The more than 200 audience members, comprised of Bryn Mawr undergraduates, friends, and relatives of the performers, were treated to a night filled with dances, spoken word performances in English and Hindi, singing, a fashion show, and even a brief stand-up act. Food was also provided after the show in Rhoads Dining Hall.
Culture shows are an ever-present element of Bryn Mawr student life, with affinity groups such as the Asian-American Students Association, Sisterhood, Mujeres, and SAS each hosting an event during the academic year.
This year鈥檚 SAS show was centered around the theme 鈥淒ekh Magar Pyar Se,鈥 which translates to 鈥淟ook, but with love.鈥
鈥淲hile we were choosing a date for our culture show, we just happened to choose Valentine鈥檚 day weekend so we thought that this theme would go well with the whole theme of love,鈥 SAS Treasurer, Zermeen Sahar 鈥18 remarked.
SAS Secretary Virushi Shah 鈥18 remembers seeing the phrase on truck art as a child.
鈥淎t the back of the trucks, there鈥檒l always be a quote鈥uch as 鈥楧ekh Magar Pyar Se鈥 or 鈥楬onk Okay Please.鈥 As a kid, when I looked at it for the first time, when I saw this [Dekh Magar Pyar Se] I just felt that you should be considerate of others.鈥
Among the students to attend the show was Audrey Lin 鈥18.
鈥淚 really love the energy that everyone brings,鈥 Lin raved. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 really special about the culture show is that these acts aren鈥檛 all clubs. It just goes to show how much dedication, how much pride, how beautiful their culture is鈥攖hey do this outside of their academics.鈥
As SAS executive board member Nayanthi Peiris 鈥18 explained: 鈥淏ryn Mawr is unique as a liberal arts institution that has a lot of international students. A lot of students come from different parts of the world and these shows give the rest of the student body insight into what the cultures of other people are like. It鈥檚 also a way of introducing and showcasing what you鈥檙e proud of and where you come from to everybody else in the community.鈥
Inquiries about SAS can be directed to Alexandra Sanyal at asanyal@brynmawr.edu