South Asia Society celebrates spring with Holi

In a dizzying swirl of oranges, pinks and reds, members of the University's South Asia Society danced and sang in celebration of spring Friday night. The performance was organized by the South Asia Society to celebrate "Holi," the Hindu festival of spring, which the show's program described as the "Mardi Gras" of Indian culture. An enthusiastic crowd of nearly 1,000 friends and relatives showed up to cheer on the performers in a packed Zellerbach Theatre. At the start of the show, the first Master of Ceremonies, College senior Sunil Budhrani, urged the crowd to "get pumped." And, the audience responded. The show mixed in slower, traditional dances with more modern pieces that energized the audience. The first segment of the program was a repeat of the South Asia Society fashion show at the United Minorities Council annual Celebration of Culture on April 8. After a brief interlude to introduce next year's South Asia Society officers, the show continued with several vocal arrangements -- performed by College sophomore Azhar Iqbal and College freshman Swathi Kappagantula, accompanied by a tabla drum. The evening continued with a comical dance routine performed to the song "Amma Dekh." The energetic performance featured six male sophomores -- half of whom were dressed as women. Wharton and Engineering sophomore Amit Patel, a member of the "Amma Dekh" group, said the decision to cross-dress was actually made in desperation. "After we had chosen the song we wanted to do, we said 'Oh, wait a minute. We don't have any girls,' " he said. Several other performances had the crowd clapping along in rhythm, and the show ended with a group of eight seniors giving a rousing dance performance to the song "Humma" from the new movie Bombay. Wharton senior Lynn Patel was one of the stars of the night, performing both solo in the opening act, and as a member of the "Humma" group to close out the show. Patel, who has been dancing for more than 10 years, has been performing for the South Asia Society since the first semester of her freshman year. "I've always been the opening act because the type of dancing I do is an invocation dance -- blessing the stage for the other performers," she said. "It's a pure classical form, and you need to get formal training in order to dance it." According to College junior Mika Rao, president of the South Asia Society, there were no auditions for the performances. "We try to let as many groups perform as are interested," Rao said. "The only requirement is that they must be a South Asia Society member." This was the third year that the South Asia Society put on a Holi festival, and according to Rao, the celebration has grown dramatically each year. "We are getting a reputation for having good shows," she said. "We are also growing in size as an organization." Rao added that the actual festival was held nearly a month ago in India, but that the South Asia Society celebration was delayed because of scheduling problems.