Adding a modern twist to bhangra, the traditional Indian harvest dance, this season's diverse Tufts Bhangra team combined invention with convention to bring home a second place title at MIT's Bhangra Blast 2004 competition.
With their second place success at Bhangra Fusion in Detroit last spring, the five-year-old team is establishing itself as a nationally competitive force.
For now, the season is over, and the performers enjoyed each other's company as they met for a post-season practice to brush up on their routine before a charity fundraiser event for THRIVE (To Help Rural Indian Villages Emerge).
The group's fellowship and energy are contagious; many on the team just wouldn't stand still in the dance lab, practicing their moves and footwork while they waited for their cue and chattering companionably with each other.
Sophomore Davlyn Grant did a few cartwheels on the sidelines to release excess energy. Sophomore Smita Deshmukh exclaimed in sudden realization, "We went a week without bhangra!" For a team that has been known to clock in ten-hour days before competitions, it's apparent that a week of no bhangra after a season of intense practices is out of the norm for the performers.
Though bhangra is a traditional harvest dance native to Punjab, a state in northern India, Tufts Bhangra is not hemmed in by tradition. With moves such as "The Bird" and "The Peacock," bhangra is an artistic expression and embellishment of the habitual movements of farmers. Tufts Bhangra reinterprets tradition, with good results.
The team is also remarkably diverse compared to most bhangra teams, especially those from large universities where the Indian population is proportionately greater. The team encourages all interested students to join the team and learn about the culture by attending open practices at the beginning of each semester, exemplified by this year's team having several first-time members.
Sophomore Jed Forman was introduced to bhangra his freshman year, when he followed his friend Vish Subramanian to one of the open practices for fun. "I just kind of threw myself into it," Forman said. "I felt like I just had a knack for it."
Traditional bhangra is ultimately a farmer's dance; the dancers are not necessarily young, and stunts stacking people on top of one another like the team performs are not necessarily appropriate. The team strives for the soft and slow, yet still powerful feel of traditional bhangra.
Many of the squad's moves are inspired by and based off of tradition, but much of their choreography is fused with hip-hop beats. This allows a greater audience to be drawn into the dance.
A notable example of the squad's modern interpretation of bhangra is their "Slow Motion" routine, which includes a hip-hop interlude before returning to the customary music and movement. Forman, who worked on the choreography along with Subramanian and fifth year senior Sameer Puri, explained, "It's a hats-off to something people know, just to get the crowd pumped."
Now a choreographer Forman is one of five non-Indian members out of 15 on the team. Puri chuckled as he told a story about how some have mistaken Forman as a supporter of the team, which is ironic because Forman is one of the strongest members.
"People might expect that it might be threatening for a non-Indian person to do bhangra," Forman remarks, "but everyone is really accepting."
Forman looks forward to next semester and more competition. Though he is a self-described purist hoping to see the team move in a more traditional direction, he is glad that the innovation practiced by the Tufts Bhangra has encouraged interest. "Bhangra in the U.S. evolved into its own sort of bhangra," Forman concluded. "Bhangra is a universal thing; it doesn't have to be just an Indian thing."
