Students danced with broomsticks, sashayed on stage in glittery saris and waved traditional dhandia sticks in the air to celebrate South Asian talent in front of about 600 people Saturday night at Cahn Auditorium.

South Asian Students Alliance put together the show, “Ekta,” which included a catered dinner from the Chicago restaurant Viceroy, served in Allison Hall’s cafeteria. Students, parents and friends of performers munched on vegetable samosas, basmati rice and chicken tikka soaked in warm, yellow curry prior to the show.

An act called Stomp, a mixture of street stomp and Indian flavor, featured students beating the floor with broomsticks and pounding on red washing buckets, creating a musical spectacle. Performers whirled across the stage wearing colorful sashes around their waists while waving sticks and bright red scarfs in the air.

“I loved seeing people I know perform,” Education sophomore Emily Schultze said. “The choreography was great and the costumes were very unique. It was unlike any other show I’ve ever seen. The energy level of the performers was really high.”

Schultze said her favorite part of the show was the last act, which featured freshmen dancers moving to a medley from a hit South Asian movie. Women entered the stage wearing sparkly red dresses and danced while holding burning candles in each hand. Men lined up behind the women and swung them in the air.

Also featured was the “Dance of the Seasons,” a traditional piece depicting the emotions of seasonal change. The dance opened quietly with dark silhouettes against a burnt-orange background. Seconds later dancers sprang into action, whirling across the stage barefoot in bright green, gold and orange saris, using facial expressions and gestures to communicate the changing seasons. The dancers swayed gracefully, tapping the floor with their feet and jangling their bracelets to the beat of the music.

A classical dance performed afterward showcased four female students sashaying gracefully in pale green and pink dresses with garlands of tiny white flowers adorning their hair.

Although hip-hop dancing constituted a major part of the show, some acts added elements of comic relief. One skit featured a South Asian college student talking on a cell phone to her uptight mother, who grows frantic with worry about her daughter attending a party.

The masters of ceremonies also had the audience laughing with a man-on-the-street video that highlighted Northwestern students’ widespread ignorance of South Asian geography.

In a more emotional segment of the show, students gave short speeches in an act called “Celebration of South Asian Women,” in which second-generation women in the United States honored first-generation women for their triumphs. The segment, which included women from all parts of the globe, reinforced the show’s theme of diversity and unity.

Other acts included the a capella group Brown Sugar and a violin performance by Music freshman Soumit Ghosh.

SASA Cultural Chairwoman Vasantha Kolavennu said she was happy with the way the show turned out.

“There were a lot of participants, and they were all enthusiastic and cooperative,” said Kolavennu, a McCormick sophomore.

“We started working on the show about six months ago, but people started getting their act together around the beginning of the quarter,” Kolavennu said. “We met to rehearse a few times a week. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it.”