NEWS
The Battalion I 2.16.15
CULTURE
Allison Bradshaw — THE BATTALION
Members of the Odissi Dance Show perform their classical form at Rudder Sunday.
Odissi show spotlights
classical Indian dance
By Keely Wirries
In a tribute to Guru Ke-
lucharan Mahapatra, a
crowd filled Rudder Forum
almost to capacity Sunday
for the fourth annual Odissi
Dance Show. The event fea
tured Odissi dancers from
Texas and New York.
Most of the items were
choreographed by Mahapatra
and his son, and the show was
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an opportunity to pay trib
ute to him, said Yashswini
Raghuram, assistant artistic
director to the ODC dance
company.
The shows’ dances focused
on the oldest surviving classi
cal Indian dance style, called
Odissi. Aparupa Chatter)ee,
artistic director and agricul
tural research assistant, said
the dance style is a great plat
form for people today to con
nect with their heritage.
Chatterjee said the event
is a way for Indian-American
students to learn about their
culture and be connected
with home.
For students who are not
Indian-American, there is still
much to learn from Indian
dancing, said sociology fresh
man Victoria Heriford.
“I saw a flier and am really
interested in the Indian cul
ture so I thought it’d be a re
ally cool experience to come
check out,” Heriford said.
In Chatterjee’s dance,
hands, eyes and motions are
used to tell a story. The danc
ers use their feet and bells tied
around their ankles to accen
tuate the beat of the “raga”
and “thala” of the song.
“This isn’t something you
do everyday. When you
dance you train different parts
of your muscles to do some
thing different for you, which
you don’t need for everyday
life, so you have to do some
body conditioning to be able
to do this for a long, long
time,” Raghuram said.
MOREATTHEBATT.COM
AMSA CONTINUED
this huge political terrorist or
ganization running through
the Middle East — now you
see them in the media almost
every day, this Islamic extrem
ist group, so then that kind of
just pushes that idea oflslamo-
phobia on tp people.”
Munir said the event is key
to raising awareness and work
ing toward fixing the image of
Islam.
“I think it’s important for
people to know that we are
Muslims, but we are also stu
dents, Americans just like ev
eryone else,” Munir said. “We
are just trying to protect our
faith from being hijacked by
these barbaric people and I
think that it’s important for
people to see that this is just a
small percentage of the Islamic
population of the world, that
most Muslims are kind, loving,
warm-hearted people.”
Sana Rahman, psychology
senior, said the key to fighting
Islamophobia is knowledge.
“Fear is bred by not know
ing something or the unknown
and all that stuff, so I feel like
once people know more they
feel more comfortable talking
to you,” Rahman said.
Rahman said being a good
Muslim is reflected in one’s
actions.
“You can dress a certain
way, you can wear a Hijab,
but that doesn’t make you a
good Muslim,” Rahman said.
“Because there are people
who will act one way in front
of people and act another way
behind closed doors. So you
are supposed to be a good
Muslim, and treat others kind
ly and do good deeds and that
should reflect your religion as
well.”
Nadeem said he believes
that the differences that divide
religion are just perceived.
“I feel like people think that
Allah is a separate God than the
God that Christians pray to,
when in fact Allah, when you
look it up, it’s an Arabic word
for God. It’s just Arabic for
God, and I hesitate to say this
because when I say this people
get upset. They say, ‘No way
do we pray to the same god,’
but in fact I really do believe
we all pray to the same God.”
Munir said he encourages
people to come and ask ques
tions.
“We want to make sure
they know that we are like ev
eryone else, our beliefs might
be a little bit different, but at
the end of the day we are all
Aggies,” Munir said.
“Stop the Crisis” will be
gin at 7 p.m. Monday in MSG
2406B.
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WEEK
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last chance to
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PORTRAIT made
forTexas A&M's
2015 Aggie/and
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Final round will be
Feb. 23-March 13.
ALL CLASSES: Just
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10 a.m-3 p.m.
Monday-Thursday
in MSC Suite L400.
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yearbook