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16B - The Michigan Daily - Weekend Magazine - Thursday, February 5, 2004

OPTING T ORG IZE: TH

By Sravya Chirumamilla
Daily Weekend Editor
Sitting at yet another meeting for Raas
Core, the group I am a part of that organ-
izes the annual intercollegiate dance
competition Dandia Dhamaka, I start to
hyperventilate. The show is less than ten
:Nays away, and I have yet to find out the
final information for many aspects of the
show.
Sure, we have been working on this
show since April, but it nears, the angst,
coupled with excitement makes the
nightly meetings less productive and
more chaotic. This board, like many oth-
ers of which I have been a part, is divid-
ed into many chairs: the main chairs who
'ead the meetings, the registration chairs
who draw in and maintain competing
teams, the public relations chairs who, as
the name suggests, get the name out
about the show, the webmaster who takes
care of multimedia and the logistics
chair, who organizes the show break-
downs and roles of board members, par-
ticipants and volunteers. For the past two
years, I have been one of the logistics
thairs, taking advantage of my hyper-
organization to schedule the show down
to the second.
People often wonder why someone
would spend countless hours in a stuffy

room trying to put on a show that in the
larger scope of things matters little.
While I cannot comprehensively ration-
alize the mission statement for the show,
I can share my joy and excitement of
gathering hundreds of people from as far
as California and Texas to share in a cul-
tural experience unlike anything else on
this campus. At the same time, this show
also provides an opportunity to impart
on visitors a lasting impression of the
dynamism the University and town offer.
This show is just one of many such
shows that bring together thousands to
the venues near the University. Students
are often the organizers of these shows,
which range from the Vietnamese
Students Association's annual cultural
show, Dem Viet Nam, coming up next
week, to Dance Mix in March, a show-
case of dance groups around campus put
on by Impact Dance Theater.
The sheer volume of shows makes
finding an appropriate venue difficult.
Last year, due to a lack of affordable
venues that could host the expected
audience, Dandia Dhamaka had to move
to Masonic Temple Theater in Detroit.
Not only did this change in location hin-
der our ability to showcase the wonders
of this city but it also limited the number
of student's who could traverse to the
See PRODUCTIONS, Page 12B


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