DESI DHAMAKA DOES IT AGAIN!
General
Author : Shylaja Vijay
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The lights turned off, the cheering began and the glow sticks from the first act came on.
The ninth-annual Desi Dhamaka (DD), a UW performance of South Asian talents, was put on by the Desi Dhamaka Student Association Saturday night in Meany Hall. The association is a committee created by the five South Asian Registered Student Organizations (RSOs), which include the South Asian Students Association, the Indian Students Association, the Pakistani Students Association, the Bengali Students Association and Sigma Beta Rho Fraternity, Inc.
Throughout the years, the show has outgrown multiple locations, and with that expansion, the committee decided to add a philanthropic element to the event. DD expanded from a 50-person audience in Kane Hall in 2002 to more than 1,200 in Meany this year, continuing to sell out wherever the location. This year was also DD's first time as a three-day event, starting with a comedy show Friday night and ending with the Performer's Banquet on Sunday.
Because of the show's growth, the board members of DD also decided to add a philanthropic element, called the Desi Initiative, to the show. Fundraising efforts selling merchandise and food and getting corporate sponsorships will go to the nonprofit organization Children's Arts Village's Sevalaya program, which provides fine-arts camps to orphanages and recently began a program in India. The goal for DD was to raise $1,000.
"As we're growing, we felt like we had the responsibility to give back to the community as well," said Shylaja Vijay, co-president of the Desi Dhamaka Student Association.
DD is the largest South Asian cultural show in the Pacific Northwest, and the committee has gotten ticket requests from all around the region, including Vancouver, Canada and Oregon.
While it's required that groups have two to three UW students performing, some groups had non-UW students. Vijay said family members of the performing groups also come from all over the Northwest.
"We've been able to make a show that's so high in caliber that every year, it glows," Vijay said.
While the show itself is in high demand, so are spots on the stage. This year, 14 teams competed for 10 slots in the show.
"DD is definitely the most prestigious," Vijay said. "It's close to [the performers'] hearts and close to the culture they come from. Even though DD isn't a competition, they take it very seriously."
Vijay said the opening and closing acts for DD are the most fought over. Rangeela Remix, a dance team with both American hip-hop and classical Indian influences, opened. The closing act was given to Natya, a traditional Indian dance team that won the Asian Student Commission (ASC) Talent Show this year in March.
Publicity Natya received from the ASC Talent Show was good outreach to the community about South Asian performing, which Vijay said is the main goal of DD.
"We have a lot of audience members who aren't from the South Asian community, who are just in awe of the show," Vijay said. "[Natya is] a great representation of what we're trying to do. We're really lucky in that we have some really great performers who take South Asian performance to the next level."
Fahima Jahan, a member of Rangeela Remix, said she was excited and honored when she heard that their group would open and said that opening the show was "a big deal."
Jahan said the opening act is supposed to be a good representation of DD as a whole, and that Rangeela Remix tried to represent a fusion of cultures with its hip-hop and traditional Indian influences.
"Dancing is something that expresses our culture and who we are," Jahan said. "Our group represented America, South Asia what we are as a whole."
Vijay said that, while there is sometimes tension between different regions of South Asia, DD offered a chance to showcase talents and differences in a positive light.
"[The performers] are able to showcase the difference between old and new and how we can all coexist," Vijay said. "DD is the chance to witness differences bringing us together, instead of apart."
Vijay said that audience members always return for next year's performances, mostly because there isn't another show like DD because of its energy and passion in its performance.
"I've never been to anything like this before," freshman Ellie Stillwell, a member of the audience, said. "I would come back next year."
By Hayat Norimine
April 18, 2011
Reach reporter Hayat Norimine at news@dailyuw.com.
Website: http://dailyuw.com/2011/4/18/desi-dhamaka-does-it-again/
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