Senior and captain of MV Raas, Saee Ranade recalls one of her favorite memories on the team. “I think there was one particular practice where we just were all kind of tired. And instead of practicing like we had originally planned, we just all got Starbucks. And at the end of the day, all three teams since we all practice Friday afternoons, we kind of got together and it was dark and you’re playing like Sharks and Minnows… “

Captains Ranade, junior Sindhu Dhulipala and sophomore Sriya Yenne all share a common passion — Raas, a traditional Indian folk dance that originated in Gujarat, India. It is known for its use of a pair of wooden sticks, or dandiya.

In addition to the traditional folk style of the dance, Raas also incorporates Garba as well, another Indian folk dance from Gujarat. The team’s choreography combines traditional with relevant to students and current pop culture through the mixes they dance to. Dhulipala says mixing “American music” with “folk aspects” creates “extra hype for audiences.”

Ranade explains what MV Raas looks for during audition season, emphasizing how team members are not expected to “be perfect.” When choosing members for the new school year, Ranade explains that “energy is a big factor [that the captains] look at [to see] how well [someone] you can pick up moves.”

Yenne and Ranade acknowledge how their turnout to auditions has had a significant decrease. They hope to increase awareness of the team on campus, especially during the fall when they recruit new members. They share a concern that many students are unaware of the Raas team’s presence, causing a lack of students auditioning each year. 

“In the past years, we’ve had a lot of people try out and people knew about Raas,” Yenne said. “This year, we didn’t have a lot of people try out because no one really knew what we were. We definitely want to bring more dancers to the team and give people more opportunities to dance because our club is really fun and we want more people to join.”

Despite a decrease in publicity this year and having members of different ages, captains express the tight-knit sense of community the team provides. Yenne specifically feels as if Raas has become family to her. She shares that small moments of community have become some of her favorite memories, specifically referencing a Raas team bonding last year when members met up at Main Street, Cupertino where they all shared some laughs and hung out in the parking lot.

As captains, Ranade, Dhulipala and Yenne share various responsibilities however they feel that having certain freedoms as captains have given them a real connection with the raas dance and team as a whole.

“I really enjoyed being able to participate in the choreography myself since it’s more of a club-based dance team as opposed to an actual team. I feel like it feels more personal,” Ranade said. “Although we are captains of the team, we’re also friends with our members so it feels like a much more cohesive group.”

As the rush of first semester winds down, and Raas has welcomed new members as well as choreographed its routines the captains share some of their goals. During second semester, Dhulipala hopes to help the team maintain energy for the entirety of its routines especially since Raas will be able to perform at various shows.

“I think stamina is kind of becoming an issue because after quarantine all of us are not in shape as much,” Dhulipala said. “So we’re just trying to add more songs and make sure people are able to sustain [themselves] throughout the entire routine without feeling super exhausted.” 

Ranade, Dhulipala and Yenne hope to continue dancing through high school and into college, either through Raas or another dance style. They share that they are looking forward to the team performing at shows such as Spotlight on India in April, forming more memories and improving their routines. 

“Overall, I’m really proud of how we’ve performed this season,” Ranade said. “And as we get more into second semester, I’m really looking forward to attending shows and just looking back at [the] routine and being really proud of it.

A word from the captains

Experiences as Captain – Senior Saee Ranade

So I was actually part of the team for three years before I became captain. So like, for me, I really enjoyed being able to like participate in the choreography myself because since it’s more of like a club-based dance team, as opposed to an actual team, I feel like it feels more personal. Like although we are captains of the team, we’re also friends with our members so it feels like a much more cohesive group. And I really appreciate getting to be a part of the whole process in addition to just dancing and performing we really have a lot of creative control over what we do, which is really nice.

Goals for the year – Sophomore Sriya Yenne

I think some goals that we have [are] definitely bringing more like publicity to raas. Because in the past years, we’ve had like a lot of people try out and people knew about raas and this year we didn’t have a lot of people try out because no one really knew what we were. So we definitely want to bring more dancers to the team and give people more opportunity to dance because like, our club is like really fun and we want more people to join. But overall as a team, I think we’ve grown a lot and I just I think we just need to continue to like work hard for the shows.

Audition Process – Senior Sindhu Dhulipala

Yeah, so to be a part of the team, you really don’t need any experience required in raas. But I would say like when we were looking at your audition video, just like your resiliency and like picking up steps, I guess. Also just, we look for certain things like we look if you have high knees for example, when you’re doing our trial routine. We look for straight arms we look for, I don’t know we look for a smile on your face, we look for how much you can bend [and] how much grace you have. All those things are taught to you like in the trial workshops, but it’s kind of like individual of how well you pick it up and how well you’re able to kind of perform it.

Group dynamic – Senior Saee Ranade

In past years there has been, especially in my freshman and sophomore year, there was a bit of a disconnect between the older and younger members. But now as a senior, I think the older members have really made an effort to connect with every single person in the team. So I feel like this year especially it really feels like one big family. There’s no like cliques or specific friend groups and feel like we all understand each other really well. And we chose to have a smaller team this year. So that’s also part of the reason why.

Difficulties this year – Senior Sindhu Dhulipala

Um, well, I think some difficulty right off the bat is we did get rejected from a show and it was pretty heartbreaking because it was like a show we definitely counted on doing and we thought like we would get in. But I think that the same time like it just gives us more fuel to our fire to like, keep going, and keep getting better at it and trying to find ways to make our act more unique. So other teams will find like picking our team is like it’s a good reason to pick our team for the show.