5th South Asian show low-key, vigorous

Cultural showcase wows the packed house in Warner

The South Asian Cultural Show had its third annual performance Thursday at Warner Concert Hall, and offered up some tasty examples of unfamiliar performance practices. Performance is a bit too formal of a title. Rather it was a casual mishmash of a couple of art forms, namely music and dance. This casual attitude predominated. It was low-key in execution and approach. Although the entire evening wasn't all terribly captivating, there were moments of real enthusiasm and vigor, both for the performers and the audience.

South Asia is an umbrella term for the countries of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka and the Maldive Islands. But it was predominantly India that got star billing during the performance. The evening got underway with an instrumental performance of a sitar and tabla duet. The sitar, a stringed instrument that produces a high, sometimes nasal sound was played by junior Rohit Ramanath, while the tabla, a set of two drums similar to the bongo was played by sophomore Sam Lapidus.

The piece they played seem to rely heavily on improvisation around a loose theme. Ramanath, on sitar, would wander away from, and back to, the original theme. The piece kicked into a more intricate variant with the entrance of the tabla drumming. It was an interesting sight to see and hear this exotic, Eastern music being played directly in front of the huge, Western classical organ in Warner Concert Hall.

This was a dichotomy that seemed to be prevalent for the entire evening. Both the sitar and the tabla are instruments that have been used heavily in Western pop music (the Beatles use of the sitar and Sting's use of the tabla come to mind). To hear these instruments in their unadulterated state took some getting used to.

Next on the program was an example of the oldest classical Indian dance still in existence. The style of dance, known as bharatnatyam, originated in temples, and apparently it is very novel to see being performed today. Performed by guest artist Sunita Palekar, this dance was very rigid and geometric in its movement. The piece contained a lot of arm movement, stomping of feet, and rotating of the hips. In much of the dance, it seemed to be a traditional trait for women to roll their eyes and wear an expression of forced happiness. The dance that Palekar performed was in praise of the beautiful mother earth.

The showcase performance did seem a bit forced at times, with act after act feeling a bit like South Asian Star Search. It was hard to watch many different pieces one right after another and some more information on each performed work would have been greatly appreciated. Whenever the pace started to lag, some new excitement would come along to perk the audience up again.

The highlight of the show was a large group dance by a troupe from Case Western Reserve University. The group of about two-dozen had real panache, and fired the audience up with their bright, colorful costumes and pyrotechnic explosion of movement. Performed to contemporary remixes of ancient Hindu songs, the music added a decidedly modern feel to a stage picture that dated back at least two hundred years.

After the intermission and with incense still hanging in the air from the first act, there was more dancing and singing. Especially memorable was a performance of the traditional Odissi dance by Oberlin graduate Rebecca Koper.

Costumed in deep blue and wearing a very ornate headdress, Kasper was quite physically expressive.

A real audience-pleaser was the contemporary vocal performance by junior Durga Roy. Jesting coyly with the audience, Roy managed to get the majority of the audience clapping. Also of note was Pakistani singer Aisha Ahmed's pure-sounding a capella renditions of two traditional marriage songs.

The final piece, a large dance number was from a recent Indian film. Choreographed by senior Suraiya Ishaque, the piece was a fitting closing to an evening of juxtapositions. Traditional in its movement, the dancers danced to a Hindu song remixed by DJ Magic Mike.

The night offered an interesting, if not at times repetitious, mixture of the traditional versus the modern.

Cultural Diversity: Attending the annual South Asian Cultural show did not, alas, fulfill any graduation requirements. Above, guest artist Sunita Palekar performs a classical dance. (photo by Heidi Good)