The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, May 15, 2009 Page: 4 of 24
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4 NEWS
the Rice Thresher
Friday, May 15,200>
Rice's Indian dance team snags first place
Chowl Bhangra emerges as top team in Houston, moves on to bigger stage
by Cindy Dinh
Thresher Editorial Staff
Catching on to the dance fever, the
Rice Chowl Bhangra team earned its
place in fame by securing first place
at Nasha 2009, a state-wide compe-
tition in traditional Punjabi dances
held at the University of Houston on
April 10.
U
We try to present the
culture the way that
we understand it and
express it on our own.
... We're not neces-
sarily going to stick to
the traditional.
Arindam Sarkar
Lovett '12
W
Chowl Bhangra, which means
Rice Bhangra in Punjabi, competed
against six other collegiate and
dance academies in Texas, placing
first overall.
Each routine is six-eight minutes
long and choreographed by students,
headed up by Wiess College senior
Monique Gill, Sukhdeep Kaur (Wiess
'09) and Abhinav Khanna (Will Rice
College '09).
Gill said she and her teammates
had been exposed to Punjabi dances
since they were young.
"For the three of us it's something
we grew up with," Gill said.
Bhangra commemorates special
occasions, Gill said.
"When you have a harvest, they
would celebrate and dance," Gill said.
"And now it celebrates anything."
Khanna and Lovett College junior
Arindam Sarkar said what made their
dance unique is the added elements
of hip-hop dance moves, such as the
Soulja Boy, which the team performed
midway through the dance.
Sarkar said that instead of sway-
ing from tradition, these modern
dance moves augmented the spirit of
the dance.
"Recently 1 feel there has been a
reflux back to traditional elements,
but there are some teams that will
throw in a Western beat to a super
traditional Bhangra song, and 1 feel
that's something we can easily incor-
porate into our routine," Sarkar said.
"It's not detracting from the tradition
of Bhangra, but at the same time it is
accomplishing the aforementioned
purposes of appealing to a hipper au-
dience."
Khanna describes their dance rou-
tine as a celebration of the harvest
that is upbeat, energetic and folksy.
"At one point we had a couple of
dancers jump off the stage and dance
near the judges' table," Khanna said.
"It was more interaction with the au-
dience and something different to get
them excited."
Sarkar said competing against
teams that are deeply traditional In-
dian classical or very contemporary
and Western can only attract one type
of audience or judge.
"You have to have something that
attracts a wider range of audience,"
he said. "When you incorporate
more Western elements that all the
With a first-place finish at Nasha 2009, a dance competition held at the University of Houston, the Rice-based
dance group Chowl Bhangra now heads to the Festival of India, the toughest test in Texas.
audience members can enjoy and
get pumped up, reciprocally, we get
pumped up."
Gill said incorporating the audi-
ence, adding elements from con-
temporary music and having co-
ordinating costumes made Chowl
Bhangra stand out.
"We try to present the culture
the way we understand it but we
also try to interpret it and express
it on our own," Sarkar said. "We're
not farmers from Punjab. We're
students here at Rice so we're not
necessarily going to stick to the
traditional."
This year the team was designated
as a club sport and has turned its
focus to competitions. The team has
competed and performed at eight dif-
ferent events this year alone, includ-
ing the cultural shows hosted by the
Rice South Asian Society, Gill said.
With colorful uniforms person-
alized with the signature Rice "R"
embroidered on the back, Sarkar
said Chowl Bhangra wanted to
make heads turn this year. Every-
thing about the fabric and creation
of the garments is more traditional
and personalized, Gill said. She
said the six pairs of co-ed dancers
had the same uniforms ranging in
color from bright pink and yellow to
deep purple and blue, which added
to the vibrant look of the dance.
Besides winning a trophy and
accolades, placing in this compe-
tition qualifies the team to com
pete in Festival of India, the largest
intercollegiate, state-wide talent
competition, Sarkar said.
"Rice has never been involved
in that, especially since we're
small to other schools like Univer
sity of Texas in terms of the talent
pool," Sarkar said. "It'll at least
put us [Rice] on the map, which
[for me] is the most significant ac-
complishment."
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Michel, Casey. The Rice Thresher, Vol. 96, No. 28, Ed. 1 Friday, May 15, 2009, newspaper, May 15, 2009; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth443193/m1/4/: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.