South Asia Society produces 20th annual fall cultural show

This weekend, Irvine Auditorium saw a battle of class pride and culture in which only one student survived.

“Survivor,” the South Asia Society’s 20th annual fall cultural show, opened Saturday night amidst the appreciative shouts of a 450-person crowd.

Planning for the event started last April, and this year’s show broke from tradition. “We actually wanted to do something really different because normally for [the] fall show we don’t have a theme,” said Engineering sophomore Raina Dhir, SAS’s cultural chair.

Inspired by her high school’s all-male pageant, Dhir suggested that the show incorporate contestants representative of each class into a competition. “I thought it’d be really cool … to see which class wins out. There’s always hype with that and people get really into it,” she said.

The “Survivor” contestants for the night were College freshman Shivani Chadha, College sophomore Kanad Ghosh, Wharton junior Richa D’Souza and Engineering and College senior Karthik Kumar.

The contestants competed on a variety tasks, including singing and competitive poori-eating. Attendees of the event voted for their favorite contestants during the intermission with their ticket stubs.

The show itself was a collaboration between SAS and over 120 performers of various South Asian performing arts groups.

“I think [performing at the cultural show] is one of our favorite things. It’s really great to work with the other groups and to see what they’re working on,” said College sophomore Neeti Singhal, a co-president of the classical Indian dance troupe Penn Thillana.

“It’s the one time we get to see everyone dance,” added College junior Priya Puri, the other Penn Thillana co-president.

The show included performances by Penn Raas, Penn Thillana and Penn Atma. These were followed by Bhangra, an open act dancing performance that was open to any willing Penn students, and the Freshmen Dance, a cherished tradition of the show that is meant to bring members of the freshman class closer together.

After the intermission, the audience enjoyed performances by Penn Sargam, Penn Masti, PenNaach and Penn Dhamaka. The conclusion of the show included the energetic and bittersweet Senior Dance, as well as the crowning of Kanad Ghosh as the cultural show’s “Survivor.”

“I’ve never experienced anything South Asian before, so it was really exciting for me,” said College freshman Maya Nauphal, a member of the audience. “It was pretty impressive and festive and fun.”

“I hope [the audience] takes away the fact that there’s a lot more to South Asian culture than just dancing, colors, or music, which we tried to throw in with the theme, the MC’s jokes and the tasks,” Dhir said. “I hope they see how broad South Asian culture is, especially to those who have no exposure to it.”

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