T-Pain is rapping loudly in the second floor dance studio of T. F. Green Hall on a Wednesday night.
The scene might sound like something out of an alcohol-fueled nightclub. But instead the wood floor of the studio seats a handful of students in flexible leggings and T-shirts, some emblazoned in neon green with "Brown Badmaash Dance Company." They're chatting eagerly near the back of the room, and the mirrored walls bounce and reflect their voices into a cheerful undertone.
"Let's get gone, walk it out / Now walk it out," T-Pain raps. "Just like that, that's what I'm talkin' 'bout..."
Badmaash Dance Company - the name comes from the Hindi word for "mischievous" - has been a byword for inventive South Asian fusion dance at Brown since its founding seven years ago. Since then, the group has risen from a group of 10 members to a 20-member troupe that is making a name for itself on the national dance scene.
Humble beginnings
Badmaash was "absolutely not" a competitive team when it was first formed in 2005, said Rahul Bannerjee '10 MD '14, a former member of the team. If anything, the group's initial focus was on performance instead of competition, he said.
"We were just a bunch of friends who honestly wanted to dance," said Komal Talati '08 MD '12, one of the founders of the group. "The first semester we just performed in a few things here and there."
But the group's popularity soon increased. "As interest grew, we just kept growing," Talati said.
The team's emergence onto the national South Asian dance scene occurred only in the past two to three years, a success Bannerjee attributed to the team's energy and spirit.
"We were by far the underdogs," said Bannerjee, who joined the then one-year-old team in his first year. "We don't have the best amount of dance space in the world, in terms of practice space."
But the team has a "Badmaash quality" in that is has a unique personality compared to other dance teams, he said. "We're not a formal dance company with our own studio. We're very much a bunch of people who love Badmaash."
That love and dedication has paid off at competitions throughout the Northeast, including the Philadelphia Dance Festival.
"We have a fan base nationally," Bannerjee said. "We have people who haven't been to Brown who have heard of us."
All the world's a stage
Baadmash drew more than 60 students this semester vying to become "Badmaashies."
"We spend a lot of time" assessing auditions, said co-director Ananya Anand '13. The tryouts usually consist of teaching prospective members Badmaash moves and selecting members based on their ability to learn the moves quickly. But the co-directors agreed that they consider the personalities of the auditionees as well.
True to Badmaash's identity as a fusion dance group, their routines incorporate everything from Bhangra, a folk style of Indian dance, to moves drawn from contemporary Western hip-hop. Those who are accepted into Badmaash are expected to keep up with the group's varied repertoire.
But the experience is kind to new members, who are eagerly inducted into the small community.
"I've never been exposed to the style," said new member Rachel Cohen '14. "It's really cool for me to watch, but a lot of the moves are foreign." Still Cohen said she was "excited more than worried."
"I do think it'll take a little bit" to grow accustomed to the different types of dancing, she said.
After auditions for the team are held, further auditions are held internally for the year's competition team, co-director Shubh Agrawal '15 said. The "comp team" is usually composed of 12 to 16 members who attend the team's competitions throughout the year. Those two or three competitions are usually clustered in January and February, which means practices are held more frequently at the end of each year.
Competition team members have added dance practices throughout the semester that can run up to 10 additional hours a week and are expected to return to campus a week early for what many members affectionately describe as a boot camp.
The boot camp is like the "second level," said Badmaash member Susan Trinh '13, who won a spot on the competition team junior year.
Though the experience is a large time commitment, Trinh said it was rewarding.
"You dance and then you eat, and then you dance," Trinh said. "We have so much to learn."
Under the floorboards
"One and two and three and four and..." Arms extend outward.
"Five, six, seven, eight!" A smooth twist and turn.
On the first Wednesday night practice of the semester, the Badmaashies - old and new - were already at work. Practice, led by each of the group's three co-directors, walked through one of their older dance routines - partly for the benefit of two new members shadowing the group and partly to get members back into the swing of dancing. The old moves were also in the process of being reworked throughout the night, as co-directors and members volleyed suggestions about the blocking of the dancers and clarified confusing dance moves for those unfamiliar with the routine.
As the background track played a mix of South Asian music and more modern beats, true to Badmaash's fusion roots, each of the leaders counted off a handful of eight-beat segments to ease da
ncers back into the moves. Badmaash dancing - a combination of fluid lines and sharp jumps visible in the mirrored walls - also reflected the music in other ways.
"One, two, three and four!" Feet pounding the wooden floorboards in time with the music.
But despite the efficient enthusiasm of the group, this year's Badmaash team faces a unique challenge. As almost half of its members graduated last spring, the team is both slightly smaller and includes seven new dancers, a large fraction of the 20-odd member troupe.
"(Losing last year's members) was a big loss to us," Trinh said. But she added that having the new dancers would create "a new dynamic."
The new Badmaashies are also excited to be part of the team.
"Everyone can have their own Badmaash experience," said new member Anamta Farook '14. "There's just an overwhelming awe that I have for this team," she added.
The show goes on
What distinguishes Badmaash most of all is the connections its members retain even after graduation.
"We used to joke sometimes that Badmaash was a fraternity," Bannerjee said, citing long and frequent practices. "We almost lived together."
Part of Bannerjee's experience, he said, was the variety among students who were part of the group.
"When I was a senior, my co-directors were a comp lit major and an MCM major," he said. "It was funny to see us coming together."
That shared sense of community is one that members carry with them even beyond Brown. Bannerjee, now a student at Alpert Medical School, participates in a similar South Asian dance group called Brown Med Bhangra, started last year by Heather Jones MD '14, a Cornell grad and Bhangra dancer.
Though the group is newer than its undergraduate cousin, Bannerjee said it has found a similar following at Alpert.
"The Med School has very much embraced this," he said.
Talati, who graduated from Alpert in 2012, participated in Badmaash as an undergraduate. Because Brown Med Bhangra was only founded last year, she was not able to participate in the group while in Med School.
She described Badmaash as "the center of my life and of my career at Brown," she said.
Last year, she and fellow Badmaash alum Kumar Vasuvedan returned to help choreograph one of the group's dances. Though Talati said she only personally knew one or two of the team's members that year, "the minute I walked in choreographing, it was like nothing had changed."
"It was a blast," she added.
And even as the team continues to grow, Talati said she and other alums continue to follow the team's activities, attending the group's annual spring performance show or occasionally going to competition performances.
"We always kind of keep track of them," she said.
But whether it's a late night practice or a competition performance, what has remained true over the years for Badmaash is its motivation.
"The one thing about Badmaash is it's not about winning," Talati said. "It's about dancing your heart out every time."
