South Asian students at Tufts University host annual culture show

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After months of meticulous student planning, choreography and rehearsals, the Tufts Association of South Asians (TASA) successfully held its annual Culture Show in the Cohen Auditorium on March 2, 2024.

The lively “C-Show” featured a total of 15 acts encompassing “four South Asian dance teams, four class dances, three solo acts, a guest performance and a comedy skit intertwined,” according to a report published in the Tufts Daily on March 7^th.

Co-presidents of TASA, juniors Anoushka Madan and Ishika Gupta said the preparation for the show commenced last semester.

“We have so much collective leadership where everyone is doing their role and doing their part,” Madan said. “So we really have split and divided everything as best we can, so that everyone has a big role in making it happen.”

According to The Tufts Daily, the focal point of the C-Show revolves around Tufts four South Asian dance teams: Pulse, JumboRaas, Tamasha, and Bhangra. Despite their differences, these dance teams enthusiastically support each other and Madan called the TASA community as “very enthusiastic, close and kind of vibrant.”

Co-captain of Tufts Bhangra Riya Lahiri, while talking about the folk performance said Tufts Bhangra participates in five traditional competitions annually but this year they infused a few western songs in their show to modernize their performance.

“I think I would describe our team as one big family that loves to dance and we really just want to share that with the Tufts community,” Lahiri said.

The Tufts Daily said student emcees entertained the audience with comedic sketches during the event. The theme for this year’s performance was “Modern Desi Family,” drawing inspiration from “the popular American sitcom that follows a 21st century blended family.”

“We wanted to be tied in with American pop culture so that the reference could be understood by the whole community,” Maheen Ali, a sophomore emcee, said. “We chose Modern Family because we wanted to be a very realistic, chaotic, big Desi family and [show] the kind of struggles and jokes that we make as a community.”

“Being a student dancer, it was a little hard because most of the class dances are so big and not everyone is available at the same time,” added Ali who was also part of the sophomore class dance. “Some people would miss the entirety of practice before the showcase but … most people got it down, and if they didn’t, it’s okay because we all have a smile on our face.”