On Saturday, January 20, 2024, Irvington’s Indopak club hosted Dil Se, an annual South-Asian showcase, in Irvington’s Valhalla Theater. 14 unique schools including American High, Dougherty Valley, Dublin High, and many other schools across the Bay Area performed Bollywood-Fusion, Bhangra, Indian Classical, and Raas & Garba acts.
Indopak officers started the long process of planning Dil Se as soon as school started this year. “We started preparing for [the event] in early October, that’s when we reached out to all the Bay Area schools about auditions,” stated Indopak President Misha Meswani (12).
The process didn’t stop there, as the whole Indopak officer team had several aspects of technical planning to do. “In November is when Dil Se really started to pick up, meaning we had already had auditions. We had another check in period for the dance team while also working with ASG to get all the forms approved and talking to Mr. Ballin to reserve the Vahalla. Around January was when we were the busiest. We spent every single lunch and every single advisory to work on Dil Se,” explains Indopak President Sonali Dhruva (12).
Over the years, Dil Se has earned a level of prestige which makes it a very competitive show to perform in, but also for the audience to watch. Tickets for both the afternoon and evening show sold out in a record of 4 minutes this year.
To try and create a level playing ground for people to watch the show, this year’s Indopak team implemented a system of allowing only 2 tickets per sale to prevent resale of tickets as seen in previous years.
“We weren’t allowed to use Ticketleap as a selling platform like previous years due to data concerns, so we worked really closely with Mr. Willer to implement an efficient ticketing system that prevents problems like sneaking in and resale like we’ve faced in the past,” explained Meswani.
The officer team also worked with the campus supervisors to prevent students from sneaking in through an elaborate system of checking-in teams and closing certain entrances of the school.
This year, around 50 teams from schools all around the bay auditioned to get the chance to perform on Irvington’s stage. 22 teams, including 4 of Irvington’s teams, were chosen based on audition quality, preparedness, diversity and other factors.
“Dil Se auditions were really scary for us because getting in is really hard. As a team we practiced so much, often we would practice for 4 hours after school. It was a lot of dancing but the work paid off and we got in,” explained co-captain of Irvington Bhangra Crew and Indopak Public Relations officer Reet Randhawa (12).
The show started off with an introduction from the emcees Anjali Garg (12), Shubha Vajragiri (12), Aashrith Bandaru (12), and Ved Vedere (12) who continued to provided comedic relief for the audience while allowing them to participate in cheers as the backstage crew transitioned between performances.
“We owe a lot of the success of the show to the ASG tech crew,” said Meswani. “They worked really hard to make sure our stage sounded and looked so good, and even accommodated our endless sound and lighting requests.”
As intermission transitioned into the latter half of the show, Bay Area dancers and Indopak officers walked the stage in extravagant Desi wear for the Fashion Show. The quick fashion show ended with a cute salute to the four “Indoprez” who had dedicated endless amounts of time to the success of the show.
To end the night, the iconic Bollywood Fusion dance team Irvington Sitaare closed off with a 15 minute performance recreating the classic Student of the Year rom-com. Being a fan favorite, the dancers had the whole audience cheering and singing along with the music. Hard work goes into planning a performance as long as Sitaare.
“One thing we really had to keep in mind was breaks in between the songs and also who was dancing in each song. We also had to incorporate the dialogue aspect, while still trying to make it interesting enough so the audience doesn’t get bored,” stated Sitaare’s co-captain and Indopak Vice-President Riti Nalumachu (12).
“I loved how hyped up the audience was for almost every team and the dances were truly amazing. My favorite was when Irvington Sitaare came on because it wasn’t just a dance,it was a whole performance and it kept everyone entertained until the last second,” expressed Dil Se attendee Ishika Gwalherkar (11).
Over the years Dil Se has become one of the most anticipated events on campus and all over the Bay Area. The hard work put into this event by the Indopak team, their advisor Señor Ballado, and all the performers paid off, creating an amazing show reminding us of the beauty of South-Asian culture.
“Señor Ballado is the heart and soul of Indopak, and Dil Se would not have been possible without his support,” said Meswani.
