Last summer, incoming Saint Louis University sophomores Moumita Das and Tanie Chackumkal found themselves plotting the launch of something new.

“SLU has never had a fusion dance team,” Das said. “I knew other schools had fusion dance teams. I just thought that it would be a great opportunity for ISA and students from all over campus.”

Currently, Das and Chackumkal serve as the president and vice president of SLU’s first fusion dance team, a chartered student organization composed of girls in SLU’s Indian Student Association who perform dance routines created through a variety of dancing styles.

“The reason we wanted to have our separate chartered group is so we could interact with the other teams and learn from them,” Das said. “This year, we had jazz, lyrical, modern, hip-hop, African, classical-but next year we might put in some salsa.”

Putting the team together was a lot more difficult than Das and Chackumkal originally realized.

“Being a freshman last year and [with] no experience on a competitive dance team, it took a lot of work,” Das said. “It was just figuring out all the little things, like how do [other teams] hold tryouts?”

Eventually, the two did hold auditions and looked for dancers who could adapt to several different styles.

“We were looking for experienced girls that obviously had technique and a background in dance . . . [girls] taking it in stride and trying to learn a new style of dance,” Das said.

The team has been practicing every week in the Simon Recreation Center, usually in whatever room is available to them on a given night.

“The practices can be tough, but we all end up leaving together as friends,” said Lindy Harrison, sophomore and member of the team.

Das is the first to admit that the team suffered from some organizational issues toward the beginning of the year and is thankful for the girls on the team who put in the effort and helped define how the team should be run.

“Going into it, everyone was really skeptical and didn’t know what to expect. I didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “If we ever did have a little bump in the road, [the girls] were all willing to sit down and work out that little hump. They were all really invested in it.”

Recently, the team competed in a fusion dance competition in California hosted by UCLA. Members of the team worked hard to make sure they made it to the competition.

“Every single one of the girls put money into it,” Das said. “We obviously came from nothing. The dues were $30. We had to fundraise for everything. . . . Our costumes were really low budget. We got there and you could tell that we were the underdogs.”

Nevertheless, the team held their own against its far more experienced competitors.

“It’s just been an honor to be accepted into the competition and be a part of something like that,” Das said. “People in this category of dance are powerhouses. They have been at it for years with their schools.”

The team hopes to enter more competitions next year, armed with lessons learned from this year’s experience.

“I feel like, since it was our first year, it was kind of rough, but I feel like we’ve gotten better,” said sophomore Tesse Eichenauer.

Das agrees.

“Going against these schools has been a great learning experience, an experience not only for me, but for all the girls,” she said.

For her part, Chackumkal is excited to see where the team she helped start will go next It’s a lot of work, but she’s just glad to be involved in dance.

“I’ve been dancing my whole life,” she said. “It’s what makes me happy.”

The team will be selling T-shirts in the Busch Student Center next week to fundraise and raise awareness of the team.

They will be holding auditions for new members in the fall. Interested girls should be on the look out for flyers in the fall for more information.