Inside Tamasha 2013

 

 

Tamasha, Columbia University’s annual South Asian showcase, hits Roone Aldredge Auditorium Saturday night. This vibrant event celebrates the wealth of diversity found on campus and aims to promote South Asian culture in the Columbia community. The largest cultural show on campus, the show consists of dance pieces by various teams as well as musical and comedic performances. This year’s theme is “Tamasha Gone Wild.” Regardless of how you interpret the pun, one thing is for sure: this show is not something you’d want to miss.

 

Tamasha will showcase performances from CU Raas, Bhangra, Dhoom, Taal, orchestral pieces from String Theory, the Latin American Dance troupe Sabor, and many others, thereby providing a wide variety of performances. Not only will you be able to enjoy free appetizers, but can also sit back, relax, and enjoy a distinct taste of South Asian culture and hospitality.

 

So what does it take to put on the largest cultural show at Columbia? Here’s an inside scoop from Club Zamana, Columbia’s South Asian student’s organization and the club in charge of running the event. 

 

The planning of Tamasha starts with a theme. Board members can’t just throw out any theme that comes to mind; each needs a proposed series of images and media material that would help advertise and promote Tamasha on campus. This year the board voted for “Tamasha: Gone Wild,” beginning a long process of press and PR material which ultimately came to dominate the week of the show. After what seems like hours of deliberation, mock-ups and edits, the images of Tamasha Gone Wild were born, the most important of which were the cheetah and lady in the jungle. In order to execute the idea, we had to go beyond creating a catchy visual. We flyered, dormstormed, and hyped the show every single day last week. The result: not a single wall on campus was left without traces of our jungle. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Tamasha is the opportunity for students to show off their talents. This year, over 150 students will be performing at the show.

 

Some of the most unique aspects of the show, however, are the Freshmen and Senior Segments, both of which are more commonly referred to as “FreshSeg” and “SeniorSeg.” Every freshman in the community, whether from Barnard, Columbia College, or Columbia Engineering, is invited to participate in FreshSeg, where they all work together to choreograph and perform their own dance segment for the show’s first act. This is a wonderful way for first years to get to know each other in a creative environment. Similarly, all graduating seniors are invited to participate in SeniorSeg, serving as a form of the “final goodbye” for them, and is the last act of the show.

 

 

Overall, Tamasha is more than just another show in Roone — it’s a celebration of diversity, culture, and friendship. More importantly, it’s an incredibly exciting and dyanmic show to participate in, regardless of whether you’re on stage, in the audience, or creating the show from scratch. In any case, who would want to miss a show whose very name promises an all out good time.

 

Doors open at 7:15 pm; tickets: $4 for CUID holders/$8 for non-CUID.

 

 

 

 

*Image of Tamasha 2012 on stage, from the Columbia Daily Spectator