Dandiya Raas

Men and women traditionally play dandiya-raas and the dance operates in pairs, meaning the group must contain an even number.

Kapila Vatsyayan argued that the aesthetic theory of the Rasa gives the underlying unity to the Indian arts.

Garba-Raas emerged as a competitive dance style due to the efforts of the Federation of Gujarati Associations of North America (FOGNA).

[5] The Garba-Raas competitive dance style was further developed in the early 2000s by first generation Indian-American college students.

[5] Male and female students typically perform competitive Garba-raas with 12-16 dancers on stage at a time and always in even numbers if possible, even though the routine itself is not completely based on partner interactions.

Dancers take up an entire auditorium stage with different types of formations and movements throughout an approximately six-minute dance piece.

Throughout the piece, dancers either do choreography facing the audience or interact with other partners on stage for short periods of time in a reference to the traditional roots of Garba-raas.

Unlike traditional dandiya-raas or Garba, collegiate Garba-raas do not have a set centre focal point.

[5] Raas All-Stars (RAS) is the national organization under which the collegiate Garba-Raas competitions and teams function.

"[9] Judging rubrics for all RAS Bid Competitions are created and curated by the Executive Board of Raas All-Stars.

The rubric includes prompts such as: "Does the theme incorporation seem to naturally fit with the team's performance without taking away from the dance or does it seem forced?"

[9] A team's choreography is judged by the opening and closing sequences, formations, originality, musicality, proximity to traditional Garba-Raas, complexity, structure and pacing.

[9] Execution is judged by a third rubric, which includes categories such as recovery, synchronization, transitions, energy, grace and overall impression.