South Asian Undergraduate Artists at UNC: Craft & Perspective 

By: Swaycha Goli

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Arpita Das & Simran Sidhu, from Bhangra Elite

Bhangra Elite (BE) is a competitive bhangra dance team at UNC. Arpita and Simran are team managers and passionate, skilled dancers. I sat down with them to find out more about their experience with BE and as South Asians on campus. 

How has being a South Asian artist at UNC affected you?

Simran: I grew up in Connecticut. And there were, like, no brown people there. Not only was I the only South Asian person, but I was also a religious minority. That was an even bigger deal. I was talking to Arpita about this earlier; just having Cary Diwali seemed like it was a culture shock in the opposite way. I was not used to having other brown people around me. And it was just like- it felt really homely, I guess is the word, and very welcoming to have other people who understood where I come from and the dynamics I have at home. Like, they know what it is to deal with aunties and the importance of religion at home. There was a big disconnect between me socially and being at school versus being at home. So I think, especially with college, meeting a lot more Indian people and just South Asian people in general and seeing that diversity was very welcoming. And it's just- it's hard to describe. It was a source of comfort. I felt a lot more comfortable where I was, and people finally understood me. So I didn't have to be a different person at home versus at school. It’s not even that I feel comfortable because there are more Indian people, but that almost everyone I meet is genuinely interested to learn about my views and background. It is really nice to see that being reciprocated. It encourages me to learn more about them too!

“I didn't have to be a different

person at home versus at school.”

Arpita: Yeah, I would say the same thing about identity. Comfort is one thing that Simran said that I completely agree with. 

One example for me is my name (“Arpita” is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable.) Everyone before college knew me as Arpita (with stress on the latter half of the name), but that’s not how it is really pronounced. My parents at home don’t call me that because I have a nickname. So I hadn't really heard the real way to pronounce my name until I joined BE, and it felt so good. To this day, I still get excited when someone new pronounces my name correctly. 

It was so weird because in high school all the way until college, there was a huge disconnect.  I just felt different, like I was living a different life at home versus in school and my social life, I guess. But once I joined BE, I had a new friend circle. I could reach out to my teammates for anything since we are really, really close. And I'm so glad that I joined because of that. I’m not sure if everyone went through the same situation where they had this sort of culture shock — like they felt like they were leading slightly different lives. But once I joined the South Asian community at UNC, it just felt more normal. Like you don't have to explain certain things to people because everyone just knows.

Simran: Okay, so I always considered myself a Sikh first, and a Punjabi second. I related more to the religious aspect of my culture, not really the social one. I think it is because the only other Punjabis I met were through Gurdwara. So then going through college and meeting people, especially through BE, made me question more things about the social aspect of my culture. I would ask a lot of things from my parents, like the origins of bhangra. I knew it was a celebration of harvest, but what did that really mean? What was the life of a typical Punjabi? We talked about the different seasons and types of months, and what happens during those months. And then I would ask them the definitions of certain bhangra steps, like “pataka” and “morchaal.” And also, my brothers did bhangra when they were in college, so it was a way for me to connect with them, too. 

What's your favorite part about dancing? What’s your favorite thing about being on BE? 

Arpita: There are so many things I love! One main reason is that BE is a family, which is actually oversaid within our team. We are so close knit. I just truly see BE as my family. Also, I just love the performance experience — the exhilaration, the crazy anxiety, the adrenaline. Before every performance, I'm so scared, I just want to cry.

Simran: Right, and you're really scared that you’ll run out of energy, but you're really happy because you've been working for months to do that. Yeah, I finally get to showcase it to everyone.

Arpita: And then, the second you get on stage, the second the music starts, it (the nervousness) just goes away.  I just start smiling and dancing. And then, I don't even see the audience when I dance; I just see blinding lights, and I picture myself on stage with the team. It feels like we're just dancing in whitespace and we're interacting with our partners (called jodis) and dancers. Another reason is that it's literally the only form of exercise I do. Like, I don't do anything else. So you could say I need bhangra in order to stay fit.

“I just love the performance experience — the

exhilaration, the crazy anxiety, the adrenaline”

Simran: Also, your eye kind of changes towards things if that makes sense. Especially different dance styles and, like I said earlier, I did “kathak” but I was not that great at the emotion part of it, which is like half of it. But I learned how to, I guess, show attitude, and I learned how to become the way I wanted to look. So you could look at other people dancing, and I'd point out things and be like, “Oh, I really like that. I'm gonna try to emulate that in my dancing.” So it's just you have a different spin on when you look at other people's dancing now to learn a different way to express yourself.

Arpita: So for bhangra, there's different types of segments. There’s “soft jhummar,” which is really flowy with cute interactions between you and your jodi. And then there's “hard jhummar,” which has a cocky vibe. And then there's the end segment,  which is full, straight energy. And there are other segments too. But the vibe of the different segments comes from the music and the expression on our faces, called “nakhra.” We have to show different expressions on our faces based on the music. But when we’re performing, it's natural, like we're having fun. So it just automatically shows on our faces whereas, like, a couple years ago, that would not be natural for me. 

Simran: BE has a very encouraging community. For example, every time we learn a segment, we dance it in front of half of the team so we can watch each other for feedback and take videos. Throughout the set people are clapping and cheering for us. I mean, it's just…. I literally cannot fathom how awesome it is to be Indian in North Carolina. I feel like I'm actually myself now that I'm here. 

Arpita: I think Simran touched on this several times, but once I came to Chapel Hill and became a part of the South Asian community, I did feel like myself. Like in high school, being Indian was clearly a part of me. That is who I am. But I feel like I wasn't able to fully express myself in public places, like school. I felt boxed in and I couldn't connect with other people as easily because I was more of a minority. But now, at UNC especially, there are so many different cultures and large numbers of people for each culture. 

“Once I came to Chapel Hill and became a part

of the South Asian community, I did feel like myself.”

Simran: I love how people are unapologetically themselves; there's so much cross-cultural appreciation. It's just like, the cultural area is very- it's a safe space. We have an event called, “Bhangra Sutra,” where we invite a bunch of different performing nightclubs, groups, young performing teams, from across UNC. So they perform whatever they're going to, but then, we add a little snippet of bhangra into it, but a person on our team will help them choreograph, like something that incorporates a little segment- that incorporates bhangra into their set.