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Dance groups all have one motive: to succeed and entertain their fans. However, ASU Andaaz goes an extra mile to cultivate team spirit and bonding, with a result that could not be more pleasing.

ASU Andaaz was born from the joining of ASU AAG and ASU Aashiyana in fall 2013. Biomedical engineering senior Lekha Anantuni said the groups joined because of the competition between the two. 

“Four members from each of those teams met up and decided that the dance talent at ASU was being split by having separate competing teams,” Anantuni said.

For the past three years, ASU Andaaz has showcased to the world how united, talented and capable they are as at team. This talent has, in turn, resulted in multiple awards. 

Anantuni said as a team that dancing has provided them an outlet to share its unique and rich South Asian culture with ASU and the larger community.

Through it all, Andaaz team members continue to develop in terms of dancing skills and interpersonal skills.

“Being a part of Andaaz has been such a formative experience for me,” Anantuni said. “It strengthened my connection to my own roots and culture and helped me to gain confidence.”

Andaaz is a Bollywood fusion dance team that incorporates various dance genres to come up with one unique performance.

Dances included in the Bollywood dance include bhangra, hip-hop, lyrical, jazz and contemporary. The group said at one point that it even tried Latin dance.

The group's strong bond is one of the virtues that has sustained them over the years. It is also the one that has resulted in a considerable number of achievements for the Bollywood dance group.

Through its remarkable dedication and commitment, the team has danced its way to competitions held in Austin, Boston, Berkeley and Iowa among other cities in the U.S.

Last year in February, Andaaz came in second at the  Jhoomti Shaam dance competition in California. The team also scooped up first place at Penn State Infusion

However, the best was yet to come. This year, Andaaz said it was pleased to gain on-campus recognition when they won the school’s first  ASU’s Got Talent, and walked away $1500 richer.

Anthropology juniorAlexandria Fappiano said she credits the team’s success to its hard work and passion.

“We rehearse at least 15 to 20 hours a week,” Fappiano said. “However, it is in moments like this that you can see the team spirit. ... Everyone is exhausted but you can still see the passion as they pull through.”

Fappiano also said rehearsing as a team has brought them closer.

“These people eventually become your family,” she said. “A bond that can never be broken is formed through repeated interactions with each other.”

At the same time, the team said it believes the success can also be attributed to the constant manual and emotional support they receive from Andaaz alumni.

The 2015 Andaaz captain,Suhas Athrey,  said Andaaz was the best thing that happened to him in college. Even though he is no longer with the team he remains committed.

“I try to go to a couple of competitions and cheer for the team either from the audience or help the team at competitions being a gopher,” Athrey said.

He also said he is proud of the team’s achievements.

“This year especially, the team was made a sports club at ASU which means the team can get some funding from ASU and also reserve practice space at SDFC,” Athrey said. 

Above all he said he hopes 2016 will be a better year for the team, in terms of community outreach.

Andaaz said it continues to satisfy the ever-growing number of fans. Psychology freshman Maryglory Steven said she is never disappointed by the dance group’s authentic performances.

“Especially at ASU's Got Talent, their presentation was not only entertaining but also captivating,” Steven said. “You could tell that a lot of creativity had been incorporated to fuse the dance moves together with some dramatical aspects.”

Marketing and supply management junior Isha Parikh said the dance group has become more of a family to her.

“It has been a rollercoaster of a ride, where it's been challenging balancing life and school with dance, but one that I wouldn't trade or change for anything,” Parikh said. “We may fight, argue and go crazy, but we always end it with a smile, laughter and love.”  

Related links:

Andaaz dances to Bollywood America

Bollywood dancer brings the heat with her moves on campus


Reach the arts reporter at smareker@asu.edu or follow  @shantie_chido on Twitter.

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