UT Bollywood Team Soars with South Asian Dance
- Sep 30, 2025
Texas Mohini, founded in 2006, is UT’s longest-running all-girl Bollywood fusion dance team. This year, they became UT’s first dance team to compete in the Desi Dance Network, a collegiate championship circuit of more than 150 dance teams throughout North America.
Blending classical Indian dance forms with hip-hop and contemporary, Texas Mohini captures the versatility of South Asian dance, pushing themselves physically and artistically. During the Spring 2025 semester, the group competed in the Legends Dance Championship, ultimately placing third.
Despite integrating some western choreographic and musical elements, Texas Mohini bases their routines mainly on Indian classical movements and gestures that reflect the dancers’ respective childhood roots.
“Most of our roots come from Kathak and Bharatanatyam [classical dance forms],” said Shreia Sunder, a senior biology major and team co-captain. “Showcasing that through our set is something we love doing.”
Each dance production packs together moving set pieces, costume changes and sound mixes that weave cinematic plotlines into a performance with four or more songs. Building the set pieces themselves, the group performs a 10-minute set before breaking the sets down for the next competition.
“Bringing all our ideas back to life on stage is probably one of the hardest parts,” said Pari Agarwal, a junior marketing major and Mohini’s social media chair. “Translating it from practice and the vision that we have to exactly what we want in front of an audience and on television is not easy.”
To prepare for competitions, the team practices up to 12 hours a week, but the constant proximity and their competitive spirit bring the team together, fostering relationships that go far beyond the studio. Starting from the first rehearsal, the team promotes camaraderie and cultural pride, which stay with the dancers even after graduation.
“Our team wants to be successful, … so we use that to motivate them,” said Anshu Lakshman, a senior economics major and team co-captain. “At the end of the day, if you’re spending this much time in practice and you’re spending a lot of your personal time [together], you don’t want it to be for nothing.”
