Cal Bhangra, established in 2009, was formed to promote awareness of the Punjabi culture at the University of California, Berkeley. They compete year-round in hopes of spreading Cal pride to all areas of the United States and aim to teach all audiences the art of Bhangra, so their passion can spread and their legacy can carry on.
Elliot YJ You, a senior at North Carolina State University, is an Arts Studies major with a concentration in music. He chose this path because he is passionate for music and felt that it would be something that he would thoroughly enjoy. After he graduates, he plans on moving to North Hollywood, California to pursue a career in dance. His goal is to get signed, by an agency, and work in the professional dance industry. One day he dreams to dance on tour, with artists like Chris Brown, Usher, Justin Timberlake, and Beyonce, and travel the world to teach dance workshops.
On January 23, 2016, eight Bollywood fusion and eight Bhangra dance teams will be meeting in Columbus, OH to compete in the first Desi Dance Network competition of 2016! Buckeye Mela provides an opportunity for the best South Asian dance teams to compete for a cash prize. Srujan aims to forge new ties among universities and South Asian communities while raising money charity.
As a Bollywood America Automatic Bid Competition, the Bollywood fusion winner of this competition will receive a bid to compete at the national championship competition-- Bollywood America on April 9th in Cleveland. Although there are six other Bollywood America auto-bid competitions, Buckeye Mela separates itself from the others by having a line up comprised of both Bhangra and Bollywood fusion teams. Disguised as two separate competitions in one night, the audience should be expecting a diverse showcase of styles.
The Desi Dance Network has made some great accomplishments. It has helped to connect dancers across North America and create a sub-culture of compassion, camaraderie, and an active community and platform for like-minded dancers to discuss, be critical, and innovate. The cross-pollination of ideas has accelerated the innovation of the circuit and there are so many teams taking risks and innovating. There is also a lot of great sharing of cultures with non-south-asian people coming into the circuit bringing their own twist to the definition of bollywood-fusion. It is interesting to see the transformation happening before our eyes.
Today’s DDN Spotlight shines on BosTown Raas--New England’s newest, and most fabulous, Raas-Garba competition, set to be held on January 16th, 2016, at Northeastern University’s Blackman Auditorium. 2016 will be BosTown Raas’ inaugural year into the Raas circuit, and their board could not be more excited to host teams from all over the country, and put on an unforgettable show. We had the opportunity to hear from BosTown’s enthusiastic executive board and discuss their experiences as a brand new competition in our nation’s well established Raas circuit. We can’t wait for the show, and wish the BosTown Raas team best of luck in preparation! Check out their interview below:
1) Tell us a bit about how your competition was established. Who or what inspired you to organize it?BosTown Raas was founded in 2015 by the Bentley Bizraas alumni. Over 6 generations, we have passionately evolved our love of Garba-Raas while dancing in RAS bid competitions across the nation! Through spending countless hours, year after year, preparing and competing in Garba-Raas circuit, we’ve created this family, this bond, centered around passion, dedication and support. These competitions not only allowed for our team to showcase our talents but also became events through which our dancers developed personally and professionally. We want the Desi Dance circuit to witness and experience this bond, and our vision: to bring this spirit of commoradiradity and family to the heart of New England, Boston, Massachusetts.
2) How did you approach getting support from your community and sponsors for this competition?Support started from within. We’ve got an amazing board of 16 members spread across 5 states and each person has spent countless hours working towards making this vision come alive. We have been able to reach out to friends and family and received tremendous support by just explaining what our vision is and how passionate we are about this.
The Garba-Raas circuit is also a very inclusive circuit and we’ve had friends and alumni friends from competitions and teams help us out along the way!
3) What do you think are the biggest challenges within your circuit?Funding is always the biggest challenge whether you’re on a dance team in the circuit or hosting a competition. The BosTown Raas board noticed how this also affects the competitions that teams apply and travel to. So we made it a point to not only pick the best teams, but also a variety. We were blessed to have teams from all over apply and accept our competition offer. In January, we’ll be showcasing talent from Indiana, California, New York, Maryland, Missouri, and Pennsylvania!
4) What do you believe will define Bostown Raas as a unique competition within the Raas circuit?BosTown Raas is more than just a competition within the Raas circuit. We pride ourselves in valuing “Innovation”. Innovation means anything these teams do to really push the bar, to take the greatest risk and to add something different to the scene. We hope to provide a platform to reward this level of creativity because why shouldn’t we evolve for the better?
5) What are your goals for this season as a brand new competition?After having attended countless competitions collectively as a board, we simply want to put on a team-friendly competition! Everything we do is centered around the thought “would we like this/ want this if we were a team competing at this competition.” We want the teams to have a fun memorable weekend rather than a competitive one but at the same time promote our vision for innovation which we believe will immensely help the circuit evolve in the upcoming years.
6) How will your competition foster bonding between teams?
We have a few pre-competition agenda items in the works! Also, our mixer is sure to knock your socks off! You guys will just have to wait and see :)
7) What can teams expect from Bostown Raas? In the same vein, what does Bostown Raas expect from the teams competing this year?Teams can expect the highest quality of hospitality, excitement and fun! Boston is a beautiful city and we can’t wait to share it with the entire Desi Dance Network! All we expect is that these teams come out and leave everything they’ve got on the stage. Let us know what you want from us as a competition and we will do our best to make it happen for you guys! Because at the end of the day the competition is meant to honor and celebrate the teams who have spend countless hours and effort to share their talent and passion with us!
Check out BosTown Raas’s social media web pages below, to learn more, and remember to buy your tickets soon!
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