, there are a few things that are a part of being successful in dance. “You not only need to be smart enough to memorize all of the works, you also have to be physically fit, and then mentally strong. And emotionally, you have to be really well connected with yourself and have your expressions. It really goes three ways, and you need to be strong in all these things in order to do dance.”

Ladda, who graduated with high honors from Livingston High School, will attend Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts in the fall, and will dance for AMAN: South Asian Students’ Association, which is geared towards the cultures of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. “AMAN is the dance team there,” Ladda explains. “I hope that in the fall when I join, I can try out and be a part of the team, and share Indian classical dance with the team. I don’t think they have Indian classical dance there yet. I hope to make that a part of it, and really just share my culture and just keep dancing. Ultimately, dance is for yourself and it’s for the soul. I want to keep it there for as long as I can.”

And while being a successful dancer is indeed important to Ladda, so is her most important goal. “My goal in life is one thing: to make my parents proud. Be a daughter that they can be very proud of, and be a strong, independent woman, start my own business hopefully one day, and to keep spreading dance in my culture. In order for the culture to keep going, each generation has to keep spreading it and sharing it to the next. It can’t just end with me. I want to make active efforts to continue to spread my art form and make sure that it doesn’t die out.”

Bhagawathi Ladda speaks about his daughter. “We are so incredibly proud of our daughter, Nidhi, for her great accomplishment. We want her to do great things and shine with pride. She has worked very hard and will continue to excel.”