The opening chords of the “Little Einsteins” theme song boomed through Richardson Auditorium’s speakers, raising laughs from the audience as Naacho Dance Company’s new members flooded the stage wearing sparkling red and black outfits. From classical Bollywood to Doja Cat, Princeton’s premiere South Asian dance group Naacho presented a sweeping range of South Asian-based dance and musical styles in their show this past weekend, “Shastra: The Rise of Chaos.”
While Naacho and most other dance groups typically perform in Frist Theater, Naacho was recently named the 2024 Artists in Residence at Richardson. As the venue’s website describes, “The Artist in Residence group is selected by a team of administrators and students from across the university.” Access to Richardson Auditorium, a larger venue that is often competitive to book, comes with the honor. The company expressed gratitude for this extraordinary opportunity.
The show is centered around ‘shastra’ — supernatural weapons — and “the battles these weapons enable us to fight,” the program explained. These battles of good versus evil, war versus love, and cultural origins versus modern lessons act as “a glimpse of the experience of being a South Asian-American student today,” which is a valuable connection on our multicultural campus.
Themes of fighting and valiance were reflected in the dances, particularly in the props — fans, ribbons, battle sticks, and more — as well as the bass-heavy, warrior-esque music that served as a motif throughout the show. Costuming was nothing short of stunning. Transitioning seamlessly from vibrant bhangra costumes to metallic silvers and golds, Naacho incorporated Western-inspired embellishments within the holistic framework of traditional South Asian dancewear. The group’s ability to present tasteful cultural fusions in their costuming and choreography was impressive.
Filler videos were projected in between pieces to string the show together. Naacho’s frequent use of these pre-filmed videos was especially effective in keeping the audience engaged from start to finish. The show opened with a dance clip filmed outside of East Pyne, featuring dancers slashing the screen with vivid fans and ribbons — needless to say, it was a jaw-dropping preface to the show. Throughout the show, the videos featured dancers joking around with one another — whether it was attacking one another with exercise balls in Dillon Gym or embodying caricatures of themselves in skits.
Freshman dancer Ila Prabhuram ’27 shared via written statement, “The filler was chaotic and so fun to film; I would absolutely participate [in the videos] again in future shows.”
Perhaps most notably, the Naacho show provided glimpses into their dancers’ personalities. One of the most precious aspects of performing arts shows is not only getting to appreciate an art form but most importantly, seeing the onstage version and a different, lively side of different students. Naacho certainly accomplished this, with their stellar use of filler videos and the high energies every single performer brought to the stage.
Another delightful aspect of the show was the integration of “newbs” into the overall community represented by the Naacho tradition of presenting 3–4 “newb pieces” each year. Every newb is required to be in at least one newb piece, and they have the option of choreographing one. Thus the piece “(Newb)thing to Lose,” choreographed by most of the newb class, was born. Opening with the “Little Einsteins” interlude and transitioning into an “Avengers Bhangra Remix,” the dance showcased a rich mix of hip hop, bhangra, romance, and bollywood.
“Naacho does an amazing job of integrating newbs into pieces and activities through tons of traditions,” Prabhuram says. “I especially loved the bonding activities the night after our first show. Even just asking each other silly questions in games like ‘back-to-back’ helped me feel a lot closer with my team.”
After this first Naacho experience, I would highly recommend a night of Naacho purely for their blood-pumping music and infectious energy. I had to view the performance from the balcony — only because the below was completely full — and even then, the energy radiating from the stage, and audience underneath, was palpable.
Shannon Ma is a staff writer for The Prospect. She is in the Class of 2027 and comes from Saratoga, Calif. She can be reached at sm2818[at]princeton.edu.
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