Stanford Sanskriti will be hosting its annual multicultural benefit show, Rhythms, this Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Dinkelspiel Auditorium. The proceeds from the show will be donated to Project Udaan, a charity dedicated to relocating victims of sex trafficking into schools and vocational training programs.
The event will feature nineteen different performing groups from around campus, a mix of instrumental, dance and vocal groups. According to Sanskriti chair Kunal Sangani ’16, each of the groups is limited to five minutes of performing time.
“Nowhere else on campus can you see 19 groups perform in a marathon event in under two hours,” Sangani said.
In addition to the performing groups, representatives from Project Udaan will do a short presentation at the event and be available to talk to audience members during intermission. According to Sangani, Project Udaan was thrilled to be a part of the project.
According to Aanchal Ramani ’16, co-chair of Sanksriti’s cultural and political committee which was in charge of planning Rhythms, Project Udaan was chosen as this year’s charity in order to support a group working in the area of Sanksriti’s focus, India.
“Udaan may not be as prominent as some of the other charities we have worked with such as Doctors Without Borders, but it is good to get the word out there about them and they are a very good cause,” said Ramani.
In previous years, Rhythms has typically raised between $2,500 and $3,000. Sangani says that this year the group hopes to raise more than $3,500.
In addition to the performance groups and Project Udaan, Sanskriti also found support from groups on and off campus as cosponsors of the project.
“Our breadth of cosponsors is much wider now,” Sangani said. Normally the Asian American Students’ Association (ASSA) and the Philipino American Student Union (PASU) support the event, but this year the list of sponsors also includes the Jewish Students’ Association and the Japanese Student Union.
According to Ramani, another aspect unique to this year’s show is the goal to reach an audience outside of Stanford.
“This year, we have Saavn— which is like Pandora or Spotify with all Bollywood music— working with us. Having them as a cosponsor has been huge to spread our message beyond the Stanford community,” Ramani said.
Many of the performing groups have also expressed excitement to see the diversity among the other groups.
According to Vicky Zhang ’15, the performance director of Stanford Taiko, Rhythms does a good job of bring out the different groups from around campus.
“A lot of these groups you see at Faces or during NSO, and then everyone goes off into their own little holes. It’s really nice to bring everyone back out and celebrate campus together,” Zhang said.
While many of the groups have a specific cultural focus such as Taiko or Raagapella, Stanford’s all-male South-Asian themed a cappella group, other groups contribute to a diversity of performances in a different sense.
Some groups, such as the a cappella group the Stanford Harmonics, picked special sets to perform for the night, according to Jace Casey ’17, performance director of the Harmonics.
“There are universal themes our group looks to when we perform and where the music comes from and it gives us that sense of community. While that isn’t necessarily cultural, I think that is still what the evening is about,” Casey said.
Zhang also emphasized the importance of showing the diversity of students and talents at Stanford.
“For our group, we dedicate maybe eight hours a week to Taiko, but there are so many other things that people choose to spend their time doing and this is a really nice celebration of that,” Zhang said.
Sanskriti teamed with Cardinal Nights in order to help sell more tickets to the show at a reduced price of $5 for the first 300 buyers. Following that, tickets are available online for $8 with an SUID and $12 without. Tickets will also be sold at the door for $10 with an SUID and $15 without.
Contact Ada Throckmorton at adastat ‘at’ stanford.edu