For those talented few on campus, performing arts groups like Penn Dhamaka and Pennaach provide outlets for guys and girls to let loose. These groups, all-male and all-female respectively, have become homes of fraternal and sororal bonding for group members.
Many groups center around a shared ethnic heritage, such as South Asian or African dance and traditions, which cultivate a shared sense of identity. But even within groups fostering cultural unity, a new type of solidarity emerges when the group is single-sex.
College senior Supriya Challa has danced with Pennaach since she arrived at Penn. She said she has found that her group is a home base of supportive females "like a sorority or a sports team. The girls I go to first and foremost nine out of 10 times would be ‘Naach girls.”
Arjun Bhimavarapu of Penn Dhamaka said he enjoys the camaraderie that comes along with being a member of Dhamaka. He enjoys "chilling out with 20 people who are just goofballs, saying stupid things.” The dance troupe is “like a fraternity in a sense,” he added.
College and Wharton senior Ankit Dhir, of Penn Masala, echoed this sentiment. He said Masala is “very fratty” and that he likes the comfortable dynamic of an all guys group. “If I make a mistake or look weird, it’s okay because it’s just guys, and we don’t have girls to impress.”
Initially, some performers are not crazy about the idea of a single-sex group. Bhimavarapu said that the all-male aspect of the group wasn’t a “deterrent or a beneficial factor” in his choice to join the group. He added that “you’re forced to be more creative when you’re all male… you don’t have partner songs or partner dances.”
College freshman Michelle Rice of the all-female a cappella group Atma said she “didn’t initially like the idea of an all-female group.” But, since she’s joined, she has grown to love her group for the “girl time” it allows her.
She added that the all-female presence not only impacts song selection but also changes the group’s image. “I would guess that we have more sex appeal than a mixed group, which is obviously more androgynous as a whole,” she said.
