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The Tufts Daily
Where you read it first | Friday, March 29, 2024

TASA C-Show showcases South Asian culture through dance, fashion

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The TASA Culture Show brought together students in different dance groups on campus and highlighted the long-lasting bonds formed in the dance groups, with alumni coming to see the show and visit their former teams.

Last weekend, Cohen Auditorium bubbled with the lively sounds of Bollywood music and the distant, but mouth-watering aroma of hot samosas. The annual Culture Show, organized by the Tufts Association of South Asians (TASA), took place on Feb. 20 and 21, drawing sizable crowds of families, friends and other Desi-philes to enjoy two nights filled with laughter, music and dance. Leaving the auditorium after the show, it was impossible not to remain in a state of awe at the relentless energy of all the performers and the dedication of everyone behind-the-scenes who helped put on the dazzling production.

Mostly comprised of dance performances, the Culture Show -- affectionately nicknamed “C-show” by its participants -- is an effort to share the vibrant South Asian culture with the Tufts community. A particularly impressive aspect of C-show is its ability to unite South Asia enthusiasts of all experience levels and performance styles. Aside from competitive campus dance teams (JumboRaas, Pulse, Tamasha and Tufts Bhangra) the show expands its purview by welcoming beginners to perform in open dances every year.

This year’s show, aptly titled “Stumped!” in homage to the ongoing cricket World Cup, featured drastic stylistic diversity, starting off with a powerful South Indian classical piece, delving into Bollywood nostalgia and touching on Western contemporary. There was even an interlude fashion show, during which TASA members got to show off their eclectic wardrobes, ranging from sparkly salvars to dapper suits. Rather than limiting the aesthetic of the show to a specific facet of South Asian arts, the variety of performances shone a light on the multidimensional culture of South Asia.

Needless to say, however, the dances were only the final elements of the production. C-show was the culmination of months of hard work by the TASA E-Board, show directors, stage managers and choreographers. According to junior Niya Shahdad, one of the directors, preparations began in the fall semester, with the pace of preparation picking up once students returned from winter break. Along with sophomore co-directors, Aditya Hurry, Cornell Patrick and Tanay Modi, Shahdad handled much of the administrative and logistical aspects of running the show.

“[It took] an incredible amount of liaising with a lot of different people, calling out for acts … selecting the acts, making sure everyone’s on track…working through basic logistics like rooms and programs and printing the banner … finding a charity, scripting the show [and arranging] lights, sound and music,” Shahdad said.



The directors had to manage all of this along with their regular coursework and other extracurricular activities. And unlike previous years, when six directors worked together to make the show happen, only four took on the challenge this year. Consequently, TASA co-president Ravi Popat said that the E-board was far more involved this time around.

Popat, a junior, was especially involved in choosing the charity for this year’s show, Shanti Life, which helps women in rural India construct eco-sanitation toilets in their homes so they don’t have to travel long distances just to use a bathroom. As a Tufts Empower Fellow, Popat worked at the Gujarat branch of the organization over the summer.

“Part of my job as an Empower Fellow is to connect the Tufts student body with the project I was a member of. As a result, I thought C-show would be the perfect opportunity to bring Shanti Life to Tufts,” Popat said.

Though the show was free for admission, TASA raised around $500 for the organization from samosa and t-shirt sales, as well as with donations.

While selecting this year's charity might have been relatively easy thanks to Popat’s involvement, the recent onslaught of snow brought on time pressures and put some obtrusive obstacles in the way of the production. Nevertheless, these challenges strengthened the directors’ sense of camaraderie and solidified the goal of putting on a beautiful show.

“It’s a lot of work…” Shahdad mused, a couple of days after the show. “But I think everyone generally wants to do it, because it’s like a big fat Indian wedding for two days!”

For better or for worse, the undeniable stresses of behind-the-scenes preparation were somewhat obscured by show time. From the perspective of audience members, the quality of the Culture Show really depended on the ability of the performers to steal our hearts. Naturally, they did so repeatedly through the course of the night, with one stellar performance after the other.

The first performance of the night was delivered by Pulse, Tufts’ South Indian classical dance team. Glimmering in traditional silks and jewelry, the women of Pulse portrayed a “Divine Dance-off” through the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam.

