The dances were as powerful as the flavor of curry and other intense, spicy scents floating through Humphrey Coliseum Saturday. The stage was decorated with multi-colored string lights and lanterns. A series of orange arches lined either side.
Seven women in brightly-colored Indian outfits took the stage. Their movements were fluid and contained an abundance of graceful hand and wrist motions. Some were Indian and others were of different backgrounds, but each woman had one thing in common: All were Mississippi State University students celebrating Indian culture.”Maroon Vibes,” an intercollegiate competition sponsored by the MSU Indian Student Association, has been in existence for three years. In addition to MSU, six colleges attended this year’s “Maroon Vibes,” making it the biggest one yet. Schools in attendance were University of Alabama-Birmingham, University of Southern Mississippi, Millsaps College, University of Mississippi, Suwannee and Mississippi University for Women.
According to a university study from the Office of Institutional Research, students from 65 countries were enrolled in fall 2006 at MSU. There were 174 students from India.
In fall 2007, there were students from 72 various countries enrolled at the university, according to the report. The home country with the highest number of students attending was India with 211.
ISA President Vinay Thotakura said the group aims to bring people from different cultures together.
“We want a lot of people to be mixed into our world,” he said. “ISA doesn’t stand for only Indians.”
Indian cuisine was served buffet style by ISA members. Dishes included chicken bone curry and spinach pakodi.
The first three competitions of the night included singing, classical dance and instrumental. These categories were more traditional and moved along at a slower pace than the others.
During the classical dance competition, most of the dancers wore bells around their ankles to add to the music.
The next two dance competitions, regional dance and Bollywood (or fusion), were more upbeat and had a modern feel.
Unlike the more traditional classical dance, the regional dance competition consisted of both women and men.
Thotakura said regional dance originated in Punjab.
“Punjabi people are born with dance in their blood,” he said. “It’s an expression for them.”
Thotakura said Bollywood in India is similar to Hollywood in the United States. Many songs used in Bollywood dancing are taken from Indian movies.
“It [Bollywood/fusion] can be seen as an introduction to Indian cinema and music,” he said.
The last competition was a laughter challenge. Those who participated performed skits with the ultimate goal of making the audience laugh.
ISA secretary Archana Gawde, who is a plant and soil sciences graduate student, said this was her first year to help put “Maroon Vibes” together.
“[The event’s purpose is] to bring all the universities together to exchange culture with other nationalities including Americans,” she said.
Gawde, who participated in the regional dance competition and the laughter challenge, said her favorite parts of the planning process for “Maroon Vibes” were the practice sessions.
“The efforts everyone put in [were amazing],” she said. Winners included USM for singing, Millsaps for classical and regional solo, MSU for Bollywood solo and MSU/Ole Miss for regional group.