Inter-hostel Choreo Night, one of the more popular Lit-Soc events, took place on October 4th at SAC. It was preceded by weeks of practice and a lot of behind-the-scenes work, from shopping for costumes to designing the props, all culminating in a very memorable night.
Each team had eight minutes to set up the props, introduce themselves and their theme, and of course, to perform. Most themes were hazy, but a few hostels worked hard to make theirs’ obvious. Each hostel also had two teams, the competing ‘A’ team, which got to perform first, and the ‘B’ team, which wasn’t judged and mostly comprised final year students out to have fun.
An epic hour and 30 minutes after 7:00 pm, when the event was supposed to start, Choreo Night began with Jamuna’s performance. They started with a cute sequence and moved on to some more intense ones, much to the appreciation of an audience tired of waiting.
Sarayu, charmingly dressed in red and white, came up next. The theme was ‘The Woman’. What followed was eight minutes of exquisite contemporary Indian dance. Props were innovatively used and their peacock formation deserves a special mention.
It was then Sharavati’s turn. With ‘Arabian Nights’ as their theme, they wowed the audience and judges alike with their synchronised sequences and brilliant use of props. Several styles, like dirty hip-hop (no, you read that right), whacking, lyrical and vogue were incorporated into their eight minute slot.
Alakananda’s theme was ‘School Life’. The energetic moves of the dancers and use of popular songs prevented the rather hackneyed theme from clouding the performance.
Ganga created quite a sensation by walking on to the stage with their faces painted black and white. They put up a fairly good show; there was a mild diversion when one of them jumped off stage and surged dramatically up to the judges’ platform. Ganga also made excellent use of props and had an interesting dervish sequence too.
This was followed by a special performance by Pandu and partner; a wonderfully performed sequence by gifted, trained duo.
Tambi gave a decent performance, sticking to vernacular and western throughout the eight minutes allotted to them. They had some spectacular light-effect props.
Mandakini’s team had glow-in-the dark placards and T-shirts, and a slew of good sequences, but was cast in the shade by Saraswati, whose team came next. Last year’s Lit-Soc Choreo winners didn’t disappoint this time either. ‘The Hotties’ captivated the audience with their very authentic charm. This was followed by some amazing sequences.
Godavari had a great first round, where they had skipping-rope as the prop. After this came some rather incomprehensible fight sequences. Tapti’s theme was grandly titled ‘Racism’, but the actual performance seemed as removed from the subject as possible.
The ‘B’ teams were next. These included mostly final year students who wanted to experience Choreo night without the additional stress of competition. Merin Thomas, a Dual Degree student who was part of Sharavati’s B team (which consisted of final year students dressed elaborately in Sarees) said that the whole experience, especially practice with everyone else, was a lot of fun.
Sharavati was placed first, and was succeeded by Saraswati. Sarayu was declared the second runner-up. Preeti Kerketta and Rhea, two freshie Choreo participants from Sharavathi “loved the night-outs, They were fun”. “This was the first Choreo Night for us, so we had no idea what it would be like, or what the other hostels would do. We practiced a lot, so we wanted to win!”, they said. Bhakti Goyal, one of Sharavati’s Choreo co-ordinators said, “It was hard work, organizing the Night and dancing, but it was fun too, and rewarding”.
Videos :
1st – Sharavati
2nd – Saraswati
3rd – Sarayu
(Photos and Videos courtesy : The IITM Media Club)
