Raas at IU, IU's garba-raas dance team, announced its competition season was canceled due to COVID-19.
Senior and team co-captain Neelam Patel said Raas at IU is looking for ways to continue performing this year, despite the competition season being canceled.
“Our raas season did get canceled, but we wanted to continue having our team, for all of us the team was such a big part of our college experience,” said Patel.
Patel said the team is still making strides to welcome new members and make them feel at home virtually.
“We still got a couple of offers to do a few performances and we’ve been trying to brainstorm ways for us to continue performing across campus in some way," Patel said. "For the most part we want to just continue choreographing, practicing and introducing potential new members to raas and our culture."
Sophomore and co-captain Shreya Natesh said the captains are trying to create events that will keep everyone safe while allowing the team to remain as close-knit as they’ve always been. One of their ideas is a socially distanced speed friend dating event so members can get to know each other better.
“We are really trying to think of different ways we can bond,” Natesh said.
Senior and co-captain Shriya Jain said this year's newcomers will be welcomed with open arms through different virtual events to make up for the lack of in-person bonding.
Jain saidthe Raas at IU team still plans on having virtual bonding options once they recruit new members. They will have virtual workshops over Zoom on Sept. 7 and Sept. 9, and audition videos are due Sept. 13.
“Once we have officially accepted people onto our team we will brainstorm on how we will hold practices depending on what everyone is comfortable with,” Jain said.
The team said logistics on how practices and events will take place depend on how many people they accept this year. This means they will mostly operate virtually if a large amount of people are accepted and it becomes difficult to have socially distanced in-person events.
Jain said since three of the four captains are seniors this year, the team will heavily focus on guiding new and younger returning members on how to lead the team in the future.
“Despite the season being canceled, the purpose of this year is to just prepare a better future for the team and for Raas at IU and to make sure that all the young talent on our team can flourish even after the seniors leave,” senior and co-captain Anuj Patel said.
For those interested in joiningRaas at IU, the link to the GroupMe for potential new members to join as well as an interest form to fill out is available on their Instagram, @raasiub. Classical Indian dance experience is not required in order to audition or join.
