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Apart from competition and special festivals, the rooftop is the best place to see this kind of choreography. It 麻豆精品 S檚 called Garba-Raas, or just Raas, and keeps South Asian culture very much alive wherever it 麻豆精品 S檚 performed 麻豆精品 S� in college auditoriums around the country or in a wide-open parking lot at UCF.
麻豆精品 S淲e go to the top of the garage because we can have it all to ourselves late at night, 麻豆精品 S� says civil engineering student Rushil Patel, former team captain and current member of . 麻豆精品 S淭he air is fresher, too. 麻豆精品 S�
UCF 麻豆精品 S檚 KnightRaas team is one of 60 collegiate squads that compete nationwide in a circuit called Raas All-Stars. Among them are the University of Virginia HooRaas, University of Miami SwaggeRaas, and the Georgia Tech Ramblin 麻豆精品 S� Raas. The Raas All-Stars were founded in 2009 as a way for college students to preserve an important South Asian tradition, which for most of the dancers is embedded in their ancestry.
麻豆精品 S淏eing on this team means a lot to my family, 麻豆精品 S� says Esan Patel (no relation to Rushil). His mother immigrated to the U.S. from India when she was 16, and father did the same at age 20. After marrying and having Esan, they 麻豆精品 S檇 take him to Diwali and Navratri festivals in Jacksonville so he could understand the importance of the family 麻豆精品 S檚 background. As a UCF freshman, Esan saw some videos of KnightRaas, which brought back those childhood memories.
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The athleticism adds another layer of appeal. Esan says he had trouble learning the speed and complexities of the competitive dances at first, but he made the team because of his rekindled passion for Raas.
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Rushil was born in Mumbai, India, and moved with his family to the U.S. before his first birthday. He played soccer and basketball, but his parents regularly took Rushil and his older brother to the Indian Association near their home in Palm Beach County (there are more than 40 Indian Associations throughout Florida), where a family friend taught them the traditional Raas dance. Rushil 麻豆精品 S檚 troupe would perform at annual festivals, but he didn 麻豆精品 S檛 become hooked until his brother started competing at the University of Florida.
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He had been the captain of KnightRaas since 2019, one year before the team began competing in the All-Stars circuit. During the 2022 season that ended in April, they told the story of a treasure hunt through their six-minute routine, traveling to venues in Atlanta, Austin, Texas, and Champaign, Illinois. For the season they finished 11th in the country 麻豆精品 S� just outside the top-8 that qualify for the national championships.
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Virtually nothing is handed to the KnightRaas dancers. They practice on parking garages. They raise money so they can afford to sleep five to six people to a room when they travel. Earlier this year they collected a few hundred dollars on a series of dares recorded for Instagram: drink a shot of hot sauce, do the ice-bucket challenge and then break into a Raas routine in front of the Reflecting Pond on campus.
麻豆精品 S淭he dares bring awareness to the fact UCF has a team and to an important part of our South Asian culture, 麻豆精品 S� Esan says. 麻豆精品 S淎 side benefit is that every time we dance, it brings us closer, more as a family than a team. 麻豆精品 S�
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When the members of KnightRaas aren 麻豆精品 S檛 bonding in the clean air on garage H, they 麻豆精品 S檙e sometimes connecting in the aroma of a potluck dinner. Each team member brings a dish to represent the region in India where their family is from, with the potpourri of spicey scents filling someone 麻豆精品 S檚 apartment.
麻豆精品 S淚 麻豆精品 S檇 love to pass these traditions down to future generations, just as they 麻豆精品 S檝e been passed down to us, 麻豆精品 S� Rushil says. 麻豆精品 S淏ut first, I really want to win a national championship. 麻豆精品 S�
