Indian Dance Performance Showcases Culture

The event showcased the performance the dance group will give at Bhangra Blowout, the national competition in Washington, D.C., on April 13.

During the dance, members of Bhangra Elite swirled across the stage barefoot in brightly colored traditional costumes, using batons and long wooden sticks as props.

The dancers jumped on each other's shoulders, drawing loud cheers as the audience chanted along with the music.

Bhangra Elite member Shruti Chudasama said that at one point the audience was so loud that she could not hear the music.

Bhangra is a popular folk dance from Punjab, a region in northern India and eastern Pakistan. It is performed to celebrate events such as plentiful harvests or weddings.

Sudhir Kumar, Bhangra Elite co-president, said the event was held to celebrate Punjabi tradition.

"I wanted to represent Punjabi culture," he said. "It was nice to see people other than Indians there."

Women in traditional garb greeted attendees at the door, beginning a night to celebrate Punjabi culture through dance.

Bhangra Elite members Ferzaan Ali and Alkesh Sura acted as masters of ceremony for the event and also danced in some of the performances.

The audience enjoyed a variety of dance talents in addition to Bhangra Elite, including the all-female Mezmerhythm, hip-hop group Kamikaze and the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity Inc. Step Team.

The step team engaged in a battle of the dances with some members of Bhangra Elite as each performed the other's style of dance.

Bhangra Elite also joined Kamikaze on stage to infuse hip-hop with traditional Bhangra dance for their performance.

Audience members said they enjoyed the union of the two dance forms. "I really like how they blend the (Indian and American) cultures," said freshman Virginia Ware.

The last group to perform was Mezmerhythm, which also performed some Bhangra-style dance for the crowd.

Professor Chuck Stone was scheduled to speak at the event, but he was not there when it came his time to speak.

"I don't know what happened, honestly," Kumar said.

Student Body President Justin Young and Student Body President-elect Jen Daum also tried their hands at Bhangra by acting in a skit titled "Bhangra Workout." Young posed as Billy Blanks as he and Daum demonstrated their dance skills for the audience.

Now that "Bhangra Sutra" is over, Bhangra Elite will continue preparations for the national competition. The group will compete with the other top 10 Bhangra teams in North America. Awards are given to the top two teams.

"It's an honor to have gotten this far," Chudasama said.

At last year's competition, Bhangra Elite did not receive first or second place, but Sura said the group hopes to improve upon that ranking this year. "I think they have a really great shot at winning the whole thing."

Chudasama said she was pleased with the diverse group of people that attended -- about 500 -- to catch a sneak preview of the Bhangra Blowout dance.

"We didn't want this to be a campus function that only one nationality comes to," Chudasama said. "We wanted to remind people of how much we share."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.