Cal High’s Chalkaa Indian Bollywood Fusion dance team has been spreading their culture and love for dance together through numerous performances for many years.
Usually Chalkaa performs in audition-based showcases, such as Dil Se that is hosted by Irvington High’s desi club called Indopak. But this year marks the first time students have auditioned for and performed in a competition.
The competition was Irvington’s inaugural high school Bollywood Fusion dance competition, called Baazi. Cal’s dance team competed against six other high school dance teams from the Bay Area on Feb. 27 at Ohlone College in Fremont.
Although the team came close to placing, they still enjoyed the new experience competing for a title.
“It was really exciting and it was scary,” said senior Meghana Dingari, one of Cal’s three Chalkaa captains. “We didn’t know what was going to happen because it was our first time, we had to figure out all the logistics of it.”
A total of 26 members from Cal Chalkaa performed in the competition, showcasing eight different dances to an almost six-minute mix of English music and different styles of Indian dance music choreographed by their captains.
Most members were a part of three or four dances, while the captains were in all of them, except the all-girl and all-boy performances.
Preparations for auditions began when the captains met in June to choreograph the dances.
By August, everybody in Chalkaa started learning and practicing, first focusing on three of the eight dances.
“[Our captains] are good at teaching us and getting the guys in check because we’re always messing around,” senior Chalkaa member Ronak Adhikari said.
After the auditions in November, Chalkaa began to practice more vigorously.
“We literally had practice every single day,” Dingari said. “We would use the dance room after wrestling and we’d be here until 9:30 p.m. or 10 p.m.”
Sometimes there were difficulties with getting the dance room for practices.
“We would have to practice in a parking lot or have everyone over at peoples’ houses,” senior captain Diya Mistry said.
Other times, simply planning the practices became a struggle.
“We’re all seniors getting together with our college applications or courses,” Chalkaa captain senior Sahasra Veerapaneni said. “Sometimes practices were very hard to deal with and very stressful.”
Despite issues with coordination, the dancers were able to consistently practice for at least three and a half hours every day of the week before the competition.
When the time came for the competition, the members shed their nerves and had fun performing what they’d been working so hard on.
“Before I’m about to go on stage, I’m always freaking out,” Dingari said. “But once I start I feel like because I know the entire routine by heart. I have more fun with it.”
Chalkaa member Menaka Raj, a senior, said performing the dances the group put so much effort into was very satisfying and a great experience.
“I love being on Chalkaa,” Raj said. “I have definitely made new friends from this experience and I love that I get to do what I love.”
It was a new, exhilarating experience to perform in Baazi for all the members, especially to the many first-time dancers in Chalkaa.
Chalkaa is the first experience with dancing for a majority of the senior boys on the team. Adhikari said being able to learn how to dance for the first time with his friends makes Chalkaa a more enjoyable experience.
Chalkaa’s first-time dancers like developing their skills and learning something new.
“We don’t know what we’re doing and we’re all figuring it out together,” Adhikari said.
Having spent so much time and effort into perfecting their dances together, the Chalkaa members have grown closer than ever.
Mistry auditioned for the team through Zoom in her freshman year and stayed with the group ever since. Throughout her four years on the team, she’s watched many people grow and considers Chalkaa like another family.
“It was so exciting getting to perform and all the hard work paid off,” Mistry said.
For the rest of the year, Chalkaa plans to continue to prepare for showcases. Students can experience their talents in their next showcase, called Sunnlayan on Saturday at Evergreen High School in San Jose.
