All About GT Ramblin' Raas! (by Ashwini Thirukkonda)
ALL ABOUT GT RAMBLIN’ RAAS!
As a first generation Indian-American from suburban Maryland, I’ve spent the last 19 years figuring out how exactly I’d learn about my heritage, while also navigating the American teenage experience. Growing up, I spent my Saturday mornings at soccer tournaments, and my Saturday nights at Bharatanatyam (Indian classical dance) practices, and I loved having these ‘sides’ to my life, even if it was complicated to juggle at times.
After starting my first year at Tech, I wanted to find my own Indian community on campus. I tried out for GT Ramblin’ Raas on a whim, learned an intro piece, and ended up making the team! I barely knew what Raas was, but the energy and support of the team had me excited to learn.
Garba-Raas is a style of Indian dance that hails directly from the streets of Gujarat, India, and is usually performed during Navratri, a Hindu festival that lasts for nine straight nights. For a few weekends in October, we dress up in colorful chaniya-cholis, head to our local temples, and dance for hours into the night.
But the collegiate raas circuit is a little different - we’ve taken the traditional music, fundamental steps, and colorful costumes, and turned it entirely on its head. Every year, Raas teams from colleges across the country create a seven minute long set, with a theme, fast-paced mix, and choreography with ‘dandiyas’ (sticks), that we spin in our hands while executing choreo. This past year, our team (GT Ramblin’ Raas) created a set around a school theme, which you can watch here!
GT Ramblin' Raas {Second Place} | Raas Chaos 2019 |
As a dance style, collegiate raas is all about endurance, power, and grace. You’ve got to move across the stage from formation to formation, hit angles on fast choreo, and do it all with a smile on your face. During the fall and spring, our team practices for three days a week, from 9PM to midnight, repping choreography, learning formations, and pushing ourselves to improve.
But the best part of Raas is undeniably the competition weekends.
With our second place trophy from 305 Traantali, a competition in Miami!
Every year, we get to travel to cities across the country, from Miami to Washington D.C., where we compete against other teams to win bid points towards our national championship - Raas All Stars. This season was the breakout year for our team - we’ve never made it to nationals before, much less won a competition, but we pushed our limits in practice and on stage, and qualified as the sixth best collegiate raas team in the country.
Through every practice, team hang, and performance, GT Ramblin’ Raas quickly became my second family. From lunches on tech green, to ten hour road trips to competitions, my team made tech feel like home. This year, I have the privilege of being our team’s manager, and we’re already gearing up for a socially distanced season! I’m so proud of what we’ve accomplished, and I hope to maintain and grow our GTRR family this year!
Keep up with us on insta, @gtramblinraas
All in all, Georgia Tech is home to an incredibly diverse community, with students from across the country and around the world, each with their own unique ethnic background. With thousands of students coming together in one campus, there’s so many organizations and communities that synergize our cultures and shared passions! My best advice - explore and learn as much as you can, seek out students with stories that differ from your own, and celebrate your own heritage and culture! We’ve all got so much to learn from each other :)
