Miami Quarterly

Issue date: 10/19/09 Section: Feature

Every fall, Miami University’s Indian Student Association (ISA) hosts an evening of Indian fashion, dance, song and cuisine to celebrate the Indian holiday Diwali. ISA co-chair Niha Reddy, a Miami junior psychology major, describes Diwali as the “Indian Christmas.”

"Diwali is the Festival of Lights," Reddy says. "It's (India's) biggest holiday and as such we use it as a time to share our culture with the rest of Miami."

During the fashion show - the night's first event - ISA members show off traditional Indian clothing, from women's saris to men's kurtas.

Made from silk and other high-end fabrics, "We like to wear our formal clothing during the fashion show," Reddy says, since Indian students don't have the opportunity to wear their formal garb during the school year except on holidays and special occasions.

According to Miami senior marketing major and Diwali co-chair Shereene Tailor, the fashion show is a great display of Indian heritage. "Everyone has a little bit of a different style depending on their heritage and what region they're from," Tailor says. "It's a great way for the audience to see all the different types of clothing in India."

The fashion show warms up the stage for the night's main event, featuring six routines of classical and modern dances. "We like to have a fusion of modern and traditional," Tailor says. "We're trying to get back to the roots of Diwali and of our culture - that's what this show is about."

Two traditional dances the ISA performs are "Raas" and "Bhangra." Raas - an interactive dance performed during the autumn holiday of Navaratri - hails from the state of Gujarat. Participants gather and form large circles in front of a temple, interacting with their partners using wooden sticks, or "dandiyas."

"Some circles can have up to 200 people," Reddy says. "You can't just watch Raas, you have to be a part of it." Bhangra also has ceremonial origins and is still a large part of harvest festival celebrations. According to Tailor, this upbeat dance from the Punjab region is a crowd favorite. "It's fast, it's fun and it gets people's blood pumping. It's our big blowout dance at the end of the show. Everyone loves it," Tailor says.

The ISA also puts on a first-year dance as an icebreaker for new members. "When you are just starting out at college and you're away from your family for the first time, it's hard to keep your roots alive," Reddy says. "The freshmen dance is a way for the first-years to meet people their own age that are in a similar situation."

Then there's the senior dance. "It's kind of a rite of passage," Reddy says. "It's a way for the seniors to show how we have cultivated our dance skills over the past four years."

Catered by Shriver Center, the Diwali celebration dinner follows the dancing, featuring a buffet of traditional Indian cuisine. "People really love the dinner," Tailor says. "Either people are simply curious about Indian food, or they have had Indian food and can't get enough."

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