As school draws to a close, many clubs on campus have planned end-of-the-year banquets to cap off the year. Yet for members of the Indo-American Student Association, their most important event has yet to pass.
Throughout the school year, the Indo-American Student Association had a full agenda that includes performances at events such as Diversity Week and local weddings, yet their Spotlite on India performance is the the most significant of them all. Since the beginning of summer, members have worked on this annual culture performance to make sure it is perfect by show time, which falls on May 26 this year. Acts include a band, a fashion show, Bollywood dancing, singing and most prominently, Bhangra and Raas.
“Everything is centered around the show,” said senior co-captain Vinit Parikh. “It’s our one thing, and we don’t invite other acts [from other schools].”
Many of Spotlite’s participants are seniors as the heritage showcase marks one of their last remaining high school events. A number of Spotlite performers in this year’s show in fact have only decided to participate this year. Senior Christina Aguila decided to perform this year at the request of her friends seniors Nandini Chitale and Meha Lakhanpal, who were worried about the difficulties they would face choreographing routines for an odd number of people performing. Aguila has never seen the show but agreed to perform in order to make the most of her last few weeks at Monta Vista.
“Spotlite is on my graduation bucket list. I have a bunch of random things on there; one of them was ‘dance in front of a crowd’, something that I never thought I’d actually do since I don’t dance at all, so it’s kind of a fun thing to cross off my list,” said Aguila.
Spotlite, however, can have a large time commitment, deterring many Matadors from participating. Ten years ago the showcase was merely a get-together celebrating Indian heritage, but now, as a legitimate production, performers have to organize everything from coordinating with administration and finding emcees to designing brochures and performance tickets. The growth of Spotlite has also allowed IASA to donate all of their profits to Ekal Vidyalaya, a promoter of education in rural India.
The performance itself is of great importance to both the performers and their families. According to Parikh, Spotlite has a reputation of being one of the best in the area, and parents and relatives of performers often fly in from all around the world to see the show.
IASA hopes that by improving the acts this year to include band music in addition to traditional Indian dance, they will cover every aspect of Indian culture while incorporating some Western styles as well.
“The Indian community is extremely diverse and reaching out to almost everyone, especially non-Indians, through a specific act means a lot,” said co-captain Divya Sriram. “Everyone can relate to the show and have a good time.”
