SASA

SASA the free show that happens once a year.

On Saturday February 26^th Loyola University of Chicago had their annual SASA dance performance. SASA, South Asian Student Alliance, is a club on campus that helps Indian students keep connected with the Indian culture.

According to the SASA president, Sean Arora, “ SASA is a social justice organization which is dedicated to diversity and exploring South Asian cultures.”

One way that SASA supports South Asian cultures is by hosting an Annual dance performance. The dances were to traditional Indian music and the students who performed the dances wore traditional Indian garb.

This year the show was held at the Northshore Center for the Performing Arts in Skokie. The theater was much bigger than anything that Loyola has to offer. The increase in seats was well needed because the show was completely sold out.

Every Loyola student received a free ticket to the show. Parents and non-Loyola students were charged a five-dollar entrance fee.

There were two Emcees hosting the show, Ashma Kadri and Samir Mehta. The Emcees announced each dance before it was performed and gave a little bit of background about the Indian culture in which the dance derived.

The emcees began the performance by introducing the “Fierce Freshman,” the Freshman SASA students who preformed a dance that mimicked the dances done in Indian Movies.

Each college class was represented in dance, except the sophomores because they didn’t have enough students to make an entire dance line. Each performance had a different Indian theme. The Juniors combined hip-hop with traditional Indian dance and the Seniors danced a traditional “Goodbye” dance to commemorate their last dance.

There were also a few professional teams that performed. The Chicago Dhamaal was one of them. Dhamaal is a group of young women from all over Chicago that compete in Indian dance. The Dhamaal team performed a quirky number that used Indian dance to act out a scene from Power Rangers.

After the intermission, the dances that were performed were more modern. There was hip-hop dances that may have pushed the boundaries for some of the grandparents in the audience. along There was also performances that incorporated a fusion of Indian and American dancing.

One student preferred the more cultural dance of RAAS. A dance where the performers use drum-stick like batons as props in the dance.

Cydny Audia, 19, said, “ My favorite dance was RAAS, It was really interesting to see the performance because it gave me a new perspective on a culture that is different from my own.”

According to Co-Fundraiser Khushbu Dalal, Cydny Audia got the point of the whole event.

Khushbu,19, says,”This SASA show is a great way to learn about the south Asian culture through various forms of dance, costumes and music. The show indulges its audience in a divers form of entertainment.”

Here's one clip from the dance:

Photos and videos by Laura Kujava