Indian culture, dance enthusiasm spread through travel groups

Bombay in the Bay, the showcase of the school’s Indian culture and dance that takes place every February, has become a performance that students are eager to watch since it is one of the few cultural shows that Saratoga offers. These kinds of cultural shows are also popular at nearby schools, but they often have a different twist.

One difference between Bombay in the Bay and other school’s Indian cultural shows is that performers from Bombay in the Bay come only from Saratoga High. By contrast, schools such as Homestead High, Bellarmine College Preparatory and Notre Dame High all invite dance teams from other high schools to perform at their shows. Junior Karan Desai said, “the atmosphere can change a lot depending on how exclusive or inclusive the program is [of other schools].”

A more inclusive program makes the atmosphere more intense since there are many dance teams trying to prove their worth to the audience, Desai said; on the other hand, a more exclusive program makes the atmosphere more friendly since the audience is full of the performer’s friends and family.

This is not to say that Saratoga High dancers perform only at the school. Toga Tamasha, an advanced Indian dance travel team, performs at other schools such as Bellarmine College Preparatory and Monta Vista High School.

Toga Tamasha performer sophomore Ishana Narayanan said that performing for Toga Tamasha focuses on “spreading Saratoga talent and the Indian culture to other high schools in the Bay Area.” By contrast, Narayanan said that performing for Bombay in the Bay focuses more on entertaining parents and students.

Like SHS, other schools like Lynbrook also have clubs to increase cultural awareness. The school has a club called American-Indo Student Association (AISA).

Lynbrook junior Ria Parwal, vice-president of AISA, said that the club prepares for Silsilay, an annual cultural showcase of different dance teams and singing acts that come from multiple schools to perform for a charitable cause. The charity that the club donates to is named Project Rishi, a rehabilitation center for leprosy patients in Anandwan, India.

In order to prepare for this show, the club invites different dance teams every January to audition and then chooses around 16 of those acts to perform. Like Bombay in the Bay, the club’s show also includes a skit that links the different performing acts together. Narayanan said that Toga Tamasha auditioned for Silsilay last year, but missed the cut; she attributes this outcome to the intense competition since according to her, many teams also did not make it.

Regardless, these shows all promote a sense of Indian culture that encourages non-Indians to embrace that this culture. Senior Michael Schillage participated in Bombay in the Bay for his third time and decided to partake in the show to expand his cultural knowledge.

“I like to reach out to all different groups and different cultural activities,” Schillage said. “I felt that this was a good way to connect with different friends in these cultures.”