This post was written by Hatchet reporter Roxanne Goldberg.
Lisner Auditorium was an explosion of vibrant colors, charged sounds and sensational dancing Saturday night when nine of the best college Raas teams from across the country gathered at GW for the 11th annual Raas Chaos, a competition featuring traditional dance from the western Indian state of Gujarat.
Each team was introduced with a short video before coming on stage to perform. The teams gave clever themes to each performance, including Georgia Tech’s RAAStafarians and Columbia University’s Cardiac aRAASt.
“Raas is a lot more grassroots and traditional than some other forms of Indian dance like Bhangra or Bollywood,” GW Raas captain Parth Chauhan.
GW Raas did not participate in the competition, but the team still performed as an exhibition.
The event concluded with the selection of three winning teams – Indiana University’s HoosieRaas in first place, Rutgers University’s RU RAGA in second and New York University’s Raas Malai in third place.
“You hear all the chants and you see all the other performances,” Rohil Shah, a freshman member of Drexel University’s team, Drexel Dandiya, said. “You just want to go up there and kill it yourself.”
The dynamic audience is evidence of Raas’ wide appeal, which freshman Raas member Brinda Mysore said stretches beyond just those with an Indian background.
“You don’t have to be Indian to do Raas. You can be anybody. As long as you like dancing, you’ll love it,” Mysore said.
GW Raas practiced four hours a day in the weeks leading up to Saturday’s event.
“It’s been stressful but we’ve gotten closer as a team,” Mysore said.
While the team has put in countless hours of practice since September, preparation began even before the start of the semester.
Because Chauhan is studying abroad this semester, the Raas team was presented with a unique challenge.
“I tried to take as much burden over the summer as I could,” Chauhan said. “Me and the older members came together and did all the choreography.”
Being away from Raas has been difficult for Chauhan, who said performing at Raas Chaos has been the highlight of his fall for the past two years at GW.
Luckily, Chauhan’s co-captain, sophomore Saumita Rajeevan has kept the team together while Chauhan is away.
“As captain, you’re in charge of everything, so it’s hard. But everyone is here to help me, so they make it easy. We’re more than a team; we’re a family,” Rajeevan said.
The exhibition was preparation for the competition season that begins in January and runs until the culminating event in April, Raas All-Stars National Championship in Dallas.
“Meeting the other teams and getting to know other people is one of the best parts about Raas,” Rajeevan said. “You get to go all around the country and make relationships with people you would have never met otherwise.”
