Belly-dancing students will shimmy through the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom on Saturday.
From 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Gators for Asha will host its 10th annual celebration of Indian culture: Praharsha.
Volunteer coordinator Nalanda Chakraborty, 29, said the culture fest will celebrate hope and joy, which is "praharsha" translated from Sanskrit to English.
Gators for Asha hope to illustrate India’s economic problems and compel attendees to donate money, said the UF graduate student studying speech, language and hearing sciences.
The event will feature belly dancers, a male a cappella group and other Bollywood performances, Chakraborty said.
Praharsha will appeal to everyone, even those from outside Indian culture, said Shramdaan coordinator Revathi Kadari.
"A person outside of our culture knows about Bollywood through sitcoms or movies, so we present what people know and what people don’t know," the 25-year-old computer science graduate student said.
Chakraborty said the group expects about 1,000 people to attend. The event costs about $5,000.
First-time attendee Li-Li Chen, 34, said she wants to learn more about the Indian lifestyle.
"I want to learn what kind of music they usually have in their culture because when I see the Bollywood movies, they always present it in a very pleasant way," the UF political science graduate student said.
