The day was July 28, 2014, and I was sitting in the hall where the orientation was to happen, gazing at a few students dancing in sync on my first day of college. They were part of E=MC2 – the official dancing team at Malviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur.
I’m a final year undergraduate student now, back then I didn’t know that I was going to become a part of E=MC2 soon.
When I started college, I was quite the introvert. Competitive entrance examinations had sucked the life and humour out of me. For the state of solitude I was in for the longest time, it was difficult for me to come out of that and give the audition to be a part of the dancing team. The only difficult bit was for me to get to the stage, once I got up there, I knew things would be easy.
No, I am not a very good dancer. I just have the support of nice people who think I’m good enough.
I was selected after the auditions and became the junior most dancer on the team. As a junior member, we had our customary responsibilities like getting birthday cakes, bringing speakers, etc. I never really understood why I was being made to do these tasks. And if you’ve done it in the same capacity, you must not have liked it too. But soon I realised, as I moved onto my second year, responsibilities evolved. We begin with small responsibilities and move on to bigger ones, and we do so together so that we’re all becoming better as a team.
Well, another beautiful thing about being in the first year was that on every weekend practice the seniors used to stay at the central lawn, while we would get food from the mess for the entire team, and then we’d sit and eat together. I can assure you, everyone ate, and still eats much more than they normally do, even today.
Then came the transition period, when I was in the second year and was moving onto the third. I had fewer responsibilities and was trying my hand at introducing new choreography to the team. The first time I had contributed to choreography, it was for all but 11 seconds.
I know, the time frame looks small, but when you’re dancing every second is crucial. It’s difficult to remember all that you have to do, each and every second of those 900 seconds. It’s an almost bloodcurdling experience when you forget what you were supposed to do even for a second.
In my time at E=MC2, we’ve participated in a few events in the last couple of years, but the outcome hadn’t been great. We were shellacked in the first year and were sad. But we would all give our 100 percent for each performance. It’s a lot of hard work. We plan the magic that happens on stage, building it bit by bit or one can say, ‘beat by beat’ and that’s how it’s done.
And as it is said, hard work puts you where good luck can find you. Our victory streak started off really well. Our recent successes include the annual dance competition at LNMIIT which we had been struggling to win for last few years. I had promised my seniors that I would get the title back to MNIT once I get to my final year. And when we finally won it, it was one of the best moments of my life.
The elements that we add to our choreography now is more competitive. A lot more thought goes into what we do, and we all arrive at a consensus, that’s where the strength of the team lies. Many came to our college fest to watch us perform, and that really is truly a lot. It’s something I’ll carry with me once I graduate.
I’d wish though that the college was more active in recognising and encouraging all the work we’ve been doing. There are many cultural societies in the college, but when it comes to providing facilities to the students, there’s stark ignorance and complete disinterest. Over the years, we’ve had major trouble with funding and a lack of space to practice. We don’t have a separate practice area nor do we have a storage room to keep our props safe. I am putting this out because we’ve been suffering for quite a while now but I am hopeful that the college administration will take notice and help the team out.
And I am certain that E=MC2’s winning streak will continue.
You can follow the team on Instagram – @mc2_officialpage.