Diwali, presented by Ashoka, celebrated its 30th anniversary this weekend with dancing, theatrics and music. This year’s performance marks decades of bringing a spectacle of sound, color and, most importantly, light to the Edison Theatre.

Friday night’s Dance-Off: A Night at the Oscars was truly spectacular. For two hours, Washington University dance groups of all different styles—and an a cappella group, the Aristocats—performed in Tisch Commons, competing to be named “Wash. U.’s best.”

Over the weekend, Ashoka staged its 29th annual show for Diwali, the festival of lights in South Asian tradition. More than 200 Washington University students came together to perform and produce this year’s Diwali: “Unbreakable Kaira Shree.”

The prevailing of good over evil, a sense of community and the recognition of the good things we have in our lives: These are what one of Ashoka’s cultural chairs, junior Saniya Suri, cites as the main themes of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights. Ashoka, Washington University’s South Asian Cultural Group, will present Wash. U.’s 27th Diwali performance this upcoming weekend at Edison Theatre, featuring a variety of dance and musical acts as well as a skit and fashion show.

SOCIOECONOMIC ISSUE: For the dozens of student-run and Student Union-funded performing arts groups on Washington University’s campus, putting on a show with a limited budget and limited resources can be a challenge.

Snippets of day and weekend events float around the room as a group of spandex-clad students filter into McMillan Cafe, one of the rehearsal locations for Washington University’s student-run Bollywood fusion dance group, Chaahat.

Chaahat means passion in Hindi. Members of Washington University’s Bollywood dance team of the same name, say that this is their main characteristic. Chaahat came in 1st place in the Aa Dekhen Zara dance competition, held at the University of Wisconsin–Madison this past weekend.