By Abigail Olear

Maryland Manzar is the University of Maryland’s newest coed dance team. 

The ensemble aims to spread South Asian beauty and culture through performance and storytelling. Manzar means spectacle, view or show in Urdu. 

“The main definition, spectacle, that’s what we want to be portrayed as,” sophomore biology and psychology major and Maryland Manzar manager Aastha Patel said. 

Sophomore public health science and dance major Mihika Panicker’s had the sudden idea to form the team at the end of last semester. 

“It might have just been an impulsive thought that I had, but these guys backed me up from the start,” Panicker said.

After Panicker shared the idea with Patel, her roommate, the two and others were hard at work all summer creating an executive board, choreographing dances and marketing the new club on Instagram. They were welcomed by other groups on campus during their debut semester.

“We owe a lot to the other South Asian communities and clubs on campus,” Panicker said. “They definitely supported us along the way.”

The group now has a team of 36 dancers. All dancers perform on the group’s exhibition team while a select few will join the team for competitions in the spring.

Rehearsals are held three times a week as the group prepares for their first performance at the Pakistani Student Association’s Met Gala Fall Event on Nov. 3.

Voices of excited dancers fill the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center’s lobby as dancers catch up while stretching. Dressed in anything from jeans to pajamas, the dancers morph into a cohesive body as the music begins. Between each run through of the dance, Panicker encourages the group to give all they have as they near their performance..

The team’s cohesion extends beyond choreography. Tharindi Jayatilake, sophomore biology and psychology major and Manzar choreographer, said the group feels like a family.

“Coming here and seeing all these people who love dance just as me and are willing to work as hard as me to get to the same goal, that is what I was looking for, and I found it here,” Jayatilake said.

Patel said she enjoys expressing her culture through Manzar, something she didn’t get the chance to do growing up.

The team will continue to rehearse for various performances in the winter and prepare for competition season in the spring, all while living out Panicker’s spontaneous dream from last semester.

“Our dream will just continue to grow,” Panicker said. “Imagining what we could be is something that ties us all together.”

Featured Image: Maryland Manzar’s Fall 2023 team. Photo courtesy of @marylandmanzar on Instagram.