Students and community residents filled the seats of Foellinger Auditorium Friday and Saturday to attend India Night, an annual two-day event featuring traditional Indian classical dance, film numbers and cutting-edge hip hop.

Seema Kamath, freshman in LAS, participated in two dance acts for the program, titled “Saat Samundar Paar” or “Across Seven Seas.” She said India Night was a goal she was working towards with both of her dances.

“I had been trying to manage daily dance practices for both dances, and it felt really good to show everyone what we had been working on,” Kamath said. “My family came down to India Night. They’re really happy that all the participants are enthusiastic about displaying the beauty of Indian culture through the arts.”

Kamath said that she felt very privileged to be involved with such a program.

“I felt really lucky to be part of such a great production,” she said. “I had been dreaming about making the Bhangra team ever since last year when I saw them perform at India Night 2004. Also, the girls in my other dance were all freshmen so it was such an amazing opportunity to showcase our talents so early on in our college careers.”

Many other freshmen said they were glad to be involved with the program from their first year in school. Dhara Parikh, freshman in LAS, said she was very excited to perform for her friends and family.

“The program tonight shows the whole campus and community how proud we are of our Indian culture,” Parikh said. “We have put a lot of hard work, time and dedication into the show, and I think that will definitely be reflected to the audience.”

For Adil Dhanani, sophomore in engineering and participant in the hip-hop act, the show was also a great way to reflect the diversity of the performances and the audience.

“When you look out at the people who are attending the show, you can see such diversity in the fact that there are Asians, Caucasians, African Americans and many more,” Dhanani said. “I think each person out there is going to enjoy the show for a different reason, and that is great.”

The program also addressed many issues that affected youths across the world, such as high school violence and natural disasters. The Indian Students Association presented a short video on the devastating effects of the tsunami disaster in South Asia and sold wristbands supporting the relief effort.

Neil Shah, freshman in LAS, attended his first India Night performance. He said he felt that the theme of the show was a great way to convey the importance of Indian culture transcending boundaries and rallying together in times of need.

“The program today showed that our culture isn’t confined by distance,” Shah said. “The show effectively combined emotion – both humor and sadness – in a way that allowed the audience to be fully engaged in the experience.”

Danial Baweja, freshman in LAS, said that he was excited about the weekend of India Night for more than just the performances.

“What I liked best about India Night was the fact that it brought people together,” Baweja said. “We have students who came from UIC (University of Illinois at Chicago) and IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology), as well as many younger students and families as well. It is so nice to see the community come together to celebrate the beauty of Indian culture.”