Throughout the school year, the Indian Student Association has prepared for their ninth annual Raas Rave and Bhangra Blitz dance competition,which will be hosted in McFarlin Auditorium Saturday.
The event will feature 14 college dance teams from around the country.
“R2B2 is my favorite weekend of the year,” said Faith Michael, ISA public relations chair. “I just really like that we have a bunch of the SMU community that come out for this event that… don’t really know what’s going on with the Indian student group.”
The event committee chose the 14 dance teams through an audition process. ISA members with Raas and Bhangra experience judged the auditions. The judges watched audition videos from over 30 dance teams. The teams include dance groups from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Washington University in
St. Louis.
There will be three judges for each type of dance. The teams will be judged on technique, choreography and cultural portrayal.
Attendees will see the dancers performing in traditional attire and with props. Usually in Bhangra, men wear a traditional headdress called “pagri.” Raas dancers use small sticks called “dandiyas.”
“People that I spoke to last year who had never seen it before said it was really awesome to see the costumes, the make-up, the dancing,” ISA secretary Myra Noshahi said.
The event committee is very excited for the musical performance. Baba Khan and Sonny Brown, members of the Indian musical act named Culture Shock will be performing a 30 minute segment at the competition. The group is currently on tour.
“I’ve been obsessed with them from the beginning. They’re great,” senior Nina Rafiq said. “They have traditional songs as well as fusion songs with English and it’s just great music that anyone can relate to. Even if you don’t speak the language, you’ll
love it.”
Doors will open at 6 p.m. The competition is free for students with a SMU ID. Students are suggested to arrive as soon as possible in order to choose a seat that suits their liking.
Non-SMU students can purchase tickets before the event online or at the door. Presale tickets will be available until 5 p.m. on Saturday.
