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Each year some 20 undergraduate dance troupes at Boston College spend the better part of fall and spring preparing to compete at the annual AHANA Leadership Council Showdown, held in Conte Forum in April. Among these groups is Masti, the official dance team of the South Asian Student Association, whose Bollywood-inspired blend of traditional Indian and hip-hop styles won Showdown鈥檚 culture category in 2014 and 2015. (Masti is a Hindi word for 鈥渇un.鈥�) This April, Masti will vie for an unprecedented three-peat title. Director of University photography Gary Wayne Gilbert captured the troupe as it came together in a November rehearsal, prepared for a campus-wide show in December, and reconnected in January. To learn more about Masti, read Boston College Magazine鈥檚 鈥淲e Are Masti,鈥� in the

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Ram Arivudainambi 鈥�16 (foreground), at the start of a late November practice in the Brighton Dance Studio. Masti has nine members in all.
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Rehearsing 鈥淕et Low鈥� (a 2014 electronica song with a North African folk melody). Front row, from left: Pavel Gorelov 鈥�16 and Arivudainambi. Back row: Ashruti Patel 鈥�17, Geeta Shanbhag 鈥�18, and Soumya Parashar 鈥�19.
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Practicing 鈥減artner snaps,鈥� a set of moves created by the group, to 鈥淢arjaani,鈥� a song from the 2009 Bollywood film "Billu." From left: Patel (obscured), Aash Shrivastav 鈥�16, Arivudainambi, Parashar, Gorelov, and Maddy Chin 鈥�16.
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Rehearsing 鈥淚ndia Waale鈥� from the 2014 Bollywood action film "Happy New Year" in the larger, main room of the Brighton Dance Studio. From left: Parashar, Arivudainambi. Craparotta, and Shrivastav. Membership in Masti is open to any undergraduate with a 鈥渨illingness to have fun,鈥� according to a captain.
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Shrivastav (arms outstretched), one of four captains, critiques a run-through.
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Rehearsing 鈥淢ashallah,鈥� from the 2012 Hindi-English romantic thriller "Ek Tha Tiger" (鈥淎nd There Was a Tiger鈥�). From left: Shanbhag (also a captain), Shrivastav, Craparotta, and Ari Ratnaseelan 鈥�16 (another captain).
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Most practices end with 鈥渃ircle time,鈥� in which dancers share their highs and lows since the group last met. Clockwise from left: Arivudainambi, Craparotta, Shrivastav, Patel, Shanbhag, Ratnaseelan, and Parashar.
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In the Robsham Theater green room on December 2, before the dress rehearsal for a showcase of 11 Boston College dance troupes, organized by the University鈥檚 Arts Council.
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Foreground, from left: Parashar, Shrivastav, and Arivudainambi. The women wear kamarband belts that will jingle when they dance.
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Parashar (left) and Patel en route to the Robsham main stage for rehearsal.
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The group confers with Robsham technicians Margaux Villeneuve 鈥�18 (left) and Maggie Snell 鈥�16 about lighting.
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Performing thumkas (hip-checks) to 鈥淲orth It,鈥� by the American girl group Fifth Harmony.
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Rehearsing 鈥淢ashallah.鈥� From left: Craparotta, Arivudainambi, and Ratnaseelan. Arivudainambi鈥檚 shirt, made of silk, is called a sherwani.
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Patel, another captain, adjusts the dancers鈥� spacing on the Robsham main stage.
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Between run-throughs, Shrivastav (left) proposes a choreography change.
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Rehearsing 鈥淲iggle Bhangra Remix鈥� in Robsham. From left: Craparotta, Shanbhag, Ratnaseelan, Parashar, and Arivudainambi.
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Shanbhag out front during 鈥淲iggle Bhangra Remix.鈥�
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Arivudainambi at the center of the final formation of 鈥淚ndia Waale.鈥�
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Shrivastav rests after a second run-through in Robsham.
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Late January downtime in Corcoran Commons. Clockwise from left: Chin, Arivudainambi, Shrivastav, Ratnaseelan, and Gorelov.
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Clockwise from lower left: Ratnaseelan, Gorelov, Chin, Arivudainambi, and Shrivastav.
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