Having performed at family functions since she was young, dance is nothing new for first-year public health student Devi Patel, but she didn't know Bhangra. She said it was the excitement of that new challenge that truly made her feel like she belonged in USC Akshara.
“Having to learn something that I haven’t (done) at all, it was a gamechanger,” Devi Patel said. “That was what really made me decide to stay on the team.”
Bhangra, an energetic form of dance that traces its roots back to the Indian state of Punjab, is only one of several styles that Akshara, a Bollywood fusion competitive dance team, practices. Much like how the American entertainment industry is broadly referred to as Hollywood, Bollywood serves as an umbrella term for India’s industry.
Along with Bhangra, the team is influenced by contemporary hip-hop, South Indian Tollywood and various forms of classical Indian dance such as Kathak and Bharatnatyam. Devi Patel said the team’s routines blend those diverse styles of music and dance to create an identity that’s distinctly and proudly Indian American.
“In our sets we’re dancing to the Weeknd and then we’re dancing to an Indian song the next 30 seconds,” Devi Patel said. “Everything is mixed together.”
After starting in the fall semester, Akshara is a new beginning for Bollywood fusion dance at USC. However, there’s a much longer history behind the discipline at USC. A previous group, USC Moksha, began in 2006 and competed for the last 18 years before leaders chose to close it down last spring, with several going on to found Akshara.
Third-year interdisciplinary studies and medical student Prisha Patel serves as one of Akshara's choreography captains, having previously been a captain for USC Moksha. She said things had become stagnant, and the decision to rebrand and start fresh was the right one.
”I’ve seen so much progress already,” Prisha Patel said. “So many talented dancers came to us. We were able to put so much more effort in and bond as a team than we had in the past.”
Though many Akshara members have been dancing since childhood, second-year exercise science student Lauren Vallabhaneni said it’s by no means required.
“You can come on and we can teach you,” Vallabhaneni said. “That’s one of the best things about it.”
USC Akshara performed at this year’s Aag Ki Raat Night of Fire, a Bollywood-fusion dance competition in South Carolina, on Jan. 24, 2026, at the Koger Center for the Arts. They are a competitive Bollywood-fusion dance team at the University of South Carolina that officially formed in the fall 2025 semester.
Akshara has been preparing for its first season of competition within Desi Dance Network, an organization that operates circuits for teams across the country to compete in. On Jan. 24, Akshara hosted one of the first competitions of the year at the Koger Center for the Arts.
The event, called Aag Ki Raat, brought together eight schools, from as close as Georgia and as far as California. As hosts, Akshara did not compete in the event, but it did have its debut live performance as a team.
Prisha Patel said the practice process leading up to the season is intense but rewarding.
“You really come together as a team,” Prisha Patel said. “I’ve met a lot of my best friends, my roommates, all of them on the dance team.”
Vallabhaneni, who is of mixed race, said joining the team gave her both a strong support system on campus and a newfound connection to her family’s culture.
“I feel like I have a lot of exposure to my Irish side, but not so much my Indian side,” Vallabhaneni said. “Now I have a community that ... understands that other part of me.”
Prisha Patel said leading and watching the team come together and improve has been a joyful and gratifying experience.
“It means a lot, not just to me, but also the dancers,” Prisha Patel said. “They know that all this time they’re putting in is worth it.”
Devi Patel said it was nerve-wracking but also thrilling to lay the foundation of the new team’s legacy.
“When they search up Akshara, that is the first video they’re going to see,” Devi Patel said. “Our family and friends are coming, and being able to perform in front of a crowd for the first time with a new team, I feel like that’s the thing I’m most excited about.”
Second-year interdisciplinary studies and medical student Sanjana Tripuraneni, who serves as the team’s logistics captain, said the debut lived up to the high expectations they set for themselves.
“It was honestly everything to us,” Tripuraneni said. “We were able to start off strong and set USC up for success following this performance, and we’re really proud.”
Third-year political science student and co-choreography captain Vidya Mehta said performing in front of the other Bollywood fusion teams that had traveled to Columbia for Aag Ki Raat was a perfect and powerful atmosphere for USC Akshara’s launch.
“We’ve all put in so many hours and work in practice time, and we’re all passionate about it, and it’s beautiful to see that,” Mehta said. “Dance can bring a community together and bring our culture together too.”
More information on USC Akshara, which is co-ed, is available through its Instagram and Garnet Gate pages. Its next and first competitive performance will be on Feb. 7 at Indiana University.