Lambda Chapter's Dance Fusion 2011
The gentlemen of Delta Epsilon Psi - Lambda Chapter held the 7th Annual Dance Fusion competition in Orlando, Florida at the Orange County Convention Center on February 12, 2011. Dance Fusion unlike other competitions features teams who blend or fuse together different genres of music, both Indian and Western. It is a highly anticipated event among teams across the nation each year.
This has only been the 2nd year the competition has been held in Florida. In 2010 the audience was blown away by the new electrifying style of dance, and this, year a crowd of nearly 700, showed up to see the performances. They were not disappointed as 9 teams left the audience in awe with their high energy, spirit and beats with their mixture of western and Indian dance creatively intertwined. The motto of Dance Fusion is “bringing cultures together one beat at a time.”
When Lambda Chapter was created 3 years ago by a group of young men at the University of Central Florida, one of their primary goals was to give the South Asian community a voice that seemed to be lacking among youth in Central Florida. It brings people back to their South Asian roots and continues to help them keep their culture alive through music and dance. Dance Fusion, like other Exit 10 events such as Garam Garba, which is held every summer including this upcoming summer, is a 100% charity event. It is one of the few, if not only dance competitions that donates its proceeds to charity. Nikesh Bhika, a member from Lambda Chapter, says that the audience turnout was really great this year and hopes for a larger turn out next year. “We’ve heard nothing but positive feedback about the show from our audience members who are already looking forward to next year.
We had nearly double the audience than we did the previous year but it’s still not as big as crowds are at events that take place in Tampa Bay or Miami. The audience plays an instrumental part in the environment and general atmosphere at the competition and the teams feed off their energy. The event nonetheless was very successful and I hope that we can a bigger audience attendance next year” says Bhika. The young leaders of Delta Epsilon Psi’s Lambda Chapter have truly brought something amazing to the Central Florida community with Dance Fusion.
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Anish Patel
Lambda Chapter, Gamma Class
