Dance Groups Represent at Event

On Friday, January 15th, five student dance groups performed at Lisner Auditorium for a chance to be recognized as GW's best dance group. The event, entitled, "Represent," hosted by Class Council, featured the Persian/Arab fusion dance group, Aatash; Indian Raas dance group, GW Raas; Bhangra dance group, GW Bhangra; hip hop dance group, Capital Funk, and classical dance group, GW Balance. The event was opened by a short dance piece by several members of GW's Greek community. Quickly afterward, the dance groups took stage, each performing up to 8 minutes, until the last group had gotten off stage.


After the performances were finished, the judges had went back stage to determine which group would win Represent. During that time, representatives from each dance group participated in a dance-off, in which each person would perform a solo dance for several minutes. Capital Funk captain, Jon, swept away the crowd with his intricate movements and versatility, earning him the win for the dance-off competition.

Once the judges had completed their determination of the winner, they went onto stage and announced two awards, based on choreography and presentation, and the overall contest winner. Capital Funk had won the two awards, but in the end, GW Raas walked away with the $300 cash prize and title of best dance group at GW.

After winning the competition, GW Raas captain Kunal Patel expressed surprise in his group's win. "Capital Funk was amazing. Everyone was amazing. We had absolutely no expectations." The Raas team used Represent as an opportunity to rehearse for an upcoming Garba/Raas competition, Maryland Masti, in which Raas teams compete to earn a spot in the Raas All Stars National Championship. "Some of it is the same choreography and some of it will be different."

Represent had proven itself more successful than last year, in which it was hosted in Betts Theater in the Marvin Center. An estimated 300 students attended the event.