The storyline of the "Divine Dance-off" pits Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction (to simplify a complex, spiritual explanation), against his female counterpart, Kali, who is causing chaos in the forest. When his attempts to calm her down fail, he challenges her to a dance-off, which he ultimately wins as the cosmic Lord of Dance. The dancers emulated the intensity behind this narrative through expressive hand movements and facial cues. It was a poignant introduction to the Culture show, startling the audience into attention with its dramatic themes.

Junior Nivedhitha Ramesh, captain of Pulse, had plenty of dance experience that provided her with the skill to direct her team members.

“I’ve learned Bharathanatyam…since I was five years old and have been performing Bollywood fusion since I was eight,” Ramesh said.

Aside from leading Pulse, Ramesh also played an integral role in choreographing many of the other dances in C-show. In fact, the other TASA members even joked about changing the name of the show from “Stumped!” to “The Nivedhitha Show.”

The talented choreographer described her process to the Daily, saying, “I listen to the music on repeat and just move, until I can see more concrete movements -- until I can put together a series of steps. I love being able to watch the team take our choreography and make it their own -- it’s like watching an artist work.”



With the help of seniors Shriya Nevatia and Molly Chirunomula, Ramesh choreographed one of the most beloved performances of the night, “Lagaan,” based on the eponymous 2001 film. Using the brilliant “Lagaan” soundtrack as a backdrop, the dance revisited playful, beautiful and tender moments from the movie. What made this number particularly emotional was the palpable connection everyone onstage and backstage felt to the music. Though it was a fairly open dance that incorporated performers of all levels, the dancers were all equally passionate.

“’Lagaan’ was … really cool,” Popat said. “The soundtrack is incredible. All of us were singing backstage!”

“I don’t think I sang as loudly backstage for any other performance,” Shahdad agreed. “It really just brought the Desi spirit alive in all of us!”

Another emotive performance was “Piya,” which shifted the atmosphere of the show from merry to melancholy. An ode to the universality of grief, the dance portrayed six women, each of whom experienced her own distinct tragedy. “Piya” fused both South Asian and Western elements, with fluid, contemporary moves set to Rahat Faht Ali Khan’s “O Re Piya” (2007). Junior Janna Karatas, who choreographed the piece, had a broad vision in mind for it.

“The point of the piece is that not all grief, or types of grief, are the same but people can come together…and say ‘I can’t completely understand your experiences, but I’m here for you, to support you,’” Karatas said. “And from a greater standpoint, whether it’s the dance style, whether it’s the message that’s being conveyed, I wanted to do something universal with that, too."

In fact, the beauty of the dance lay in its ability to transcend the bounds of genres and cultures. It was clear that the dancers really put their hearts into the choreography, channeling their own experiences, wearing some fragment of their own grief on their sleeves.

The senior dance closed off  the show on a bittersweet note. Despite some surely aching hearts, the TASA’s class of 2015 brought incredible energy to its last Culture Show.

“For a lot of us, it hasn’t really hit us yet,” said Nevatia, now a fifth-year senior with a TASA legacy of five years. “But when we’re older, pretty much no one’s going to go into a performing arts career, so we’re not going to be able to do this anymore, so that’s really sad. I love, love performing, so it’s going to be hard … but I’m trying to figure out different ways to stay involved.”

Fortunately, it seems that plenty of alumni return for the Culture Show to support their friends and old teammates.

“A lot of people came to the show from [the classes of] 2013 and 2014 and came backstage to say hi to us. They were helping their teams to get ready and meeting the new people who joined the teams after they left,” Nevatia said.

This, more then anything, indicates that the strong friendships that form in TASA truly stand the test of time. A familiar sentiment, echoed among TASA members of all years and experience levels, is the importance of the close-knit, yet welcoming C-show community to each of their respective Tufts experiences.

“When we were doing the ‘Lagaan’ dance, which [included] a lot of people from various dance backgrounds and different teams, I was looking around, kind of marveling at the fact that we can all come together and dance...and that I know so many of them now,” Karatas said. “I feel close to people on Bhangra, on Garba, and I can talk to them…I feel really supported, not only by the people on my team, but everyone else as well.”