Ashoka’s 25th Diwali show highlighted themes on the meaning of Diwali and cultural heritage in three shows last weekend, two of which sold out days before the show began.

Diwali, a holiday also known as the Festival of Lights, is celebrated by a variety of different religions and sects but is largely considered a South Asian festival. One of Diwali’s biggest themes is the idea of light beating out dark and good prevailing over evil.

Mary Richardson | Student Life

Dancers in traditional dress perform in one of the skits in Ashoka’s 25th Diwali show this weekend. This year’s show focused on raising cultural awareness among students both with and without South Asian heritage.

Ashoka’s cultural chairs, juniors Natasha Singh and Shelly Gupta, began planning this year’s show in April, wanting to make sure that the 25th-anniversary event was as exciting as they could make it. This year’s rendition focused on raising cultural awareness among students both with and without South Asian heritage.

Singh and Gupta said that they planned for the show to make students more aware of Diwali and to understand its meaning.

“The message we basically try to put across is that it’s Diwali time. This year we tried to do the whole light-over-darkness, just to try to give more of a basis as to what it is,” Singh said.

Gupta also said that Ashoka is trying to emphasize its focus on South Asian, rather than simply Indian, culture.

“[W]e just want to show that variety because a lot of times people think of us as just an Indian organization. We really want to show that we’re inclusive, especially for the people that are involved in Ashoka and aren’t necessarily Indian,” Gupta said.

Mary Richardson | Student Life

A cappella members sing at the Diwali showcase this weekend. The a cappella group was one among several groups, including seven dance troupes, that performed at the event.

The main performance was composed of a skit, a number of dances and other events. The show began with the lighting of the traditional diya lamps and greetings in several languages.

Seven groups performed dances, each representing one unique style from South Asian culture or a blend of many different ones. Classical, American Born Desi Crew, Garba, Raas, Chaahat and Bhangra each performed, all with high-energy, crowd-pleasing appearances. Spectators often shouted out the names of different individual dancers, adding to their energy.

“Not only do you really connect with the other people you’re dancing with—you can literally feel the rest of the audience,” sophomore Bobby Kahlon, a member of Bhangra, said.

The dances were interspersed with the “Midnight in Mumbai” skit, which centered on Ram, a fictional Mr. Wash. U. contestant struggling to understand his South Asian heritage. A magical rickshaw appears on the night of his General Chemistry exam and takes him on a trip around a transformed Danforth Campus, where he meets famous Indian historical figures and current Indian celebrities, discovering new things about his culture along the way.

“OK, please keep all hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times. Keep your straps nice and tight. Next stop, Mumbai!” Ram’s rickshaw driver, also India’s first president, Rajendra Prasad, said as the two whisked off to India.

Mary Richardson | Student Life

The performance also included a fashion show, which exhibited a number of popular South Asian men’s and women’s fashions, and a Bollywood-fusion a cappella performance.

Proceeds from this year’s Diwali performance supported Saweraa, which is an organization seeking to help South Asian women who are victims of domestic violence. Several members of the group presented mid-show to raise awareness for the cause.

Audience members were generally very pleased by the event. Aleks Husic, a senior who went to Diwali for the first time this weekend, was impressed by the show put on by Ashoka.

“I really enjoyed the energy and the enthusiasm, and I thought the whole show was very well put-together,” Husic said. “I thought they did a great job at illustrating the diversity and the importance of South Asian cultures.”

Freshman Kahini Shah was also happy with the performance, even though it was different from her previous experiences with the holiday.

“A lot of the modern twists on the dances were not what I expected, but that just made it even better,” Shah said.

Mary Richardson | Student Life

Before the show began, Singh expressed her excitement about what was to come.

“Now we get to see the show come together, and that’s probably the most magical part…being able to see all of our work just culminate to this one point,” she said.