Hamsika C. '13 | February 23, 2010
"Just Dance!"
In its 149 years of existence, MIT has been involved with many of the world's firsts . This past weekend, MIT dived into yet another: the first intercollegiate Indian classical dance competition in the northeast! Through a collaboration with Boston University's dance team, Dheem, MIT Natya put on a show called Laasya, which means 'dance' in Sanskrit. We had competitors from Penn, Rutgers, Harvard, Case Western, Johns Hopkins, and UMaryland; it felt nice to meet others who cared as much about dance as I did.
As the host school, we didn't actually compete in the contest; we did, however, perform the opening number:
I'm really proud of this video! We practiced sooo much for this performance. It seriously feels as though I spent more of last week in dance practice than I did in class. Most everyone on MIT Natya has been walking around with bags underneath their eyes for quite some time now. Saturday (the day of our show) was particularly chaotic, though I admittedly had fun using the "Build Your Own Pizza" app on the Domino's website to order pizza for all the teams.
MIT Natya is one of several dance teams on campus; I chose to be a part of it because Indian classical dance has been a part of my life for well over ten years now. It's been a huge outlet for me, an activity that compresses all of my pent-up frustration and energy and translates it into emphatic footsteps and sharp movements. It's easy to smile when performing on stage and even easier to forget that the audience is there. And dancing with the other members of MIT Natya is rejuvenating - it feels like a lively celebration - with the best of friends :)
For your viewing pleasure, here's a set of photos from Laasya ~ all photo credit goes to Arfa '13.
Oh - and a shout-out to Brian '13, who not only supported MIT Natya by coming to Laasya but also desperately wanted to be mentioned in the blogs :)
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Responses To This Entry:
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I
Posted by: Shannon on February 23, 2010 08:26 AM
First!!!!
Posted by: Morteza on February 23, 2010 08:35 AM
I LOVE NATYA!
Posted by: Shannon on February 23, 2010 08:39 AM
Bollywood!
Posted by: Han '14 on February 23, 2010 09:24 AM
Wow!!!!!! I love Indian classical like anything. Being a musician ,Indian Classical music and dance has been really close to my heart.I was left vicarious after watching the performance..
Great feeling......
Hats off for all the participants..
Posted by: Varun on February 23, 2010 10:23 AM
@Han'14
This is not a Bollywood dance. It is one of the classical dances of India.
And Hamsika- An excellent performance.
I never thought that there could be so many people knowing a classical indian dance there.
Posted by: Divyansh on February 23, 2010 10:24 AM
Hey Hamsika,do you have videos of all the performances..I am dying to watch them...
Posted by: Varun on February 23, 2010 10:26 AM
hey.. u guys did great! loved it! i don't know how to dance but i've always loved watching the indian classical dances.. hopefully one day i'll be able to dance as well..
Posted by: Anonymous on February 23, 2010 12:11 PM
hey.. u guys did great! loved it! i'm so proud to be an Indian.. i don't know how to dance but i've always loved watching the indian classical dances.. hopefully one day i'll be able to dance as well..
Posted by: Anonymous on February 23, 2010 12:12 PM
sorry for the double post..
Posted by: Anonymous on February 23, 2010 12:13 PM
Question!
I'm trained in bharatanatyam-- I started when I was 3 and stopped right before high school, so about 7 years. I haven't practiced in a while, but would I still stand a chance auditioning for Natya? How much experience do you have to have? (I stopped right before my arangetram training started D:)
I would really really like to take up dancing again in college, but I'm afraid I won't be up to par.
Posted by: anon on February 23, 2010 08:41 PM
@ anon
You don't need to have experience at all! Natya's small and essentially self-selecting - so if you care enough about Bharathnatyam/Kuchipudi, etc, you can join - and we'll love you :)
Posted by: Hamsika '13 on February 23, 2010 10:47 PM
I ♥ this!!!!!!!!!!! I am currently preparing for my arangetram and am soooo excited to hear about this!!!
Posted by: Harika on February 23, 2010 11:26 PM
Great performance Hamsika!
So which team won the competition?
Posted by: Aditi on February 24, 2010 12:18 AM
Wonderful performance Hamsika, but living in India, I have seen a lot of that and I am one of those traditional, orthodox (at least that's what they call me!) south Indian (Tamil - what are the odds?) , so that complement is definitely genuine, although I would have loved to see a smaller group enacting a theme; but anyway, this was great. Keep it up!
But since I am more inclined to Indian classical music (south Indian), I would have enjoyed better if MIT had done that.
Posted by: Raghavendra on February 24, 2010 06:13 AM
Hello Hamsika Didi,
Your performance was really nice in the dance.
Amazing !
So what I have come to know,
I have found that...
Hamsika didi is a good writer, good story teller (remember Remember ?? ) :) :) , good blogger (eg. all blogs), good photographer (eg. Mit Buildings, Snowbama ) , good rescuer (still to prove) haha, and ammm..
amm..
an excellent dancer too !
Why ? Why?
Because of a great performance in the competition !
amm.. amm.. what else ?? Lets see in future !!
Congrats for your every success !
You are really making your parents, MIT and above all, Indians Proud (including me haha :) :) ) !
Why Me?? AMm mm.. because, All Indians are my brothers and sisters, feeling proud to be the brother of all Indians :) :)
So I really appreciate the work of all of the MIT Natya Team.
What are the updates of the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department?? (why didn't u feature that in ur blogs !) :)
Its an interesting course !
Goodluck again for your performance ! Keep it up ! Good luck for 8.02, did u see the Land's Demo in it?
Do reply !
Thanks
Posted by: Sambheet Krishna on February 24, 2010 06:45 AM
that was a lovely performance.kudos to the natya team.
Posted by: naren on February 24, 2010 06:53 AM
@ Aditi
UMD won first :) Rutgers came in second, and Penn got the Honorable Mention. Haha, I should've mentioned that in my post - sorry!
Posted by: Hamsika '13 on February 24, 2010 07:29 AM
Hey it was a great performance. If that was on youtube i'd rate it 5 stars :) lol . It'd be nice if the next time you guys are videoing a performance it's to a faster tempo'ed song. I'd like to see that for sure.
Posted by: Brad on February 24, 2010 04:01 PM
Kuchipudi :)
Posted by: Anonymous on February 25, 2010 08:18 PM
good job :)
Posted by: jialing on February 27, 2010 11:22 AM
Hello Hamsika Didi,
Happy Holi !
What is your favourite color ?
I guess that its the first time when you will be celebrating Holi at MIT ! Right ?
Have lots of fun !
Thanks
Posted by: Sambheet Krishna, India, Class of 2014 on February 27, 2010 09:49 PM
@Hamsika
Happy Holi...... :)
Just curious..Do you have Holi celebration in MIT..??
Posted by: Pushp on February 28, 2010 01:48 AM
Just curious, but do you hail from South India? Your name Chandrashekar sounds Telegu.
Posted by: roodawgydawg on March 1, 2010 08:11 PM
