Sandip Soparrkar Crowned “King of Art4Peace’ in Beverly Hills, Hollywood, USA

For over two decades Bollywood ace dancer choreographer Sandip Soparrkar has been winning various awards for his contribution in the field of dance and social work. His National excellence award winning initiative ‘Dance for a Cause’ has been using dance as a medium to raise awareness and for the betterment of the society and its varied issues. But this year is very special for dancer choreographer Sandip Soparrkar because his worldwide initiative “Dance for a Cause” is getting international appreciation. Dressed in white Shervani designed by Deepak Shah of More Mischief and styled by Pooja Shah Bhandari and Jashank Bhandari, Sandip Soparrkar was crowned and honoured by Art4Peace Awards with the title of “King of Art4Peace” for his social work through “Dance for a Cause” and Ms Alma Dang an artist and a philanthropist from Mexico who has been working towards ending ignorance and exploitation of children was crowned “Queen of Art4Peace” at the prestigious Saban Theatre Beverly Hills, Los Angles, California, USA.

At the after party after receiving this international honour, dressed in a sequins black and white tuxedo designed by Chhaya Gandhi, the dapper King of Art4Peace, spoke with team Spotless, excerpts from the interview;

Congratulation for this huge honour, how do you feel?

I humbled and truly honoured receiving the title of ‘King of Art4Peace’ this crown brings myriad responsibilities and I promise to shoulder it with utmost sincerity and dedication and to do justice to the motto “From my heart to your heart love and peace, we are one ”

It has been a long journey, tell us how it all began? Dance for a Cause, started in 2008, with our first performance at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, through dance we spoke of the cause of Save the tiger Since then year after we take up a cause and set dance dramas around it and perform it all over the world, I am happy to share that we have spread awareness for HIV, care for the elderly, domestic violence, drug abuse, acid attack, environmental issues, down syndrome and many more

Such a huge international honour for all the philanthropically work, must be overwhelming for sure?

Absolutely it is overwhelming, every recognition is, when we first received the National excellence award in 2016, my team and me felt so happy, then came a postage stamp by the Kingdom of Bhutan for completing 10 successful years of Dance for a cause and now the crown and position of ‘King of Art4Peace’ things are indeed getting bigger and brighter for sure

Tell us more about the Art4Peace event?

Dame Munni Irone founded Art4Peace, a non-profit organisation, in collaboration with Dr Gershom Sikaala presented the 11th annual Art4Peace Awards and three day International Peace Summit and Gala in Beverly Hills, USA Art4Peace Awards are born to sever and their global peace leaders are constantly working towards making a global positive change They dream for a safer, peaceful and loving world through Art, Culture and Wisdom Dame Dr Munni Irone founded and instituted The Arts4Peace Awards in 2011, with the simple aim that “success comes when we serve ” The organisation wishes to bring about a global change and produce leaders via the Arts and through Wisdom The tenets are Non- violence, Wisdom, Love and Peace The purpose of awards is to demonstrate to every nation the importance of culture to the whole fabric of the world and by showcasing through art, they understand and experience love, Wisdom and wish the creative minds and hearts usher in a pathway to peace

Each year through dance you bring out a new cause, what are your plans for this year?

This year I have created a dance drama “Why Roses Are Red” which is based on greek mythology, it a love story of Goddess of beauty Venue and her lover God of strength Adonis We have tired up with Avacayam NGO Since time immemorial, flowers have been the purest form of offering to God by the devotees The idols are adorned with flowers ranging from roses to marigolds and jasmine to shevanti, peppering the four walls of the temple, church, masjid and all holy places, with a pleasant aroma But have you ever wondered what happens to the flowers that are replaced the next day by a different bunch of blooms? The decaying flowers in mud-spattered plastic bags would perhaps float downstream, becoming a critical cause of pollution, this is where NGO Avacayam steps in, Avacayam in Sanskrit mean ‘gathering flowers’ they gather and recycle the flower waste from holy places and make holi colours, candles etc with it Spotless team also spoke with the organiser of Art4Peace Dame Munni Irone and this is what she stated, “Mr Sandip deserves the title ‘King of Art 4 Peace’, this crown comes to him as an appreciation for all the philanthropical work he has been doing through his worldwide initiative “Dance for a Cause” We at Art4Peace know that through his initiative he has raised funds and created awareness for innumerable charitable caused all over the globe We believe that he is a torchbearer for the art of giving through the medium of dance We are sure that Mr Sandip along with Ms Dang will shoulder their responsibilities and duties of spreading love and peace untrusted upon them ”

Dancing journey for this twinkle toed dancer has surely not been easy, having seen the ups and downs that the world of dance has to offer yet Soparrkar has carved a niche for himself in the world of dance, Team Spotless congratulates Sandip Soparrkar for this new title and position as well as wishes him all the very best for his future endeavours