1st ‘Raas Royalty’ dance contest comes to IU

St. Louis University freshmen Dhwanil Thakkar and Shivam Parbhu joined their school’s Raas dance team this year with hopes of one day matching the success of the team’s previous incarnations.

Their dream came true much faster than expected.

SLU won first place at the first-ever “Raas Royalty” dance competition on Saturday. 

Following SLU, Michigan State won second place and University of Florida won third.

The competition, organized by the Raas Royalty Roundtable, featured teams from 10 different universities that vied for the top prize: a bid to the Raas Nationals in Texas this April.

The event was free, but audience members were encouraged to make donations to both the IU Dance Marathon and Hope for Haiti Now.  Each group had a booth set up in the lobby of the auditorium. 

The night of traditional Indian folk dancing began with IU’s team performing  “A Journey To Candyland.”

The next three hours were a flurry of motion and color. Each dancer’s dandiya sticks clacked loudly together with the beat, as their colorful, shiny dresses and garb caught the stage lights, reflecting onto the crowd.

The percussion from each team’s song selections pounded through the auditorium and chants from each school rang out, rivaling those of a major college sporting event. 

Each dance was set around a theme. Purdue University imagined what Christopher Columbus would have seen had he actually landed in India. The University of Florida incorporated elements of a magic show. Columbia University told the story of a super villain crashing a wedding. The University of Illinois put out a fire with a cardboard fire truck with dancers as the flames.

But it was St. Louis University and its Super Mario Bros. inspired routine that would be the winner.

The dance was dedicated to Nirmam Vasanwala, a member of the team who died last September.

Holding giant cardboard cutouts of mushrooms and fire flowers, Thakkar and Parbhu expressed their excitement about the win. 

“Our team won in California last year and so our captain has always been telling us, ‘man, it’s the greatest feeling in the world,’” Thakkar said. “But this feels a
billion times better that what I ever imagined.”

Parbhu said this year’s team had some big shoes to fill.

“Last year’s team was amazing,” he said. “This year half of us were freshmen.”
Even some supporters of those who did not place said the competition was impressive.

“It was kind of a disappointment, but everyone was so good,” said Nina Kothair, a
junior at the University of Illinois.

Amit Mirchandani, an IU alumnus who was supporting Purdue, agreed with Kothair. 

“It was one of the best ones I’ve been to,” Mirchandani said.

The Raas Royalty Roundtable also thought the competition was a success. 

“It’s the greatest feeling ever that our first-ever competition ran so smoothly,” said Minesh Rajkotia, the board’s public relations chairman. “It was just great overall, and I know there were a lot of people watching out there. I hope we get more next year.”