Modern and traditional merge at India-Nite

The show featured dance groups, musical performances and skits.

By Catherine Rolfe

Published Nov. 3, 2009

This year's India-Nite might have seemed like its other 17 predecessors — until a bunny walked in during the fifth act.

The annual Indian culture show, which features creative dance, musical and comedic performances by both MU students and Columbia community members, was held on Halloween this year in Jesse Hall Auditorium.

Before the show, members of South Asian fusion dance team, Mizzou Masti, scrambled for last minute makeup and pictures.

"At the end, I just want the girls to have fun and enjoy themselves," junior Deepika Parmar said.

Parmar, as well as fellow juniors Dipika Chaudhuri and Aniqa Hasan, choreographed the Mizzou Masti dance routine.

The team hoped to add a new and more modern flavor to India Nite.

"We wanted to add in something that represents ourselves," Parmar said. "We're both Indian, but we're also American, so we wanted to add in both of those things into our dance."

The team performed to a mix of multiple songs, including both Indian and American pop, wearing sparkly blue and pink dresses with zebra striped leggings. But Mizzou Masti was far from unusual in their creative fusion of musical genres. The show included both traditional and more modern forms of Indian music, as well as music from other cultures and countries.

"There's different types of Indian dancing," sophomore Aman Rakhra said. "It's kind of like when you vary hip-hop and ballet, same thing."

The show ended with the only all-male performance of the night, featuring a group of nine men dancing to a mix of traditional and modern music.

"They had an all girls dance, so we decided to have an all guys dance," sophomore Omer Malik said.

Some of the male dancers joke the performance is an "anti-Mizzou Masti" dance because Mizzou Masti is an all-girls dance squad.

Sophomore Asim Choudhary explained how the group was selected to perform for the position of the highly coveted finale.

"We were the underdogs, nobody believed in us," Choudhary said. "No one would let us be in their dance, because we were the worst ones, and now we're the finale."

Although the majority of the show featured dancing, some acts also included vocal and instrumental performances including guitars, pianos, flutes and a sitar.

Four emcees hosted the event, acting out brief humorous skits between acts. The emcees played on the multicultural composition of the audience, alternately speaking English and Hindi. Many jokes also played on common ideas about India and the U.S., as well as Indian families and culture in both countries.

College of Engineering Dean James Thompson also spoke at the event, highlighting the important international element of the show. Thompson emphasized how science and technology were creating a more connected world and encouraged young people to consider a career in engineering.

"The world is a smaller place each day," Thompson said. "These are exciting times."