FOUNDATION

The Guiding Star Dance Foundation is educational and works towards providing a creative outlet for personal expression through dance, movement, and performance for a wide range of people. Their aim is to promote a shared experience of the art of dance with all communities through participation and performance. The foundation by means of its dance performances wants to push boundaries of classicial and contemporary Indian dance forms beyond usual expectations and broaden people's perception of what Indian dance is and who can dance.

The Guiding Star Dance Foundation brings together a group of likeminded individuals as its board of directors who wish to nurture and nourish the seeds of Indian dance forms here in the United States of America.

Being a not-for-profit foundation, the activities of the foundation (which include rehearsals, performances and tours) are supported by the Guiding Star Dance Foundation (Board of Directors, development staff) and by the generosity of government bodies, foundations, corporations, and individual donors.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS & STAFF MEMBERS

Varun Mahajan, Executive and Artistic Director:Mr. Mahajan is trained in dance & drama through Nateshwar Kala Mandir in Delhi, India. His theatre art included aspects of Core Drama, Indian Classical Ballet, Nautanki (Indian Folk) and Raas Leela (Stories of Lord Krishna). As Executive and Artistic Director of GSDF, Mr. Mahajan wrote, produced, and directed “Living in America”, an Indian musical scripted in English that features the story of an Indian family's move to America and the ensuing challenges faced by new immigrants. Mr. Mahajan repeated the same success with his second play “Where is the culture?”, where issues related to inter-racial and inter-religious marriage were raised and addressed. Mr. Mahajan's recent play "Arranged Marriage"  celebrated the courage, strength and power of Indian woman fundamental in ensuring the survival of the Indian institution of arranged marriages.

BOARD MEMBERS :

Nick Goodell, President: Mr. Goodell is a co-founder of HRResourceforce, a Pittsburgh company providing on-demand compliance obligation management software to companies nationwide. With an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh's Katz Graduate School of Business, Mr. Goodell has specialized in successfully launching and managing software technology companies.  He has been a Board member since 2009..

Marsha Jindel, Vice President: Marsha Jindel is a marketing professional whose fifteen-year career includes rapidly developing and implementing effective marketing plans and communication strategies for several fortune 500 companies. A graduate of University of Pittsburgh with an MBA in Marketing, Ms. Jindel also has taught on the university level and has served as an independent consultant for several companies seeking marketing expertise. Ms. Jindel has also received extensive training in acting, dance, and music, and has performed lead roles in a multitude of stage productions including “Cabaret”, “Angel City”, and “A Comedy of Errors”. She also performed in lead roles for GSDF’s first two productions, “Living in America” and “Where is the Culture”.

Dan Mattson:Mr. Mattson has worked in plastics, healthcare and IT in the U.S. and India for large international corporations and start-ups.  He currently is Vice President of a medical device company based in Pittsburgh.  Mr. Mattson has been active in fund raising and grant writing for several Guiding Star Dance Foundation musicals.

Sonia Mahajan, Secretary:A graduate of Nateshwar Kala Mandir in New Delhi, India, with a Masters in classical Indian dance, Ms. Mahajan specializes in the Banaras & Jaipur Gharana style of Kathak along with several other folk dances of India. Ms. Mahajan has taught dance professionally since 2004 when she along with her husband, Varun Mahajan, founded Guiding Star Productions, a Pittsburgh dance school specializing in Indian dance forms. Ms. Mahajan is also a choreographer for GSDF and has done lead roles of Sundari (Living in America, year 2010), Daisy (Where is the Culture?, year 2011), Meera (Arranged Marriage, year 2013) in GSDF productions.

Mona Mattson: Ms. Mattson is currently a Vice President of Sherman International. She serves on several non-profit boards including a private school in Pittsburgh.  Ms. Mattson has extensive experience planning and executing Indian heritage and cultural events around the Pittsburgh region.  She also lead fund raising efforts for “Where is the Culture?”

Sumedha Nagpal, Advisory board: Leads efforts in organizing Indian community events. Ms. Nagpal is involved in hosting major cultural events at the Hindu Jain Temple, Pittsburgh Folk Festival and Silk Screen Film Festival.

J.K Thakkar, Advisory board: Mr. Thakkar is a leading entrepreneur in the hotel industry. Mr. Thakkar is also involved in organizing large scale community events and is an active proponent of diversity in the Pittsburgh region.