2-23-15

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Vol. 105 Issue 119

@thepittnews

Pittnews.com

Monday, February 23, 2015

Family, friends honor late Pitt student

Pitt group pays tribute to heritage, hosts national competition

Lauren Rosenblatt Staff Writer

Meghan Sunners | Staff Photographer

Elizabeth Lepro Staff Writer An all-female group of competitors paid homage to their Indian heritage through costumed dance and cultural stories. On Saturday night, Natya, a Rutgers-based team and winner of the dance competition, told the story of the god Krishna’s birth, whose parents, according to Hindu religion, had suffered the loss of seven other children at the hands of the evil ruler Kasma. The Dhirana executive board and committees of Pitt students and graduates hosted eight teams from across the country in a competition at Soldiers and Sailors on Saturday, Feb. 21. The all-female dancers — from Penn State, Johns Hopkins University and University of California, Berkeley — wore traditional Indian garb, some of them in red dresses with metallic bells that jingled as they danced. Pitt’s dance team, Nrityamala, did not compete in

the event because they were acting as hosts, but did perform twice. The event raised more than $8,000 for the Pittsburgh-based Birmingham Free Clinic, which provides free medical care to the uninsured and underinsured in Pittsburgh. Transforming from a wall of Kamsa’s angry guards, the women turned into a rhythmic ocean a moment later. The performers use facial expressions and hand gestures to act out stories that are specific to Hinduism, like the god Ganga’s descent to earth, as well as universal tales, like one about a young woman violated by a gang of men and shamed by her town. Each team put on performances for an audience that filled roughly less than half the auditorium, which seats more than 2,000 people. Akshaya Arjunan, secretary of the Dhirana Executive Board, was not able to provide an exact number of ticket sales by time of publication, she estimated the attendance was

about 800. A panel of eight judges, made up of professional dancers with extensive backgrounds, chose first-, second- and third-place winners at the end of the night. Akshaya Arjunan, secretary of the Dhirana executive board, said since sponsors — including Tamarind Flavor of India and the Outside the Classroom Curriculum — funded the program, Dhirana can donate 100 percent of the revenue from ticket sales to the Birmingham Free Clinic. Clinical Director Mary Herbert was at the event to express her gratitude for the more than $16,000 Dhirana has donated in the past two years, which helped to purchase a new EKG machine. The Dhirana board looked for a charity in the Pittsburgh area with a direct effect on Pittsburgh citizens and students.

Dhirana

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George Daly couldn’t sing well, his friends say, but he loved to anyway. His favorite song to sing, according to his friends, was Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” even though he hardly knew any of the words. “It was a lot of mumbling the parts he didn’t know, and yelling the parts he did know,” Maura Barker, a sophomore and friend of Daly’s, said. Now, Barker won’t be able to hear Daly sing. Police found Daly dead in his Ward Street apartment at 11:34 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 12. Daly was a sophomore molecular biology major and a brother of Pi Kappa Alpha. He enjoyed playing baseball and basketball — according to his mother, Nancy Daly — and knew how to tear up a dance floor. Freshman year floormates thought of him as their “captain,” but, above all, those closest to Daly called him a true friend. Nancy Daly wrote in an email that George was not only an avid sports fan who enjoyed the beach, music and traveling, but he also had people surrounding him who loved him. “George was uniquely blessed with a large posse of close friends and a loving family who, in turn, were made better by his presence,” Nancy Daly said. A person’s life is measured best by the impact he has on others, George’s sister Genny Daly, said at his funeral on Saturday, according to Nancy Daly’s email. “No words exist that can fully express George’s impact on those around him, whether it was a passing interaction or a deep friend-

Daly

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