In addition to the student-written skits, the night’s highlights included a wide variety of dances—from Classical to Modern that represented different regions of the subcontinent.
Malini D. Sur ’04, a choreographer for both the Senior Dance and the Bengali Dance, said she found coordinating over thirty Seniors and thesis-writers for late night rehearsals in the Quad a stressful but rewarding endeavor. “We’re all very aware that this is our last chance to do something big in Ghungroo and people look forward to it,” she said.
In choreographing the night’s Bengali Dance, set to the music and lyrics of Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Sur drew on her many years of experience with the North Indian classical form of dance, “kathak,” while also trying to create a dance in which performers with a range of experiences could participate.
Sur emphasized Ghungroo’s mission of representing the diverse regions and cultures within South Asia and the Diaspora, instead of focusing only on India.
“At a lot of other schools, you see a lot of Hindi psalm after Hindi psalm. We try very specifically to make sure that we have different regions of the Subcontinent represented,” she said.
Like many of her fellow performers, Sur brought to Ghungroo a wide range of talents that were explored in one of Ghungroo’s diverse forums. A one-time singer for the Opportunes, Sur collaborated with Om L. Lala ’06 on the moving original song “Oceans Apart,” which the pair co-wrote and performed with guitar and violin accompaniment by Arjun Kumar ’04 and Sonali Palchaudhuri ’07.
TRADITION AND TRANSITION
In addition to the moving Senior Dance, which brought some four-year veterans to tears after the final curtains fell, Ghungroo 2004 was marked by an infusion of new talent and leadership from first-years. Several of the event’s dances were choreographed by first-year students—including the innovative Modern Dance, choreographed by Tilottama R. Sen ’07 and Raas. The traditional Gujarati dance, characterized by its twirling sticks, was choreographed by Amit S. Patel ’07 and Arjun Vasan ’07.
But this year’s show also paid particular homage to participants of years past. Portions of the show’s proceeds are to be donated to a charity in memory of Haley Surti ’01 and Navin Narayan ’98. Surti, who passed away in a bus accident in Peru, and Narayan, who died of cancer at age 23, were both active members of Ghungroo and the South Asian community at Harvard, in addition to various social outreach and charity programs.
According to Nambudiri, the charity to receive the proceeds will be chosen within the next few weeks.
Ghungroo’s commitment to commemorating its alumni and their achievements is an honorable feat. It appears that maintaining a close-knit community among participants is one of the show’s foremost goals—and achievements.
Sur says on her final year, “I’m really sad when I realize all the underclassmen get to talk about ‘Ghungroo withdrawal’ and how it’s going to be wonderful and only get better next year.”
—Staff writer Michelle Chun can be reached at chun2@fas.harvard.edu.