Indian dance team resumes third season

Two years ago, alumni Trishika Shetty, Ruchi Jain, Rohan Hardikar and Raj Thakker thought students who had traditionally participated in Bombay and the Bay needed another activity that allowed them to express their passion for Indian dance beyond the show.

In 2014, the Indian Cultural Awareness Club (ICAC) launched Tamasha shortly after the show, and in the spring of the same year, the team began attending local dance shows.

As a non-competitive dance team, Tamasha performs at the annual senior talent show as well as at schools with dance shows similar to Bombay in the Bay, such as Bellarmine, Homestead and UC Berkeley. Senior Sanam Mohan, along with her co-captains junior Mitali Shanbhag and sophomore Ishana Narayanan, is ready to take Saratoga’s Indian dance team, Toga Tamasha, to new heights for its third consecutive year.

Once the team is assembled again this year, audition tapes will be sent out in hopes of performing at these locations again this year.

Though the team doesn’t compete to win prizes, the showcases allow performers from every participating school to have fun and display their love of dance to all attending the shows.  

“I think the shows really strengthen our bonds with each other in the sense that we’re always messing around and having fun backstage,” said Shanbhag. “At shows, we meet so many incredible individuals from different schools who share our cultural love.”

After the graduation of 15 seniors who were on the team last spring, the three returning members who are this year’s captains are hoping to fill a total of 11 spots with seven spots for boys and four spots for girls.

Three workshops have been held to teach a tryout routine to all students interested in joining the team, and auditions will be held in mid to late September. With over 23 people trying out, Shanbhag said that the captains will end up reducing the group to 15 members.

“We haven’t had auditions yet, but based on the amount of talent we’ve seen at the workshops, I definitely think that our members have so much potential this year,” Shanbhag said. “We are going to do justice to the amazing legacy last year’s team left behind.”