You say "Bhangra," I say...

This past Saturday at MIT, The Tufts University Bhangra Team walked away with the award for most spirited team at Bhangra Blast, New England's biggest and most competitive Bhangra competition. Among their competitors, Boston University received first place overall, the New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) took second, and Harvard received the award for the most creative performance.

The Tufts team, led by captain Vidushi Gupta, consists of seven men and seven women: graduate students Gupta and Roopa Nami, seniors Himanshu Verma and Arun Lamba, juniors Sameer Puri, Neha Surana, Shivani Patel, Mshak Ghazarian and Kapil Dargan, sophomores Roneel Punjabi and Matt Magpayo, and freshmen Priti Julka and Nadia Ashai.

Gupta, with the help of the Tufts Association of South Asians (TASA), started the team her sophomore year at Tufts. Over this past summer, she choreographed the entire 10-minute dance, and created a mix of Indian music to go with it.

"At first, choreographing the dance took me a while. But now, I've gotten so used to it that it's not too hard," Gupta said. "Bhangra consists of a lot of steps that are fairly similar, but it's all about how you integrate them."

Bhangra is a joyous, unifying force that brings people of every culture together. The dance is driven by upbeat, rhythmic music with fierce drum beats and powerful vocals, coupled with graceful dance moves. Bhangra requires a high degree of skill and athleticism, both of which are reflected in the complexity, precision, and grace of the dancers.

"I consider us in between a sports team and a dance team," Gupta said.

Tryouts were held for the Bhangra team during the third week of school. According to Gupta, this year, like every year in the past, many more women tried out than men.

For the first five weeks before Bhangra Blast, the team practiced for six hours every week, basically getting acquainted with each other and learning and perfecting the steps of the dance. In the two weeks directly preceding the competition, the team practiced for 20 hours a week to perfect the steps and stunts.

Even though Bhangra cuts into time for other activities, every member of the team wanted to be there practicing and competing, and they apparently enjoyed every minute of it. "It's a huge time commitment, but we all love doing it," Verma said. "We would never put this much time into Bhangra if we didn't love doing it as much as we do."

Surana added: "I've had such a great experience with Bhangra over the years. I love the dance, the music, and the costumes, but most of all, I've become so close with everyone on the team. We love performing together and have learned so much while also having a great time."

Punjabi compared being on the Bhangra team to taking two extra classes, "but it has all been worth it. Being on this team has been awesome; there are no other words to describe it."

The competition, which is in its fifth year, was sponsored by MIT's South Asian Association of Students (SAAS). Northeastern University, Cornell University, and Rutgers University also competed. While MIT performed, they didn't enter into in the competition because they hosted the event.

In addition to the eight ten-minute performances by teams from participating schools, three other groups put on Bhangra exhibitions.

The judges used three criteria in making their decisions. Fifty percent of each team's score was based on their expression, and how much energy they put into the performance. Thirty-five percent of the score was based on the team's choreography and implementation, having the necessary elements of any Bhangra dance, while also incorporating unique steps and stunts. The final 15 percent of the score was based on the team's impact on the judges.

While Tufts did receive the award for the most spirited performance and the team with the most sportsmanship, the members clearly would have liked to have done better.

"We are definitely happy with the results, but we definitely would have liked to place higher," Surana said. "But all in all, we danced very well and had an amazing time, and that's all that matters."