Wearing traditional Indian embroidered tops, the Deeva Dance Troupe can captivate an audience just by walking on stage.
But when the all-female Indian dance team busts out hip-hop dance moves and begins grooving to intricate jazz rhythms, its novelty becomes obvious.
The Deeva Dance Troupe, a group of 10 South Asian women who perform dance sequences to a musical fusion of classical Indian, bhangra, jazz and hip-hop elements, will perform at the Fusion Show at 7 p.m. Friday on Northwestern’s Chicago Campus in Thorne Auditorium.
“We mix different types of dances to please a variety of audiences,” said McCormick senior Seema Desai, a Deeva Dance Troupe member.
“I love (being on the team) because it challenges me and I get to learn dance moves from girls who have mastered other types of dances,” she added.
Competing against other Indian dance teams across the nation, the Deeva Dance Troupe won first place and $2,000 at the South Asian Student Coalition conference held in mid-January in Los Angeles.
“We had no idea that we would win at all so we just screamed for the next 10 minutes and everyone was just so excited,” said Weinberg freshman Ami Shah. “We performed (the dance routine) well and the audience loved it, but we did not expect it to be that well-received.”
The Deeva Dance Troupe was created by Amy Shah, Weinberg ’04, and Roshni Parikh, Education ’04, after they both watched a similar dance team perform at New York University. Shah and Parikh recruited other women and established an NU team in 2000.
“(The dance team) started with a group of girls who had an idea and who found that there was actually that type of talent on campus to create the team,” Desai said.
“It has gotten a great response over the years and now it has expanded to competitions at the national level.”
The Deeva Dance Troupe holds auditions during October. Although they meet an average of three times a week, rehearsals intensify as major competitions draw near.
“When it is time for competitions, we practice as much as five or six times a week,” Medill sophomore Archana Ram said. “But even if we practice until midnight, the practices are just so fun because we all love the team so much and we all want to be there.”
The team will also perform at the South Asian Students Alliance’s SASA 2005: Encore show Feb. 7 in Cahn Auditorium at 7:00 p.m.
They also were invited to several competitions in New York and in the Midwest, Weinberg senior and team member Lisa Parikh said.
Not yet recognized as an official student group by the Associated Student Government, most members said they plan to receive recognition and increase student awareness of their team in the near future.
“The team will definitely do well in the future,” Parikh said. “The young girls are really enthusiastic and we all definitely want to see the success of the team continue.”
Reach Allan Madrid at [email protected].
