<p>We've been invited to a special dance recital event. As we're not Indian and have no experience in attending, could anyone please give me an idea of whether a gift is expected and approximately how much? I'm assuming this should be treated like a wedding or bat mitzvah?</p>
<p>It's a "graduation" event which is the culmination of many yrs (usually 5+ yrs) of indian dance training. The event itself will feature many performances followed by lunch/dinner. I went to one recently where the event occurred about a month or so after the dancer's high school graduation, so it was pretty much treated like a graduation party for the purpose of gifts. I'd give the same type of gift that you'd give a high school grad or bar/bat mitzvah -- cash gift or a keepsake of some type; it doesn't need to be as costly as a wedding gift though.</p>