A thing that brings all the aspirants of the University of Delhi in this country to a sense of fascination is the University’s engagement with the performing arts. With a plethora of opportunities in fields like dance, music, dramatic, students are exposed to the discipline and the adventure of the arts that interest them. DU Beat brings to you the first of the six installations of its analysis of the top society in DU. The hard work was persistent, and the competition heartening. Let’s delve into who made the cut and how.

Methodology

The best college society in each category was selected by creating a tally of the top 3 positions that could be won at various events. The society that secured the 1st position was awarded 3 points, the society that secured the 2nd position was awarded 2 points, and finally, the society securing the 3rd position was awarded 1 point.

34 college fests were considered in the making of the tally. The selection of these 34 colleges was based upon an analysis done by speaking with members of numerous college societies, and tracking the fests they considered most prestigious. The considered colleges are:

Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College

Aurobindo College (Morning)

Aryabhatta College

College of Vocational Studies

Dyal Singh College

Daulat Ram College

Delhi College of Arts and Commerce

Gargi College

Guru Gobind Singh College

Hansraj College

Hindu College

Indraprastha College for Women

Jesus and Mary College

Kamala Nehru College

Keshav Mahavidyalaya College

Kirori Mal College

Lady Irwin College

Lady Shri Ram College

Mata Sundri College

Maitreyi College

Miranda House

Moti Lal Nehru College (Morning)

PGDAV College (Morning)

Ramjas College

Ramanaujan College

Ram Lal Anand College

Satyawati College

Shaheed Bhagat Singh College

Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies

SGTB Khalsa College

SGND Khalsa College

Sri Venkateswara College

Shivaji College

Shri Ram College of Commerce

Top Three Positions

Alahyaa, the Indian music society of Daulat Ram College, bagged the first position with a robust lead of 39 points. Alaap (Sri Venkateswara College) followed at the second position with 17 points, while Miranda House and Hansraj College tied at the third position with 16 points.

Points Tally: Indian Music

The Winning Society at a Glance

The winning society, Alahyaa, shared its joy with DU Beat-

“Alahyaa is a group of people who relish music and more than that, understand it together. In togetherness and in unity, is how our society has functioned all these years.

This year we wanted to try something really unique and decided to create an amalgamation of two raags: Shankara and Chandrakauns. We begin with a Bandish in Shankara set in Ektaal, Jhoolna Jhulao which includes vivd taans which brings out the valour which Raag Shankara portrays.

Further ahead we sing a Tarana again in Shankara and set to Teental. We then enter Raag Chandrakuns through a Taan which begins in Shankara and then blends into Chandrakuns using the Nishad used in both these ragas. In Chandrakuns we sang a Tarana in Adachautal representing the fierceness in this raag. Finally, we recite a Ganesh Paran, in teental as we end our composition with a Sitar and Vocal Jugalbandi coupled with every instrument coming in sync at the end.

The incredible teamwork by every member helped consolidate something as soulful as this piece.

Starting from the raw ideas, the scattered Taans, the putting together, learning like absolute newbies, introducing modifications every other day, learning from scratch again, exercising our throats early morning, pushing each other, preparing rigorously, feeling electric onstage , winning and lunching together is what we basically live out. It’s kept us adaptive and resilient. Our love for this legacy we’ve had is what brought us here. We would like to take this opportunity to thank every person who has directly or indirectly contributed to Alahyaa’s growth.”

Performing Members

Mareelina Tamang (President)

Vasudha Prakash (General Secretary)

Aanchal Singh

Navya Whig

Sonalisa

Shreya Sharma

Samiksha Srivastava

Rashim Anand

Jullee Akham

Vandana Rohilla

Ishita Sabharwal

Instrumentalists

Sahitya (Co President) – Keyboards

Ashutosh Verma- Tabla

Antara Bhattacharya- Sitar

Winners Tally:

Out of the colleges included in the tally, Alahyaa secured victorious positions at the following college fests:

1st: Dyal Singh College, Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Hansraj College, Miranda House, Ram Lal Anand College, SGTB Khalsa College

2nd: Sri Aurobindo College (Morning), Gargi College, Maitreyi College, Kirori Mal College, Hansraj College, Shri Ram College of Commerce, Moti Lal Nehru College (Morning), Shaheed Sukhdev College of Business Studies

3rd: Kamala Nehru College, Lady Irwin College

Data Analysis and Compilation by:

Shivani Dadhwal

[email protected]

Anushree Joshi

[email protected]

Feature Image Designed by:

Palak Mittal for DU Beat

[email protected]

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Top Societies in DU Fest Season 2017: Terpsi Chorean, Hansraj College for Choreography

By Anagha Rakta May 30, 2017

Every year, the cultural societies in Delhi University work tirelessly to put their best foot forward and emerge as the winner. Likewise, this year, some teams managed to outshine others and win big at various college fests in the Varsity. We bring to you a series with the college societies that bagged the top positions during the fest season 2016-17.

