"Arise, awake, and stop not till the goal is reached" - Swami Vivekananda
in a scene
from the laser documentary (Photo: MSP)
Colorado Heights University, Denver, CO (Photo: CHU)
(Left) Manick Sorcar during a speech, and (Right) Laser scenes of the Columbian 1893 Exposition
at Chicago
(Photo: Kannojoo Photography)
August 24, 2013, Saturday, Denver, Colorado:
The stream of success of "Swamiji" that started last year in India arrived in the USA. The high-tech tribute to the philosopher-monk kicked off a three-month, 17-city U.S. tour Saturday in Denver at Colorado Heights University Theater, with a stupendous success.
The event was started at 5:30 pm by SEWA International USA with an oil-lamp lit by Chief Guest Renie Peterson, Councilwoman, City of Aurora, followed by a series of short speeches by Ms. Peterson and other guests including Prof. Ved Nanda of University of Denver Strum College of Law, before handing the microphone to Manick.
.................................. ............................Swami Vivekananda delivers a speech(Photo: Kannojoo Photography)
Manick thanked SEWA International USA for giving the opportunity to perform in Denver as well as in other cities of the forthcoming tour across the country. "As you know SEWA International is a non-profit organization devoted to humanitarian services with the motto 'serving mankind is a service to God' ", said Manick, "Tonight's show is a perfect match to that theme as will be evident in the life story of the itinerant philosopher-monk".
"Swamiji" show started with a prayer to the Holy Trio, followed by "Vandana" - a laser-live group-dance based on a Bengali poem written by Swami Vivekananda."What could be more appropriate to be used as a 'Vandana' for paying respect to the philosopher monk - other than a poetry written by the great monk himself?" , said Manick, before he read the English translation of it.
The 60-minute non-stop documentary, recorded as the longest laser documentary ever made on a human being, started with the slide show of an old pictorial book displaying black and white original images of 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago and Swamiji at the Parliament of World's Religions delivering his famous speech starting with "Sisters and brothers of America". A gust of wind flipped the pages to the beginning, when the old book and its pictures came to life with vibrant colors of laser animation and started the story on Swami Vivekananda from his birth, ending at Mahasamadhi. In last scene, the story went back to the slide show of the old pictorial book, where a meditating laser-Vivekananda morphed into a black and white real picture of the same scene.
................................. .................................................................................-Winning Smiles- ..........Manick Sorcar Productions group with Councilwoman Renie Peterson, volunteers of SEWA .......... ........ International USA, and the others after the show (Photo: Kannojoo Photography)
The show continued for 1.5 hours in a spell-bound audience. At the end of the show Concilwoman Renie Peterson and principals of SEWA International USA, Denver Chapter, came up on the stage to congratulate Manick and the group for a job well done and hand gifts to the entire team.
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