Northwestern’s South Asian Students Alliance hosted its annual show featuring NU’s South Asian performance groups at Cahn Auditorium on Saturday evening.
Its theme, “Crazy Rich Desis,” drew from the 2018 film “Crazy Rich Asians” and featured eleven South Asian dance and music performances.
Between group performances, SASA members performed a parody of the movie by reenacting scenes with a South Asian spin through pre-recorded videos and live on stage.
“We wanted to give all of the South Asian groups on campus an opportunity to perform for the school and share their culture in whatever facet they want to,” said Weinberg and Bienen sophomore Tanya Ganesh, who serves as the co-cultural chair for SASA.
In addition to dance and music organizations, each undergraduate class choreographed and performed its own routines. Guest singer Venkatesh Padmanabhan (Communication M.S. ’06) also performed Carnatic music, a South Indian art form.
Ganesh said the show’s impact is evident for performers and audience members, including the parents who came to watch.
“I could see that they felt so happy that I was in an environment where I could still connect with my culture and where there’s so many people that are so passionate about it too,” Ganesh said.
The performances showcased a variety of South Asian art styles. Competitive dance teams like Bhangra, whose technique comes from the Punjab region of India, and Raas, which performs a dance originating from the Indian state of Gujarat, utilized traditional props in their dances.
Weinberg senior Sonali Chandra, who serves as a captain for Raas, said the group incorporates both conventional and contemporary styles and themes.
“(Raas) is more of a traditional folk dance, but I think that we try to bring a little bit more of a modern spin to it,” Chandra said.
Other groups blended Western music and dance with more traditional South Asian art forms.
Deeva, an all-female competitive dance group, fused Bollywood dance with styles like hip-hop and lyrical. Brown Sugar, a co-ed South Asian fusion a cappella group, performed a medley of South Asian and Western music.
McCormick first-year Karina Paxton Filoteo said the show was “epic” and provided insight into South Asian culture.
“They did such an amazing job putting it together,” Paxton Filoteo said. “I feel like you could really just see the community of SASA.”
Chandra said she was excited to have an opportunity to share her culture with a broader NU audience.
She also said the show allowed her to learn more about her own identity as a South Asian student, since she wasn’t raised with much exposure to the culture.
“We’re not the most traditional family,” Chandra said. “Being able to go to SASA show each year and see the different styles of dances and listen to the music, I feel like it’s allowed me to really explore and understand South Asian culture a lot more.”
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