At the Fordham men’s basketball game on Saturday, March 1, the Fordham Falak club gave a breathtaking performance at halftime. The dancers stunned in their flowing white skirts and glittering gold belts as they performed three different traditional Indian dance styles: Garba, classical and South. The dances were upbeat and brought energy to the audience. The performance was well rehearsed, and the passion of the club members was clear in their dance.
The dances themselves were choreographed by members of the club, Sanya Singh, GSB ’27, who did Garba; Megha George, GSB ’27, who did classical; and Zyna Mathew, GSB ’27, who did South, which was her first time ever choreographing for Falak. The three dances each had their own differences; Garba and classical were more calm and slow, whereas South was the more energetic and fast-paced. Each dance reflects different aspects of their respective regions in India. Despite the three different styles, the performance overall was graceful and energetic. All members were almost perfectly synchronized in their movements, despite only having a month and a half to rehearse.
The Falak performance gave the club an opportunity to represent their culture and for audiences to indulge in the elegant dances. Falak was the first South Asian dance group at Fordham University and has offered a space for members to connect to their culture in an artistic way. The dance team itself is made up of many different grades and skill levels, with many members having no prior dance experience. However, this was not noticeable in their performance, as their movements were very structured yet elegant and reflected not only the time spent practicing, but their love of the club.
Co-captains Aaliyeh Sayed, FCRH ’25, and Ojaswi Pradhan, GSB, ’25, have been members of Falak since their first year, as it helped them to connect with their culture, which is what has made them stay with the club since. Sayed had previous dance experience before coming to Fordham, so Falak was a natural next step for her to continue with a form of dance she was well acquainted with, the classical style. However, Pradhan, like many members of the club, had no prior dance experience,but fell in love with the way it connected her to her culture. For both co-captains, performing at halftime had been a dream of theirs since they started.
“We’ve both held e-board positions since our sophomore year basically. It’s been like a three to four-year build-up process of building our team up to the point we could really represent Fordham Falak,” said Sayed.
This was the first time the group had ever been able to perform in front of a large audience that was not at an inherently South Asian event. This added another level of stress going into the performance,other than simply dancing in front of a large audience. Many of the club members felt pressure for it to go well in order to best represent the club at the first chance they had been given to make such an impact on the community. However, they succeeded in blowing away audiences with their well-choreographed performance.
Reflecting on the performance, Sayed and Pradhan said that the most rewarding part of the performance was having such a large team and the effort that the club members put into it. “I think everyone coming together and working as a team was the most rewarding part of it,” said Pradhan.
Zariyat Ahmed, FCRH ’28, shared her thoughts on the performance. “I felt very good walking out of it. When you do dances and performances, you have to be aware of so many other things including the choreography which make things difficult. I just focused on enjoying the performance and the people around and everything else came naturally to me and I let my face show how much I loved it,” she said.
This was Ahmed’s first semester as a member of Falak, and since joining the club, she has become better friends with some of the club members and found a new love of dancing. The performance meant a lot to both the Falak captains and group members, not only because it was another first for the group, but also because it was the result of weeks of hard work and passion, all of which showed through in their stunning dances.
