A great variety of sounds emanated from the Houston Hall auditorium on Saturday night as some members of the South Asia Society danced to the beat of Indian music. The evening entitled, "Extravaganza '94" consisted of six acts including Bhangra dances, which are most commonly performed in north India. College freshman Toral Mehta, who participated in the dance, said the dance is native to northern India, but is still performed by people who come from other regions in India. "There are different regions or states in India," said Mehta. "Each state is renowned for its own dance. Even though Bhangra is associated with Punjab, it seems that people from all different states do it." The dance was originally designated as a competition, organizers said. Bhangra judges were supposed to determine a winning dance team which in turn would go on to compete at George Washington University. But when some of the students suffered injuries, SAS was forced to call off the competition. The dance groups were not discouraged, though, and performed the show anyway in hopes of introducing University students to South Asian culture. College freshman Neha Patel, who participated in the dance, praised the efforts of the South Asia Society to put on the show. "I think that the Bhangra dance, Extravaganza '94, was not only an opportunity to bring members of the Penn South Asian community together," she said. "Rather it was also to introduce this form of dance to people outside the South Asia society." And, she added although the competitive aspect of the dance was taken away, dancers still spent much time preparing for the dance. "Until two weeks before the dance we spent two to three hours every other day [preparing]," said College freshman Mital Sheth. "And last week we practiced every day for about five hours a day." Sheth added that although they practiced extensively, dancers were still uneasy about performing on Saturday night. "Throughout the dance practice we thought we weren't that good," Sheth said. "There was a lot of tension." But, students who felt uneasy about performing, did not exhibit any sign of apprehension on Saturday night. Event coordinators said Saturday the Bhangra dance was a success. College freshman Roopa Bhatiani, chairperson of Extravaganza '94, said she was glad that the dance worked out so well. "Everything went well," Bhatiani said. "People had fun. It was a good show. The audience was happy. The performers were happy." Wharton junior and vice president of the South Asia Society Sapna Shah added that one of the reasons that the dance was such a success was because it was held in a small auditorium, to create a family-like setting. "A lot of our members were asking for a family atmosphere," she said. "That's why we decided to have a small scale cultural show."
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