South Asian Performers Brave the Cold, Bring Fashion and Dance to Brooklyn Bridge Park
With the sun setting and snow on the ground, the South Asian team records the couples dance at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Photo: Akeel Butt
By ADEEBA MAHMOOD
Note: Adeeba Mahmood was a performer in Asian Fest. Asian Fest incorporates various cultures from East Asia, Central Asia, and South Asia through dances as well as fashion shows and cultural vignettes. This article focuses on South Asia.
Watch Midwood’s Asian Fest 2021 on YouTube.
We may not be in school physically, but that didn’t stop us from putting on a show. This year’s production of Asian Fest, which premiered live through YouTube on February 26, was one that definitely won’t be forgotten.
In a typical year, planning and rehearsals take place in the auditorium or around school. But this year, of course, has been anything but typical.
To deal with a remote production, Tasfa Alam and Nafisa Haque, two of the dance leaders for the South Asian and Bollywood teams (which incorporate countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh), and Tahreem Sittar, one of the modeling leaders, regularly held Zoom meetings to discuss and finalize plans with the rest of the team. Group chats were also created on Instagram and other platforms to spread information and keep everyone in contact.
As students know, it’s an imperfect system.
“Communication primarily happened via emails and social media, platforms that people may not check daily,” Sittar said. “Because of that, communication lacked on both ends and made things inefficient.”
Still, the team adapted.
There was a couples Bollywood-style dance as well as a solo and a duo dance. For the couples dance, an exemplary video was sent out beforehand and then two practices were held. The solo and duo were able to practice whenever they could. For modeling, there were about three to five practices for each.
A practice schedule that could accommodate everyone was a difficult ask, and the whole production was on a very tight schedule, students said, with less than a month total to practice and film. Some performers dropped out at the last minute, and the weather was often not in the Fest’s favor. Besides all that, performers had to keep up with classes and school work, too.
“Last year I only did South Asian modeling,” Haque said. “This year I did modeling plus dancing, which was very different because it is much harder to coordinate, especially with social distancing. Last year, we had time on stage to practice, indoors, while this year we had to find a place and practice in the cold.”
The group ended up rehearsing at Kolbert Park and performing at the piers of Brooklyn Bridge Park, a frigid though photogenic location.
“The actual performances were recorded outside in an open space due to safety precautions,” Alam said. “Everyone had to wear masks and the whole thing was recorded by phone. Some people came later than the proposed time. It was also really cold outside, which put pressure on us to get things done quicker since we had to perform without our coats.”
Coordinating the teams was an ongoing challenge. The couples dance filmed on the same day as modeling, there were some arrival time hiccups, and the meeting place had to be switched to a different pier than originally planned.
It was almost 3 p.m. when the fashion show began, behind schedule, but at least everyone looked beyond gorgeous.
By the time the South Asian performers started recording the dance, the sun was starting to set. There was no other choice but to deal with the falling temperatures. But life happens. And the team managed to get it done.
Sittar said her favorite part was “definitely seeing everyone dressed up and putting on a brave face regardless of the situation.” She also said, “I knew from the start that this community is very strong and ready to deal with anything coming their way. They really made me proud by showing up in their beautiful outfits and staying until filming was over.”
“Personally, my favorite part was just spending time with people outside of my family,” Alam said jokingly. “A lot of my friends participated in the festival. Seeing them after a long time and teaching them the dance was the best part.”
After being edited together, the show eventually went live on YouTube two months later. All three leaders felt that it was well worth it in the end. Students had to take a lot of initiative this year, without the usual resources and teacher guidance. The accomplishment has been bittersweet, especially for the seniors, many of whom feel as if they “lost” their last year of high school.
“I definitely feel like the seniors got some of their year back with this,” Sittar said. “Even if this wasn’t live and perfect, it still allowed for us to close a big chapter of our lives on a positive and happy note.”