This Saturday, Nov. 14 at 6:30 p.m., the Hungama Diwali Show will showcase South Asian dancing with teams from a variety of universities. The organization was brought back last year after president of the South Asian Culture Exchange, Anjli Patel made the effort to reboot the club.

“We started this organization back up last year, so this is our second year running it and my second year for president,” Patel said. “I’ve been wanting to do this since I had been going to Maryville College, but it’s such a small college I couldn’t really do something like this.”

Hungama is a dance performance where different organizations that are also part of SACE are going to come and perform and do different types of Indian dancing for prize money. Indian food will also be available during the show.

“There will be dances like Dandiya, Raas, Bhanaga, Garba, Fusion, Bollywood, there are all different kinds of cultures, so it’s really cool,” Patel said. “It can go from being fine movements to where they are going at a hard pace with it.”

As of now there are six teams competing for the grand prize of $1000. However, the second place winners will receive $500, and third place $250.

In addition to the ETSU teams, there are teams coming from University of Georgia and University of Buffalo, as well as many others coming from the Atlanta area.

“I hope that people learn more about the South Asian culture,” Patel said. “I feel like when people think of Indian type of dancing, they think of Bollywood and what you see in movies, but there is so much more to it. I want people to take away that there is not just one type of cultural dance, there is so much more within the culture.”

Performances will vary but usually last between five to seven minutes each.

“The costumes will be very colorful, one could be wearing all pink and the other one could be wearing all blue, its usually really bright colors that stand out,” Patel said. “I knew when I came to ETSU I really wanted to start this organization back up.”

For anyone who wants to join, there will also be a celebration after the show at Poor Richards.

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  • MC Kelly

    A native of Chattanooga, MC Kelly has been a staff writer and photographer for the East Tennessean for two and a half years. She is a journalism major with a minor in Photography who hopes to work as a freelance photographer after she graduates in May 2016. In addition to her passion for photography, she loves interacting with children and being outdoors. When she isn’t at the gym working out she can be found spending time with her two cats Mowgli and Scuddles.

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