Teen shows culture through traditional dance Eight years of lessons ends with 3-hour solo dance performance BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer EDISON - For Devi Mody, Saturday was graduation day. The 15-year-old Edison resident spent eight years preparing for her Arangetram, a traditional Indian dance program that puts to the test the endurance, devotion and religious comprehension of the disciple. Devi spent more than three hours on the stage in the Victoria Theater at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. It was a daunting task that required almost daily practice and serves as her graduation from the dance instruction. "At first, I didn't think I could do this," Devi said before the show, half covered in the traditional makeup she would wear during the dance. "I have never stayed so committed to something." Devi, a rising sophomore at the Wardlaw-Hartridge School in Edison and president of her class, said that preparing for her Arangetram has brought her closer to the dance she was studying and is an outward expression of her feelings about culture. "I've become more in love with the dance," Devi said. "I believe that everybody should show their culture. We are all American, but the dance has taught me to show that Indian culture." The Arangetram is a series of eight dances ranging from 10 to 35 minutes in duration. The dances tell stories, show emotion, give praise to the Hindu gods and require the mastery of complex rhythms and dance steps. Devi has worked for eight years with guru Padma Thiagaram of the Abhinaya School of Bharatanaatyam and held daily rehearsals in the months leading up to the Arangetram. Devi said that her love of dancing is what kept her motivated to complete her training. "This has been, by far, the greatest experience of my life," Devi said. "I want to keep dancing; it is what relaxes me." Dr. Suresh Mody, Devi's father, said that the planning of the Arangetram began more than a year before the event and the 500-plus-seat theater was sold out. Among the guests expected were Edison Mayor Jun Choi, state Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (D-17) and U.S. Congressman Frank Pallone (D-6). Devi Mody was cool and collected hours before her Arangetram. She said that when she is on stage with the lights and the sets, it is hard to make out faces in the crowd. She said she would pretend that she is practicing. She said that her love for the dancing did not end when she left the stage Saturday. "I am going to keep doing this dance," she said. She also encourages others to find what they love. "Everyone should find that one thing that they really love to do," she said, "and pursue it."