On Jan 12, IndoPak hosted their 9th annual South-Asian culture show in Valhalla. This year Dil Se had twenty-five performances with 327 performers from over fifteen schools. The show had two showtimes, 2 PM and 7 PM. Tickets for the 7 PM show were sold out, but day show tickets were still available.
Irvington’s Dil Se is Bay Area’s biggest high school cultural show, and it turned out to be highly anticipated as night show tickets were sold out in the days preceding the show. The theatre during the day show was also extremely packed and led to people coming earlier than usual in order to secure seats that would maximize their view of the show. This year, IndoPak publicists Ashka Patel (11) and Aarnav Sharma (10) created a “Dil Se lineup video” to give the viewers a glimpse of what to expect from the show. Additionally, before entering the theater, IndoPak members passed out a pamphlet that listed the order of the shows to help the viewers keep up with the performances.
This year, IndoPak raised approximately 12 thousand dollars which will go to the Small Steps Foundation, an organization that raises money throughout the Bay Area in order to help underprivileged children in poor sections of India, get an education, according to IndoPak Vice President Tanvi Syed (11).
Throughout the course of the show, the audience witnessed 25 performances and a fashion show. Each performance was unique in its own way, while still maintaining a thematic constant. Each performance had its own style of dance, either a more classical touch to it, or a fusion of western and Indian cultures. Dance teams from high schools all over the Bay Area, including Monta Vista, James Logan, Dougherty Valley, Bellarmine, and Dublin, performed in the show. The show had solo, duo, and group performances, either songs or dances. In between the performances, emcees Jasmeen Chhabra (11), Jasraj Singh (11), Nidhi Chirayath (12), and Yohaan Birje (11) entertained the audience with puns and onstage banter.
The shows grand finale, presented by Irvington Sitare, was arguably one of the best performances, filled with energy and creativity. In the previous years, their show has been based on a movie, however, this year, their story was called “Meri Kahaani” which translates to “My Story.” The story showed how Ami Shalabh (12) struggled to balance her personal life and school. Though the performance started off sad and showed tragedy, the performance ended energetically.
One major factor that affected this year’s show was Work to Rule.
“Mr. Willer is in charge of Valhalla’s lighting and audio, but because of work to rule, we had to rely on students.” Said IndoPak Vice President Shreyas Prasanna (11).
This year, Arnav Kamra (11) and Monica Pulido (11) helped with the audio and lighting systems to fill the gap left by Work to Rule.
“We really thought Work to Rule would really affect our show.” said IndoPak president Ami Shalabh (12) “However, we have an amazing advisor, and even though he wasn’t able to attend every meeting he could, he still did everything he possibly, could which we are very grateful for.”