The best college society in each category was selected by creating a tally of the top 3 positions at competitive events held during various cultural fests of this season. Whenever a society won the first prize they were awarded 3 points, for the second position they received 2 points.

In the Choreography category, Terpsi Chorean, Choreography Society of Hansraj College scored the maximum points. Terpsi Choreon’s 16 points were followed by Sparx, the Choreography Society of Gargi College (13 points). The third position was bagged by Sensation, the Choreography Society of Kirori Mal College (12 points).

The Winning Society at a glance

Terpsi Chorean, Hansraj College:

Their annual production named ‘The Unfading’ was a thrilling tale full of secrets and broken family ties, depicting the chilling effect that memory can have on us. It revealed how some of us obsess over some memories, run away from some, while others are repressed. The ten minute performance depicted how, contrary to popular belief, our memory is not our friend; it is a monster that controls us.

Palak Aneja, the President of the society says, “It feels extremely proud to have fought through all the odds and emerged victorious. Every word of appreciation from the audience brings a sense of accomplishment, because winning hearts is greater than just winning a competition. You can make the audience believe in your theme only when each team member truly believes in it. A lot of dedication and hard work goes behind the glorious victories, but nothing is impossible when we become each other’s strength, both on and off stage.

Performing members:

Palak Aneja – President
Anoushka Chopra – Public Relations Head
Shreyasee Sen – Treasurer
Pawni Singhal
Vidhi Maheshwari
Gauri Shukla
Rishita Sachdeva
Nehul Goyal
Sharvika Deo
Damanpreet Singh
Saksham Bhargava
Keshav Khurana
Deven Chhabra
Simran Sahni
Deepak Arora
Deepika Dubey
Shreya Setia
Raghavi Chauhan
Soumya Mittal

Winners Tally: Terpsi Chorean

Out of the considered fests this year, 8 had conducted a competitive Choreography event, namely Crossroads, Montage, Ullas, Tarang, Confluence, Mecca, Reverie and Nexus. Here is the list of winning performances by Terpsi Chorean (Hansraj College):

1^st Position: Crossroads, Tarang, Montage, Nexus

2nd Position: Mecca, Reverie

(Hover over the icons to know more about their victories)

Design by Alex Arthur
Picture Credits: Alex Arthur

Lovleen Kaur

[email protected]

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Top Societies of DU Fest Season 2016

Top Societies in DU Fest Season 2016: SRCC Dramatics Society for Street Play

By Nishita Agarwal April 20, 2016

Every year, societies from colleges across the campus compete neck to neck and put up spectacular performances during the fest season. This year too, saw certain teams shine a little brighter than the rest. We bring you a series with college societies that put their heart and soul into their respective fields and took home the top prizes at various cultural fests.

For the Street Play category, SRCC Dramatics Society scored the maximum points in the tally. SRCC Dramatics Society’s 8 points were followed by Ibtida (Hindu College) that scored 6 points. Vayam (Shivaji College) bagged third spot scoring 4 points.

Points Tally: Street Play Create bar charts

The Winning Society at a glance

SRCC Dramatics Society, SRCC

SRCC’s street play, The Defective Ward revolved around the plight of the mentally ill. While researching about various social issues, the society came to know an alarming fact: according to WHO, 1 out of 4 people suffer from a mental illness. They decided to research more on this and met experts and visited several mental health institutions which made them realise that this issue needs attention and they had the platform for it. Hence, all things fell in place.

Avikal Parashari, Director and Actor at SRCC’s Street Play Society said, “From the very beginning we were encouraged to feel for the cause and then perform. We visited a Mental Health institution called Vishwas where we met patients whose stories are reflected in our production. Maybe the love that they showered upon us made us win. Or maybe that dedication to do justice to the cause led us to this position.”

Names of the performing members: Avikal Parashari, Chiranjiv, Dhruw Harishankar, Lokesh Yadav, Medha Meenal, Saurav Goyal, Sandeep Behera, Sahibdeep Singh, Akshita Tatwal, Aditya Bamne, Amol Raswan, Gayathri Sonkar, Ishan Gautam, Jasdeep Sanghvi, Kamakshi Mahajan, Klirka Engtipi, Navneet Singh, Nitesh Agrawal, Nidhi Sangli, Rajan Lohia, Saraswati, Satyam Anand, Shreya Srivastava, Tejashri Balpande, Varun Kakkar

Winners Tally: SRCC Dramatics Society

Five college fests were referred to while evaluating the top societies tally this fest season which were: Confluence, Hans Raj College; Montage, JMC; Mecca, Hindu College; Reverie, Gargi College and Nexus, Sri Venkateswara College.

The society emerged victorious at the following fests:

1st Position- Montage, JMC and Nexus, Sri Venkateswara College
2nd Position- Reverie, Gargi College

(Hover on the icons below to know more about their victories)