The Diwali Show 'Talaash A Search For Belonging'

SBU Asia presented a show titled, “Talaash A Search For Belonging.” This took place November 7, 2017, at 7 pm. It was at the Quick Center for the Arts. It was the Diwali show for 2017. It was an interpretation of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. There were similar characters to The Jungle Book and some of the original storyline were used. This is a great example of diversity because it is showing a culture’s celebration.

Diwali is the Indian festival of lights. It is celebrated by the Hindus. It represents the triumph of good over evil. It represents light overcoming the darkness. Diwali is a time for family. The festival brings friends and families together for a day to celebrate life, love, and happiness. This is important to have a performance of students that highlights this holiday because it shows that in American all religions can be celebrated. Students are able to celebrate their culture at their school without being oppressed if it is not the most common culture.

The styles of dances that were performed are important. There was a classical Indian dance, in which they wore traditional Indian clothes. There was a K-pop dance to popular songs today but in Hindi. The dancers performed to this in both traditional and modern dance. There was a belly dance, which is an Arabic dance.

Garba is a joyful dance that is typically performed at festivals. This is a dance that would be performed a lot during Diwali because it is a time for happiness. There was a Bollywood dance as well. This was performed because it is the more modern media culture in India. These are all important because it educates people about their culture. They can celebrate it by performing. Their culture is not suppressed and they can express it. This shows diversity gives knowledge to people and culture should not be oppressed by other cultures. It is important for all cultures to