This past June, senior Kajol Parikh and junior Sai “Anu” Suresh brought home a first-place trophy with their team at the World Dance Competition in Bologna, Italy. The girls were recognized in the following categories: Best Costume, 1st Folk, and 2nd Ethnic.

Kajol has been dancing for 13 years, this year marking her last. She considers the dance studio to be her “second home.” Under Guru Bina Menon, she has learned bharathanatyam, kuchipudi, and mohiniyattam. “I’m not entirely sure how I’ll accept the fact that I’m leaving this year, but the memories of this aspect of my childhood will be lifelong, including this first experience at a competition,” she says.

Kajol says her favorite thing about dance is “being able to flow with the music and have greater control of my body. Letting go of all things pending once I enter the studio and being able to enjoy the moment feels so freeing.” She also says dance helps her in other aspects, such as memory, coordination, and discipline.

Anu has been dancing for 12 years and, like Kajol, is trained in bharathanatyam, kuchipudi, and mohiniyattam. Over the summer, she had her arangetram, which is a graduation ceremony for a specific classical art (dance, in this case). “This past year, [dance] has been a huge stress reliever. I like that there’s always something new to learn, so you keep pushing yourself harder,” Anu says.

Anu identifies her favorite part about the competition as spending time with her team. She says, “There are 14 of us in total in the group, and all of us have been in the same class since I started dance. This has been a chance for us to really get close.”

In the time leading up to the competition, the team’s only priority wasn’t learning the dance. The dance took two months to learn, but in that time, the girls also had to go over sketches and prepare costumes for the competition.

“It started off slow and strenuous, going over the same steps until it met expectations,” Kajol says. “In Italy, we had two days to practice, so we quickly put on our costumes and rehearsed in the back patio of one of the hotels, and in the parking lot of the theater nonstop until it was our turn on stage.”

The competition spanned two days: semifinals and finals. Kajol and Anu’s dance school automatically qualified for the semifinals due to the school’s win at a sister competition years ago.

The team competed in the folk category. Kajol and Anu describe how, in the dance, the team represented the seasons. They split into four groups, each representing a season, that came together at the end for a huge piece. “I think that’s what made the impact,” Anu says.

“I think our performance only looked good because all of us were able to comfortably communicate with and understand each other,” she adds. “So, when it came to the actual day of the performance, we were able to communicate with each other, even on stage.”