Kickstarting the 'DU experience'

Cultural societies are central to one’s collegiate life. In fact, these communities are often regarded as the gateway to unique experiences.
Representational Image. (Express Illustrations | Somyadip Sinha)
Representational Image. (Express Illustrations | Somyadip Sinha)

Cultural societies are central to one’s collegiate life. In fact, these communities are often regarded as the gateway to unique experiences. Every year, a fresh batch of students seeks to join these societies—which specialise in performing arts such as dance or theatre—in a pursuit to make the best of their college years.

Unfortunately, the ongoing pandemic has resulted in college students missing out on any semblance of normal campus life. In fact, due to the surge in COVID-19 cases, colleges have pushed the audition processes for college societies online. However, these societies have put their best foot forward to make the auditions enjoyable, less tiresome, and accessible for the incoming batch.

A digital transformation

Conventionally, college society recruitments take place through a multi-round process that is rigorous yet fun-filled. Auditions are followed by an interview process wherein students are judged on a variety of parameters. Ever since the pandemic hit, most college societies have been trying to replicate this conventional process in the virtual medium through e-meeting platforms such as Zoom,
Skype, and Google Meet.

Trishna Choudhury, a core team member of Abhivyakti, The Dramatics Society of Indraprastha College for Women, explains, “Our process was two-tiered this year. We met all participants through Google Meet, and carried out various improvisational activities to judge their creative bent. The second level was more focused on their acting abilities. The process was slightly different for writers and other technical roles.”

Even though the virtual medium poses a number of technical issues, both students and societies have learnt to work their way around adjusting to a digital environment. “We have been surviving virtually for roughly two years now and we have become accustomed to it. There were obviously glitches this time too. Many students were not able to fill the forms and share their videos with us, but we provided them with suitable alternatives and made sure no one was left out because of such reasons,” shares Nandini Nijhawan, president of Encore, The Western Music Society of Daulat Ram College.

Auditions held virtually have proved to be less intimidating for many first-year students. “I am sure had this happened physically, it would have been more fun but since I was auditioning from my room, I was comfortable with the environment,” shares Kuhu Verma, a first-year student at Indraprastha College for Women. Consequently, college societies have received a rather overwhelming response from interested freshers.

Social media for good

The recruitment process in college societies is usually an opportunity for such communities to showcase their achievements. Aside from that, it is also a chance for freshers to engage with their seniors. Earlier, auditions conducted physically would include long hours of socialising in the college canteen. Now, such fraternisation is carried out through social media. Societies are leveraging the power of social media to garner the attention of the incoming batch.

“We teach unique dance techniques such as headstands. This is something other dance societies of our college lack, so we put that in the form of content on our social media platforms to introduce our society to the freshers,” shares Nandini Dua, a member of Sparx, The Choreography Society of Gargi College.

The digital medium has further become a forefront for seniors and juniors to engage with each other, hence fostering new relationships. “We have this image about seniors that they are strict and may scold us but [during auditions] they were really sweet and approachable,” concludes Nimisha Kaushik, a first-year student at Gargi College who auditioned for Sparx a few days ago.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com