For South Asian Dance Teams, Does the Story End After College?

At intermission, the buzz of the crowd grows loud. The doors burst open, teams flood out, cameras flash, and flowers are heaped into the hands of leading men and women. Boys look at girls, boys look at boys, girls look at girls. The adults stand by proudly.   

Bollywood Berkeley is one of the country’s biggest national South Asian college dance competitions. It brings in a large and diverse crowd, a good indicator of its prestige in the dance ecosystem. Older women in saris and cardigans, bent over with age, are helped up the stairs of Berkeley’s auditorium, while proud parents of performers meet for the first time. Some have flown in from different states to see their children. The show’s attendees aren’t just South Asian. One attendee, a Mountain View-based investor who asks not to be named, is there with his wife. “We were looking for something to do and saw a posting online,” he explains.

However, there is a noticeable gap: barely anyone in attendance is between the ages of 25 and 40.