Parents allege cheating by organisers of dance event

BENGALURU: A dance event organiser, Heena Jain, has been accused of cheating several people after allegedly taking money from over 100 dance groups, but not giving them a chance to perform at the ‘Nrutyangana’ programme. The event, which was supposed to feature actress Jayaprada as the chief guest, was held at Town Hall in Bengaluru.

The organiser allegedly charged each group between Rs 40,000 and Rs 60,000 to participate in the event. However, due to time constraints and the awards presentation, many groups were not given a chance to perform. The parents of the children who were part of the dance groups were upset and protested outside the Town Hall, demanding that the organiser return their money.

Parents took the dance event organiser to task and demanded a refund of the money they paid. One of the parents alleged that the programme name was ‘Nyutyangana’, but there was no dance performance, only an award presentation at the event.

“We were hoping that children would get a stage to performance, but nothing happened. Children have been practicing dance for six months, as it was postponed in December last year. They planned to do it in February. We were ready with costumes, but the event was again postponed to June. The award presentation was held from 5 pm to 8 pm and not a single dance group performed. Children were eagerly waiting for their turn since morning, and they charged Rs 2,000 for registration per head”, she said.

Parent of a child from the left and the event organiser Heena Jain from the right.

The organiser, Heena Jain, defending herself, said that she did not cheat anyone and that the event was delayed due to Jayaprada’s late arrival. She also stated that it was not possible to give all the groups a chance to perform due to time constraints. “Those who registered their dance group first will get the chance to dance in front of the actress first. We are continuously organising this event every year”, she claimed.

She offered to refund some of the money if the parents gave her a month’s time to arrange for it.