Boston University’s India Club (BUIC) held their annual Garba Raas Competition in John Hancock Auditorium in downtown Boston on February 20th, 2009. “Garbafest Paanch” hosted teams from all over the nation and attracted a diverse audience of around 500 people.

Garba Raas is a traditional Indian dance that originated from Gujarat. Traditionally, the dance is performed during the nine-day Hindu fesitival of Navaratri. It is typically a high-energy dance also performed with dandiya, colorful sticks.

The competition featured competing teams from nine different schools as well as three exhibition teams from Boston University. Each team was introduced with a short video. Many teams had on stage chants and vivid props to enhance their performances.  Indiana University had a ‘Fast and the Furiraas’ theme, while Bentley University reflected the current economic situation with a humorous ‘overcoming the recession’ theme.

The participating teams were from Columbia University, University of Maryland and Indiana University, amongst others. George Washington University took first place and a prize of $2001, with Rutgers University in second with $1001and Bentley University in third with $501 of prize money. Exhibition acts included BU’s own Garba Raas team Fatakada, as well as Bhangra and co-ed fusion team Jalwa.

Praveen Sridhar, a member of BU’s Fatakada team said the best part of performing at a home competition is performing in front of people you know. “It’s always more fun when your friends are in the audience cheering for you,” said Sridhar.

The competition started at 6pm and ended promptly at 9, running extremely smoothly. Team captains from each of the schools praised the execution of the competition.

Jaimin Surati, BUIC’s treasurer said that the planning and organization of this year’s Garbafest started in May 2008 and that the feedback from the various teams was tremendous. “We were told that this was one of the best Garba Raas competitions they had been to in years because of the excellent organization and attention to the needs of the teams” said Surati.

Students and club members of BUIC volunteered and helped to make the competition very successful. Mitali Hariawala said she enjoyed volunteering at GarbaFest because it was a way for her to get involved in BUIC as well as understand everything that goes on in putting organizing a show on such a large scale. “It gave me an opportunity to not only meet other members of the club but also meet students from other schools” said Hariawala.

With all the stunts performed and high energy, the audience appeared to be highly entertained throughout the show.  Dancers said they had a great time and would participate in the competition again next year. Rutgers University sophomore Isha Vara said she would come back to perform “in a heartbeat.”
 

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