The Bloomington Ki Badtameezi, or BKB, is partnering with the IMU Union Board and the Office of International Services to host IU’s first Bollywood Dance Collegiate Competition.
“I feel like IU being the big university it is, hosting an event like this will be huge in spreading awareness of Bollywood dance and Bollywood culture and it would be a really cool way for a lot of IU students to get involved,” co-director of BKB and IU sophomore Amisha Jain said.
Each team will perform an eight to 10 minute dance routine that begins with an introduction video giving context to what the performance is about. The routine consists of seven to nine different segments which feature different songs and styles of dance such as contemporary, hip-hop and Bollywood. In-between segments, there is dialogue to connect the storyline together.
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“(This event) allows (students) to see that this is something they can also be a part of if they really want to and it promotes this open and welcoming nature of Bollywood fusion as a dance form, dance style and competition style,” co-director and co-founder of BKB and IU alumni Vedant Kar said.
Kar said that during his time as an undergraduate student, he noticed an increase in South Asian students and wanted to not only promote South Asian culture, traditions and values, but also create an environment where people feel that it’s not restricted and is open to everyone.
“There’s so many different avenues that IU has right now within the Bollywood fusion realm or in the different Indian cultural dance teams that we have,” Kar said. “We want to make sure that we’re another event or organization that opens up that gateway even more.”
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Co-founder and co-director of BKB and IU junior Rahul Guhan said they have two goals they want to achieve with this competition: provide people with an accurate perception of what Indian dance is and make Indian individuals feel prouder of their heritage.
Guhan wants to show that Indians are an important part of the culture at IU and would like to gain appreciation as he feels Indians are a group of people that doesn’t receive much attention.
“What I wanted to achieve as a whole is to put us on the map, in a sense, for IU to recognize us,” Guhan said.
The event will take place in the evening on April 8 at the IU Auditorium. It will consist of a competition between the eight teams and a brief intermission. Concessions will be provided by Sugar & Spice Bakery.
“The simple message is that we want people to come and spend this evening with us,” Kar said. “It’s a fun experience and it will definitely open some eyes to different aspects of South Asian culture and we hope that people will give us a chance and enjoy the show with us.”
