Thriving Student Organizations Bring South Asia to Yale
Yale students continue to express increasing interest in South Asian politics, culture, and art. Over the last five years, South Asia related student activities and campus groups have increased in both number and scale. Yale College alone is host to over 10 student organizations with a focus on South Asia and the graduate and professional schools have their own.
The South Asian Society at Yale (SAS) is an undergraduate organization of social, cultural, and intellectual exchange for those with a special interest in South Asia. Their mission is threefold: to increase awareness of South Asian and South Asian American political issues, to increase South Asian cultural awareness, and to serve as a social tie for the South Asian community at Yale University. A signature event of the South Asian Society is Roshni, an evening showcasing the cultures of the subcontinent. The show draws over 1,100 members of the Yale community and the public for performances that range from classical dance, to bhangra, Hindi a capella, as well as comedy skits, and was one of the most well-attended shows to date. Renowned speakers and performers hosted in the past include Sharmeen Obaid, Atul Punj, Anu Chopra, Zakir Hussain and Shah Rukh Khan. The South Asian Society also annually co-hosts Holi (the festival of colors), and Garba (a night of dancing). In addition to hosting events with speakers, SAS also acts as a bridge between the other South Asian groups, and facilitates collaboration between them.
Similarly, the South Asian Graduate and Professional Association (SAGA) organizes exciting and well attended social events, and has a members of 434 students. In 2012-2013, SAGA organized events such as a Bollywood Karaoke Night, a showcase of Indian classical dance, screening of old and classic Indian movies through the Parallel Cinema Series, as well as South Asia themed parties. In Fall 2012, SAGA organized Garba Night, which brought the wonderful festival of Navratri to Yale. More than 200 people from diverse ethnic backgrounds joined in the dandiya, garba and Durga Aarti. In Spring 2013, it organized Bollywood Karaoke Night that drew in a crowd easily surpassing 150 and had people singing in more than 4 different South Asian Languages – and the singers were not all South Asian!
Numerous student groups also focus on particular South Asian interests within culture and the arts. Founded in 2007, the Yale Raga Society (YRS) has been quick to establish itself as a leading Indian music and arts institution on campus. The organization satisfies what was previously an unmet need for a forum in which student-musicians of various backgrounds collaborate and share musical ideas. In 2013, YRS created the Swara Club under its organizational umbrella which formally provides a venue and space for student and faculty artists to meet, collaborate, and perform on a bimonthly basis. YRS also has an academic focus to music and in 2008 YRS successfully lobbied for the introduction of a survey course on Indian music into the Yale College curriculum through the Residential College Seminar Program. In the spring of 2010, Hindustani vocalist Priya Kanungo taught a course entitled Indian Music Theory and Practice, which continues to be offered and taught by visiting professor Stan Scott. This year, YRS also created the Institute for Indian Classical Music and Dance Music under its organizational umbrella. This structure strives to bring professional teachers and academics specializing in the Indian classical arts to Yale as resident fellows and permanent faculty members, so as to strengthen the academic study of South Asian arts at Yale. Last year, YRS also launched “Sangeet,” a series of guided-listening study breaks during which YRS members teach students and community members the fundamentals of Indian classical music appreciation.
Since 2008, YRS has also participated in the Yale School of Music’s Music Education Project, where members visited elementary schools to conduct interactive presentations, aiming to help students identify common elements in music and visual art. This program culminated in a field trip to the Yale Center of British Art, during which students explored original paintings and saw live performances. YRS also condensed this experience into a short video lesson that can be used by teachers from many schools as a tool for helping students increase their creative literacy without leaving the classroom. Additionally, this year, YRS created the School of Music and School of Dance within the YRS Institute for Indian Classical Music and Dance. These schools offer student-taught music and dance classes to other students and community members alike, thus satisfying a previously unmet need of opportunities for students to pursue the practical study of Indian classical arts. YRS firmly believes in the unique emotional, aesthetic, and cultural experience that can be transmitted through the medium of a live Indian classical music concert, and has strived to provide many of these unique listening opportunities to members of the Yale and New Haven community, all of which were highly successful and generated overwhelmingly positive responses. Artists from their past concerts include sitarist Ustad Shahid Parvez in March ’08, flautist Rakesh Chaurasia in April ‘10, violinist Kala Ramnath in October ‘10, kathak dancer Pt. Chitresh Das in November ’11, tabla maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain in April ’12, Carnatic vocal legend O.S. Thyagarajan in April ’12, flautist S. Shashank in October ’12, and sitar maestro Shujaat Khan in April ’13.
Adding to the tradition of South Asian music at Yale, Sur et Veritaal is a vocal group specializing in a cappella arrangements of popular Bollywood hits since 2010. Their activities this past year included an exciting performance for the actor Shah Rukh Khan as well as their first annual “Spring Chutney!” in which they collaborated with a vocal group from Stanford University. They also performed for John Cho (from Harold and Kumar), Yale’s Hindi Debate, and other cultural showcases.
South Asian dance also flourishes at Yale and many student dance troupes specialize in different kinds of classical and contemporary forms. Yale Anjali combines traditional styles as Bharat Natyam, Kathak, Odissi, and Kuchipudi. Yale Jashan Bhangra performs and teaches Bhangra, a folk dance from northern India, infusing it with influences from modern pop and hip-hop styles. Yale students from across the College and Graduate schools comprise the team and perform regularly on and off campus, in addition to competitions held throughout the east coast. While some of these dance groups such as Yale Raas specialize in classical and folk styles such as Garba and Dandiya Raas, Yale students have also started the first Bollywood dance team, Yale Rangeela. Rangeela performs a fusion of varying styles of dance including but not limited to Bollywood, Indian classical, and hip-hop. They emphasize the diversity of not only South Asian culture and dance but also the diversity of its members, who come from many different cultural backgrounds. Over the past year, Rangeela has performed at benefit shows at other universities on the east coast as well as on campus in conjunction with other dance troupes. Performances of South Asian dance at Yale are one of the most popular dance events on campus, drawing audiences as large as 1,100 students, faculty and New Haven residents to their annual showcase.
Appreciating a different art form, the South Asian Film Society at Yale (SAFS) celebrates the diversity of South Asian film by increasing awareness, exposure, and accessibility to the genre on the Yale campus. The organization features regional, documentary, and indie films alongside mainstream Bollywood hits. SAFS has worked to host semester-long film series and master’s teas with prominent directors and critics, and has contributed dozens of movies to the YCC DVD collection at Bass Library. The group’s events culminate in a weeklong annual South Asian Film Festival held early in the spring semester; the 2013 festival featured seven recent films and a Q&A with director Nikhil Advani and attracted over 100 guests to the screenings.
New student groups constantly develop and debut on campus every year. In February 2013, The Teapoy Mutiny, a student-run magazine for South Asian affairs, started its operations. The main purpose of the magazine is to generate thoughtful commentary on aspects of South Asian politics, culture, and society. An upcoming forum for writings on South Asia, it encourages students to write creatively on pertinent issues through an online portal and biannual publication of top articles. The first information session to recruit members to write for Teapoy Mutiny took place on February 21 and saw a turnout of about 40 students interested in writing for the magazine. The Yale student community is a source of continuous engagement with South Asia through such activities.