By Khalida Sarwari
Austrian writer Vicki Baum once said, “There are shortcuts to happiness, and dancing is one of them.”
A group of Saratoga High School students are hard at work to create an opportunity for Saratoga residents to cut a rug next month.
The Indian Cultural Awareness Club at Saratoga High School is organizing this year’s Bollywood dance event on Aug. 13. Similar to previous years, the event will take place in the parking lot of the Bank of America in downtown. Bollywood celebrates the dances of East Indian culture.
“We have different dances from each of the grades,” said Maya Prasad, a senior and co-president of the Indian Cultural Awareness Club. “They’ll each do a two- to three-minute dance and then there will also be a bhangra dance for around three minutes.”
Children will have a chance to join in at the end and dance to tunes spun by DJ Aalok Karnik. Indian snacks and refreshments will be available for purchase.
This year’s event will be pared down compared to previous years given that the student club is tackling production of the event on its own and members will be doing so with money from their own pockets. The event traditionally has been organized with the help of the Saratoga Village Development Council and with about $1,000 in funding from the city of Saratoga.
According to Prasad, no one applied for grant funding this time around, so the students banded together to find tents, canopies, tables and chairs for the event. They were successful in collecting them from friends and family, but still had to pay about $350 for the DJ, she said.
“We’re paying it out of pocket right now, and hopefully we can do some sort of fundraiser to make up for it,” she said.
The Indian Cultural Awareness Club, which has a membership of 230 students, aims to help Indian-American students connect and meet new people. The club focuses most of its efforts on organizing its main event, Bombay in the Bay, every February. The event helps them raise about $15,000 and they donate the proceeds to charities in India.
The Bollywood event is a precursor to Bombay in the Bay, said Prasad, which is why it was important for students to continue to support it.
“This gave us officers a chance to figure out how to organize such a big event,” she added. “Another reason is that this is also kind of a way to dance more and perform because everyone loves to perform, and this involves the community as well.”
The SVDC created the event in 2009 to promote downtown Saratoga businesses. About 50 people attended last year’s Bollywood event. Prasad said organizers are anticipating a better turnout this year.
“We decided to make it on a Saturday and in the evening so that more people would come,” she said.
The event is free and takes place Aug. 13 from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at 14428 Big Basin Way in Saratoga.
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Saratoga: High school club will be in charge at annual Bollywood Dance
