Daily Times

Sandip Soparrkar has been announced the winner of the Tagore Social Achievement Prize 2020.

The choreographer will receive this award for his contribution to the betterment of society through his worldwide initiative ‘Dance for a Cause.’ The award was announced at the Rabindranath Tagore Prize Headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.

‘Such an award carries a lot of responsibility and I’ll do my best to keep the prestige alive,’ said Sandip who was thrilled at the news. He says, “I am overwhelmed to been chosen as winner of the award and I also feel privileged and thankful as I know this award brings with it a lot of responsibility and duties. I promise that I will do my best to keep the prestige of this honour alive.” Owning to the pandemic and keeping in mind the situation, the physical award ceremony is not taking place, it will happen next year. This year, only official announcements of the winners of the prize have been made by the Tagore Prize organisation.

Peter Bundalo, chairperson of the awarding committee and founder of the prize, adds, “Many congratulations to this year’s winners. This year has been challenging in many ways for the entire world. The spirit of humanity, compassion, empathy will lead us to a new year and hopefully, we shall all meet in-person for the next award ceremony, till then stay safe,”

‘Dance for a Cause’ was started by Soparrkar in 2008. Where he uses various styles of dance, music and drama to raise awareness in regards to various social causes. The Government of India has honoured ‘Dance for a Cause’ with National Excellence Award in 2017 and Bhutan Government issued a postage stamp to honour 10 glorious years of this worldwide initiative of Soparrkar. Today ‘Dance for a Cause’ has its presence in India, USA, UK, Singapore, Dubai, Germany, Spain, Qatar and many more countries.