FoBoBlo

Teams performing are:

New York University

Columbia University

Purdue University

Indiana University

Pennsylvania State University

University of Pennsylvania

Virginia Commonwealth University

With exhibition performances by The George Washington University and the Rhythmaya School of Dance.

The winning team gets $2,500 and a competition spot in the Raas All-Stars national competition in Dallas, TX, so the stakes is high. Raas Chaos is also one of the biggest, most hyped, and best raas-gharba competitions in the country, and the GW team is pretty awesome (so awesome that they kept winning their own competition until moving into the exhibition category (and also when they lost in 2005 to RPI)). The competition is hosted by GWU’s South Asian Society, and was started in 2001.

While many people are probably more familiar with the South Asian dance style of bhangra, Raas/Gharba dance involves moves with dandiyas (shown in the photos), or small batons, as well as clapping. They dance to traditional music that’s more often than not mixed with hip-hop beats, creating a unique blend of old and new.

Tickets can be found at Ticketmaster or the Lisner Box Office. Doors open at 6:30 pm, show starts at 7 pm.

More on the GW Hatchet.

And the Raas Chaos Twitter.

Thanks to Seeta for the photos of last year’s GW team in action!