Bombay in the Bay: an experience that still brings joy months later

Photo by Sanjoli Gupta

 Sophomore choreographers Ameya Saund and Kavya Patel teach the partners dance.

As I sat on the steps of the quad in early January, my heart couldn’t stop pounding. Numerous members of the sophomore class looked at me expectantly, waiting for me to lead a Bombay in the Bay (BnB) partner dance practice — on my own. Though it was extremely demanding to get a group of about 20 sophomores to hear and listen to me, everything worked out and students picked up the steps quickly. 

Bombay in the Bay is an annual celebration meant to bring people of the community together and provide entertainment to everyone attending the show. Bombay in the Bay is also meant to raise money for charities in India, a different one being donated to every year. 

For this year’s BnB performance, I signed up to be a choreographer for the sophomore partner dance as well as a dancer in the classical dance. While I had participated in the show my freshman year, this year’s experience was quite different, mainly because of my new choreographing role. 

The process started weeks before practices. The coed choreographers — sophomores Anu Thakur, Ameya Saund, Dhruv Nemani, Tashi Vasudeva and I — were tasked to look at songs, coordinate practices through messenger polls, help with costumes and update the BnB officers on our progress. I was in charge of the partner dance choreography for one of our songs, “Badtameez Dil,” with the other song being “Dilliwaali Girlfriend,” another Bollywood classic. 

Once we figured out the initial logistics, we decided to have in-person practices twice a week. Though there were supposed to be two choreographers managing the group of 25 people, that soon wasn’t an option. My co-choreographer for one of the sophomore partner songs got sick with COVID-19, so I was left to teach the dance alone, a task that turned out to be harder than I initially anticipated. 

I found it challenging to get people to pay attention to me but I remained calm. This was difficult due to the lack of participation from various people present. However, once I started dancing, a small group of people started to pay attention and, eventually, everyone was learning alongside each other.

In the weeks before BnB, most acts practiced at least once a week for two hours. As time went on, the dances slowly came together and it was very rewarding to see everyone’s hard work pay off.

The atmosphere was also different this year compared to my freshman year: When I wasn’t a choreographer, BnB practices felt like a hangout session with my friends; in contrast, this year I was anxious about what people would think of my choreography

Although there were some rough spots leading up to the show, which took place Feb. 18 and Feb. 19, nothing could outshine the thrill of performing on stage in person. 

I vividly remember rushing out of the changing room, when I had to rapidly change out of my classical costume into my sophomore costume, and was met with all the sophomores congratulating each other. I started to talk, but was immediately shushed because I was being too loud and the audience could hear me. While we all whispered and tried to contain our laughter backstage, I couldn’t believe that this experience was going to end soon. 

Looking back several months later, I can say my experience in BnB was, despite the stress, extremely rewarding. I am incredibly grateful I had the chance to perform in person with my friends. 

My advice: Consider joining BnB. You can’t find a better way to meet new people, have fun and be involved in the community.