On the last day of Tarang, the grounds of Lady Shri Ram College reverberated with the energy of dramatists, the walls rang with the sounds of choirs, an eager audience stood in awe of dancers and an excited crowd turned indie-hippie for the day with The Raghu Dixit Project. Here’s a recap:
Nukkad, the Street Play Competition hosted various teams from the University who presented their 20-25 minute long productions on topics related to social activism. The amphitheatre at LSR witnessed teams amidst a myriad of colours shouting out slogans, using musical instruments and interacting with audience through their acts. Abhivyakti, the dramatics society of Indraprastha College for Women won the first prize and Manchtantra (Sri Guru Gobind Singh College of Commerce) was declared the 1st runner up team. Hansraj Dramatics Society and Kshitij (Gargi College) shared the title of 2nd runners up for Nukkad. The street plays, exuberating the energy that they do, drew a great audience as always.
Izraz, the choreography and theme-based dance event saw five teams competing for the final title. Hindu’s dance society Srijya highlighted the societal norms related to boys and girls. Touching the lives of lesbians and gays through their performance, they also tried to show the flipside by reversing the roles of two different genders in our society. Kamala Nehru College paid their respectful tribute to the Indian army accentuating the role of women at service, whereas Nritya, the dance society of Sri Venkateshwara College danced to their production ‘Taboo’. Sparx, the dance society of Gargi College were declared the winners for Izraz. Students from Gargi College put up their production ‘Spectrum’ which revolved around the topic of ‘Dissociative Identity Disorder’. Choreography society of Hans Raj College, Terpsichorean secured the second position with their annual dance performance called ‘The Void’.
Choir– Both the Indian Music Society and the Western Music Society organized choir competitions. Though mostly associated with gospel music, the teams in both the Indian and Western choir put up outstanding shows singing a mix of songs from different genres. The Western choir had ten participating teams which were judged by Sherry Mathews from Boradway Art Unlimited and Ipsita Roy, faculty at Global Music Institute. Some popular numbers performed were an Abba medley and classics from Hans Zimmer, some teams also used unconventional music forms like beat- boxing. The Indian choir was more critically judged with judges offering much constructive criticism even as they appreciated the performances. The first prize went to Daulat Ram College, the second to Hindu College and the third to Hans Raj College.
Poetry Slam-The Women’s Development Cell and Expressions organized Pressed For Time: Spontaneous Free Verse as a part of Tarang, the three day annual fest of Lady Shri Ram College For Women. The slam poetry was judged by eminent judges, namely Akhil Katyal, Vikramaditya Sahai and Aditi Angirasall of whom have established themselves as scholars who have specialized in fields like those of sexuality, self realization and identity. The themes of the poetry competition were deviance, anemoia (nostalgia for a time never known), onism (the acute realization of the fact that your experiences in life are going to be miniscule), the nth sex and portrait of a lady.The judges praised the creative poems and recitations of the participants. However, instead of giving the prize to one team or individual, the prize money was instead distributed to three top performers who had performed equally well.
Exhibitions– Projekt, the Film and Photography Society showcased its talent through ‘Tasveer-e-dastaan’, a photography exhibition. The Women’s Development Cell put up a multi-media exhibition titled ‘Work in progress: Envisioning a gender equal world’. Hive, the Fine Arts society, had an exhibition called Zentangle. Zentangle is a new form of art where simple shapes are repeated to create patterns and all put together, they create a beautiful design. With the concept of repetition at the heart of it, Hive combined Zentangle with mainstream art for its exhibition.
Western Solo– Another of the Western Music Society’s many events, the solo also saw some brilliant talent take the stage. While Hindu College won the first prize, the second place was shared by two students from Kirori Mal College and the third place went Hans Raj College.
Jugal Gyan– The duet singing competition conducted by Dhwani- the Indian Music Society had ten teams which sang soulful renditions of all-time classics like luka chhipi and haye rama yeh kya hua. Keerati and Tanuj from Kirori Mal College grabbed the first spot, Asif and Namrata from Hindu College the second and Ritu and Ritvija from Miranda House stood third. The event marked the close for IMS- a society that saw many successful events in Tarang 2015.
The Raghu Dixit Project– Coke Studio’s Raghu Dixit Project kept up to its promise of being the most awaited event of Tarang 2015. The venue for the event, volleyball court, saw a fairly packed audience who enjoyed every bit of the concert. What made it all the more special was that the performers were largely informal, interacting with the crowd, narrating personal stories and encouraging the audience to sing along. Some of the best numbers were those inspired by personal stories- khirki and yaadon ki kyari being two of them; the band sang in both Hindi and Kannada. Dixit fondly narrated the story of how a friend told him that if he had performed in LSR, he had arrived. The LSR crowd could ask for nothing more.
As the curtains fall on the first fest of the season, there are only more to look forward to. Tarang 2015 set off the artist, the organizer and the party-animal in everyone. We hope the madness continues!
Alankrita Anand
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Iresh Gupta
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(With inputs from Bhavya Kumar, Priyam Varghese, Shireen Vidrohi and Shivangi Kaushik)
