Dance pervades South Asian culture and ranges from portraying the simple things in life to premier Bollywood films. Similar to the culture it will celebrate, EKTAA, the undergraduate South Asian student association, will feature dance as the bulk of its cultural exhibition.
This annual production will feature 13 art performances to showcase the culture of the Indian subcontinent as expressed on campus. It will be held at Fletcher Theater in the Progress Energy Center in downtown Raleigh on Saturday starting at 6:00 p.m.
According to EKTAA co-president Hersh Shah, EKTAA acts as an umbrella organization for various organizations on campus that represent students from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and other countries on the Indian subcontinent.
Since the founding of EKTAA at N.C. State in the 1970s, the organization has hosted this annual performing arts event. Each year, club officers plan the event around a central theme and this year EKTAA Night follow the theme of the Filmfare Awards, comparable to the Oscars in the U.S. film industry.
The theme of the Filmfare Awards stems from the immense output of the Indian film industry, which is heavily based in Mumbai, India. This genre, called Bollywood, produces over 800 films a year, carries a strong cultural significance in India and is popular abroad.
“Bollywood produces the most movies compared to any other category,” Shah, a junior in mechanical engineering, said. “The industry makes more films than Hollywood and the thousands of movies and songs that come from it are very important to South Asian culture.”
In between the dance and swinging performances, EKTAA club officers will present brief skits inspired by famous Bollywood movies with elements of campus life interspersed in the acts.
Going along with the Bollywood theme, a new South Asian dance team called NCSU Bollywood will lead a key performance during the event. Avani Patel, team organizer and junior in English, said NCSU Bollywood started last semester and will tie traditional Indian dances with a contemporary twist.
“The bigger thing behind the club is the music, because it comes from the Bollywood industry,” Patel said. “The Hindi film industry produces hundreds and thousands of songs.”
This dance club, which practices regularly, tries to tie various cultural elements that span South Asia’s ethnic and style diversity.
“Bollywood dance is an umbrella term with a lot of traditional Indian dance, hip hop and modern styles,” Patel said.
EKTAA Night will also feature South Asian dance clubs from ECU, Virginia Tech and Natya Academy, a local Indian art studio.
“We want to show that the South Asian, especially Indian, community goes beyond campus, so we invited these groups,” Ashutosh Garg, EKTAA co-president and junior in aerospace engineering, said.
The entrance fee of the event is $5 for students and $8 for the general public. However, none of the money will go back as profit for the organization.
“The profits are going to a charity called Pratham,” Garg said. “They’re trying to start a chapter at N.C. State to raise money and awareness in efforts to improve literacy rates in India.”
According to the organization, Pratham USA all proceeds donated go towards promoting education in South Asia, which has a 68 percent literacy rate.
“It’s great, because to get rid of poverty you need to get rid of illiteracy, so we’re happy to help,” Shah said.
According to Shah and Garg, the event planning committee anticipates an audience of 300-400 people and expects for the performances to last until 9:00 p.m.
In addition to dancing and singing, EKTAA night will announce other cultural events that will go on in the South Asian community in Raleigh, such as Nuv Yug India Fest in Dorton Arena on March 26 and EKTAA’s celebration of the Hindu holiday, Holi, which actually starts the day of EKTAA Night.
“We will celebrate Holi on the 26th on Harris Field,” Shah said. “Holi is a religious holiday that more or less celebrates the beginning of spring. People celebrate and douse each other with colorful paints to signify the new colors of spring.”
Moreover, EKTAA Night won’t just celebrate South Asian dance and culture at the University, but also pride in South Asian identity.
“Dance shows up in any aspect of culture in India,” Patel said. “Any festivity whatsoever incorporates some sort of dance in it. A lot [of South Asians] here grew up with that and that’s how they maintain their cultural identity.”
