Students and parents packed Ryan Family Auditorium on Saturday to watch traditional South-Asian culture merge with Western and hip-hop influences — but they had to wait longer than expected for the show to begin.
The auditorium, which has a capacity of 600 people, was filled with attendees who crowded the aisles and backed into the walls. Citing fire code regulations, the Evanston Police Department said it would not allow the show to begin until people without tickets left — including some performers.
“We’d like to apologize for the popularity of the SASA show,” an event organizer told the exiting crowd.
After the exodus, the South Asian Students Association’ “Remix”-themed show finally started. Dancers in a flurry of red and green moved to traditional folk music, with sequins flashing in the spotlight. As the music thumped, the audience clapped along, shouting encouragement during the nearly four-hour extravaganza.
SASA Public Relations chairwoman Mona Dalal said the show’s theme reflected the mix of traditional and Western influences on South Asian students at Northwestern.
“Our culture isn’t completely South Asian or American,” said Dalal, a Weinberg sophomore. “It’s a changed culture. It’s a creation of our own.”
The event kicked off with an “8 Mile” spoof in which the show’s emcees, Rakesh Baruah and Ajul Shah, played the Eminem role, shadowboxing to the song “Lose Yourself” in a dorm bathroom.
Keeping true to the night’s “Remix” theme, many acts started as traditional dances then morphed into hip-hop numbers. Women began acts wearing bright saris and performed traditional dance steps, only to change into more Western garb and shimmy to Missy Elliott and Tupac Shakur.
Skits between acts skewered everything from “stereotypical Indian dads” to pop music and NU’s dating scene.
To the tune of Enrique Iglesias’s “Hero,” emcees Baruah and Shah sang, “If you give me an MCAT I promise I’ll pass. … I am not part of al-Qaida. . . . I just want to be emcee.” The audience howled as Shah’s open shirt billowed against the wind of a fan.
Some students said they came to watch their friends perform, while others wanted to support the SASA’s goal of educating NU about South-Asian life.
“I think it’s good to sit down and get an idea of other people’s cultures and things they like to do and get exposure to other things that are going on,” said Peter Blaibel, a Weinberg senior.
McCormick graduate student Parag Gupta said he attended the show not only to support the Indian community, but also to foster a spirit of diversity.
“SASA does an incredible job of incorporating everybody at Northwestern, so it’s a very multicultural event,” Gupta said.
A slide show contrasting life in South Asia to SASA activities at NU capped the evening. Dalal said pictures of the subcontinent were beautiful but marred by poverty.
“There’s a huge difference (in) how luxurious our lives are here,” she said. “We’re privileged, but we don’t forget our background.”
