Dance en Masse: a night of cultural dance
Written by Jordan Willi Friday, 05 February 2010 08:00
There are many international students and organizations at NDSU, but none quite large or unique as the Association of Students from India (ASI). They boast 350 students and 30 faculty members, according to the ASI Web site.
Dance en Masse, one of ASI’s biggest and most award-winning events, took place this past Saturday in the Festival Music Hall at NDSU.
The event gathered a crowd of students and community members to watch five teams and three solo dances performed by students from NDSU, Concordia and MSUM.
To begin the show, ASI performed a traditional Bamboo dance, a dance using bamboo as a keeper of time and as a prop in the dance, and ended the show with a dance-based skit called the Evolution of Dance.
Among the dances performed in the team category there was an Indian street dance, a traditional African dance, a salsa, a Bollywood dance, and a Japanese dance called the Shachihoko. On the solo side of the competition, there was a Hoop dance, a Rajasthani folk dance, and a Nepalese dance.
ASI President Sooraj Mattappadan was pleased with what he saw from both the members of ASI and the teams in the competition.
“I believe the overall quality of the show was better than last year. The dancers’ performance was better than last year,” Mattappadan said.
In the end, the judges had to pick winners. In the team dances, there was a second and first place winner, but in the solo category, there was only one winner.
Coming in second place in the team division was the Japanese team of MSUM, who performed the Shachihoko. They were awarded a certificate and a prize of $200. Taking away the first place award and $300 in prize money was the United States Salsa Team from NDSU.
In the solo division, the first place winner was the United States Hoop dancer from NDSU, who was also awarded a prize of $200.
Mattappadan was on stage, along with the judges and the announcer, to give out the certificates of participation to all the dancers and congratulate them on their performances. After this event Mattappadan still has a lot of planning and organizing for future events that ASI will be taking part in.
“ASI does a lot of events at NDSU. Our three big events are Diwali Nite, Dance en Masse, and Tiranga (a day of Indian independence celebration). We have a dozen more big events all throughout the year,” Mattappadan said.
ASI also gives airport pickups and temporary accommodation to more than 150 international students every year. The group takes part in numerous volunteer activities both on and off campus.
ASI recently won the NDSU volunteering network challenge for student organizations for providing most number of food packets and volunteers for the Fill The Dome food drive.
