Adelphi’s Best Dance Crew Brings Energetic South Asian Culture to Campus

from The Delphian, Adelphi’s student newspaper

AU Sapna, Adelphi’s first and only Bollywood fusion dance team

On Saturday, November 12, 2016, collegiate Bollywood fusion dance and Bhangra teams came from around the state to perform and compete in Adelphi’s Best Dance Crew. Bollywood fusion consists of a blend of different styles of dance, such as classical Indian dance, hip-hop, contemporary, Bhangra and the dance style normally used in Bollywood film. Bhangra is a traditional Indian folk dance, originating in Punjab, India, which consists of intensive handclapping and foot-stomping.

This annual event, hosted by the South Asian Student Association and the Student Activities Board, is one of the campus’ highly anticipated events for many of the South Asian and Caribbean students. The two competing Bollywood fusion teams were Brooklyn Jhoom and Macaulay Deewane. The competing Bhangra team was Stony Brook University Bhangra. The judges, Divya Mary James, Sanjana Reejsinghani and Howie Magaro, are three experienced and qualified members of the Indian dance community who have made a reputation for themselves as instructors, leaders of troupes and fierce competitors.

Not only were there performances by the competing teams sprinkled throughout, but there were also exhibition performances from AU Sapna, AU Bhangra, Soormay (a collegiate Bhangra team) and Adelphi’s Paws and Rewind.

Navindra Tajeshwar, the president of the South Asian Student Association, and Tristan Baharally, the president of the Student Activities Board, worked hand in hand with both of their executive boards to put together this intercollegiate dance competition.

According to Tajeshwar, the event provided a window through which the Adelphi community can see the intricate South Asian culture, all while enjoying a thrilling competition.

For SAB and SASA, this is a collaboration that has worked not only this year, but in the past as well.

Tajeshwar said, “SAB and SASA have worked on ABDC together for the past two years. SAB’s contribution makes a great difference in both the planning process and execution of the event because they are always there to help in any way possible.”

“Since my sophomore year, SASA and SAB have always worked together on Adelphi’s Best Dance Crew,” said Baharally. “It’s always been a great experience, and working with Navindra and the rest of his team was amazing. It’s always great to collaborate with other clubs and organizations, and I’m especially glad that our collaboration was successful as well.”

For these executive boards, the planning of the event is a timely process. “The planning process was tedious, but well worth it. The process began over the summer as we invited teams and chose vital structural components for a night filled with entertainment,” said Tajeshwar.

Baharally said he is always happy to hear people screaming for the team they support, and to see everyone enjoying their time, smiling and laughing with their friends at the table or even on the dance floor.

Performers and the audience were also very pleased with the outcome of the event. Parita Domadia, a senior mathematics major and the captain of AU Sapna, said it was her fourth year participating in ABDC and it continues to exceed her expectations. “Teams really go through a significant amount of practice for this event hoping to put on a good show,” she said.

According to Aditya Samaroo, a junior physics major, the atmosphere of ABDC was very lively and the crowd-pleasing performances were highly energetic. “The competing teams were well coordinated and they looked like they were having as much fun as the crowd was. I enjoyed ABDC and hope next year’s is awesome as well,” said Samaroo.

At the end of the night, Macaulay Deewane walked away with the title of Adelphi’s Best Dance Crew for the second year in a row.