The South Asian Student Association (SASA) held their annual South Asian cultural event, MELA, in Levin Ballroom on Saturday. Combining slideshows, videos and live performances, MELA once again blew away an auditorium packed full of eager students, administrators and community members. The show began with a slideshow highlighting different aspects and interesting aspects of the seven countries that are represented within SASA: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Murmers went through the crowd as different facts appeared on the screen, such as the fact that India was the richest country in the world until it was invaded by the British in the 17th century.
A brief welcome was given by SASA President Ateen Paliwal '04 and Vice President Priya Hegde '05 before they introduced the night's emcees, Arunoday Singh '04 and Sahil Tandon '04. Singh and Tandon were able to play off each other very well for the entire show; Singh adopted a ladies man persona for much of the time, while Tandon remained relatively serious and straightforward. The effect was both calming and completely hilarious. As Singh pushed for Tandon to loosen up a bit, Tandon pushed right back as he tried to keep Singh and the show on track. They also recognized that an emcee does not have to be on stage all the time, and took advantage of offstage voice -overs for some particularly funny interludes.

The show featured moments of cultural lessons in the form of "Jeopardesi," a South Asian spoof of the television show "Jeopardy." The three contestants represented two South Asian stereotypes and one well-adjusted and well-rounded young woman who saw culture from both sides. The skit was a little awkward, but funny enough to get some good laughs.

There was also a video shown at the beginning of the second act entitled "SASA Walking/MELA Bloopers." The video featured SASA members walking around campus and grabbing random students to ask questions about South Asian culture. It was surprising to see how many students were completely clueless- more than one student identified reknowned sitarist (and guru to George Harrison) Ravi Shankar as a traditional South Asian food.

The video also had a blooper reel from various MELA rehearsals. It was incredible to see how much fun everyone involved had in putting together this show.
Videos and educational interludes aside, however, the real meat of MELA was the performances themselves. Ranging from modern hip hop to classical Indian dancing, a more talented group of performers could not be assembled at this university.

The show began with "Rhythm-a-natyam," a rhythmic battle between a dancer and a drummer. Performed by Chandni Valiathan '04 and Shankar Bhargava '04, the two matched and battled rhythms with their feet and hands. Valiathan's dancing was exquisite, as she used rapid footsteps to show up Bhargava's excellent drumming.
Valiathan was also in the next dance, "Bharatnatyam," a classical South Indian dance. The four girls who performed - Valianthan, Sravanthi Madala, Mohini Jang and Prerna Bhargava, all '07 - were exceedingly graceful in their movements as they performed intricate steps and patterns on the stage.

"Bhangra" and "Kahe Chhed Mohi" were two of the high-energy dances performed in the first act, the latter following the story of a young woman, Radha, and her reactions towards Krishna's irrepressible teasing. Krishna is a Hindu religious figure who was notorious for his advances towards women. Radha continues to brush him off, despite his persistence. "Kahe Cheed Mohi" was one of the most graceful and playful dances of the evening.

The first act ended with "Flava & Spice," a collboration between SASA and AHORA! - Brandeis' Hispanic cultural club - to showcase the differences and similarities of the South Asian and Hispanic cultures.
After a brief intermission, MELA was back in full swing and even more dazzling than before. After watching the bloopers, a fashion show was put on, showcasing the newest and most contemporary versions of classic fashions in South Asia. Intricately beaded saris ruled the show, sparkling in the spotlights.

The second act moved much faster than the first, with less interludes featuring our delightful emcees. "Stud Express 3" featured a group of fine-looking Brandeis men dancing to N'Sync (among others), while "Rhythmic" combined just about every dance style in the book into an intoxicating blend complete with a neon pink blacklight glow.
"Nimbooda Rani's" was a spectacular number coreographed by Purnema Madahar '05, which -through dance - explored the world of Bollywood,
the Indian media and movie mecca.

"I've been dancing classical Indian dance my since I was a child," Madahar said. "So when I first came to Brandeis, I stared the whole freshmen dancing idea so people could see and learn South Asian dancing."

Madahar's dance was one of the most intricate and complicated of the evening. "It's so nice to see that everyone enjoyed it," she said.
Closing the show was a true dance spectacular entitled "FIRE!" choreographed by Arunoday Singh, and performed by Singh, Tandon, Omri Ayalon '05, Jason Colon '05, Carlos Salcedo '05, Riley Konara '06 and Jacob Kim '06. Singh alluded to the dance earlier in the show when he asked the audience, "How many of you saw us rehearsing in Shapiro Atrium?" When the audience roared its recognition, he smirked to Tandon, "Now, aren't I the best advertisment ever?" The dance featured South Asian tinted hip-hop and incredible dancing from all eight men.
"All the hard work, the two hour practices for five days a week, the fallin' behind in school work was all worth it in the end," Salcedo said.

"The crowd's response is what its all about. "
"It was just magic, the way it's always been for four years," Singh said of both his dancing and his emceeing duties. "It was kind of sad at the end, though ...you feel like you did so much work and it's over so fast."
Once again, MELA was an unprecedented success for SASA and the ICC. While many other cultures have been assmiliated into mainstream American culture, South Asian culture still remains a bit seperate and mysterious. MELA was the perfect way to find out about South Asian culture without worrying about anything but enjoying what was presented to you. "That's what it's about," Singh said. "Nobody cares what everyone is, or who everyone is. We're all just family.