Students and family members gathered in McCormick Auditorium to watch South Asian dance and a cappella groups perform at the South Asian Student Alliance’s annual Festival of Lights on Sunday night.
“There are multiple festivals that celebrate some sort of light throughout South Asia,” said Weinberg junior and SASA co-president Aarnav Patel. “We just try to celebrate with dancing and music to really illuminate the cultures that are on this campus.”
This year’s dance programing included performances from Northwestern Raas, Bhangra, Ahana Dance Project and Deeva, as well as serenades from the a cappella group Brown Sugar.
In between each set, Patel andMcCormick sophomore and SASA Co-Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Shail Belani performed skits to introduce the next performance group.
Communication freshman Melina Mehta, who dances for Deeva, said that being on the dance team allows her to engage more with her heritage despite not doing so before college.
“A lot of my friends here aren’t South Asian, but they come down to my performances because they want to experience it too,” Mehta said. “It’s a fun way to share my culture with them.”
McCormick freshman Trisha Krishnan grew up immersed in Indian culture and said she is grateful to have found a strong South Asian community at NU.
“I’ve made a lot of friends through different SASA events and the dance team especially,” Krishnan said.
During and after performances, loud cheers and praise rang out from different parts of the auditorium, with students screaming and cheering for those on stage.
Patel said SASA started planning this event in the beginning of the school year, discussing how they wanted the performances and the post-event dinners to look like. Mehta and Krishnan said they began learning and choreographing their dances as soon as their team was finalized after fall auditions.
After the show concluded, students and families gathered outside of the auditorium, greeting performers with hugs, crowding the hall and filling the room with cheers for the performers.
“I just hope they see how amazing our South Asian performance teams are,” said Patel. “See how vibrant they are, youthful they are, and really just take away what it means for them.”
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