well to be completely honest, i agree but to a certain extent....

so like for example, i think that teams that are collegiate and have been around for a while, and have an established eboard, REGARDLESS of having a somewhat new team every year, because the seniors pass certain things down to the freshman and they just continue to build upon this, and pass down certain aspects, the teams GENERALLY speaking tend to stay at their level....

although theres some exceptions like someone mentioned earlier of teams that were at their peak, then died out, then back again....

but if you look at some teams (in my opinion teams like NYU, Rutgers, VCU, etc)....REGARDLESS of a new team every year they stay at their peak

Where as newer teams have to learn things from scratch and get established.
I wont name names, but there are teams out there that maybe JUST recently learned how to do simple things such as tie paggs, where to buy saaps, etc, etc.

Where as the already established teams at the least just have to continue the old routines, formations, perhaps try and develop new ones, and have alot of wisdom already passed down to them

however, i definitely do agree with you to a certain extent. Being on a collegiate team myself, and having lost so many seniors every spring, and having to recruit and train new freshman DEFINITELY is one of the harder tasks a collegiate team must deal with.

It wouldnt be newer teams, it would just be teams that havent had a chance to establish themselves because of the mass amount of applications to competitions.  Much of the people attending competitions would be ignorant of the teams, the only thing is that you would need to pick teams that you think will fit your criteria of a good show.  Finally, a lot of teams that havent gotten in before would probably benefit from getting in because competing just ups the anty at practices and makes people ridiculously motivated to do stupid things (6-2 practices...lol)

I really think that more competitions should "blindly" select teams to compete...Instead of focusing on the name and rep of the team applying, just base selection on the application/video....that way, really strong teams who may not be well established have a fair shot...being on a competition committee I know that being completely objective is more of an ideal than realistic, but still, it would be nice 

I would really encourage collegiate bhangra teams to throw bhangra competitions.  Think about the competitions on the East Coast: Boston Bhangra, Bhangra Blowout, AVAP, Burgh.  Other than Burgh, you have a lot of professionally run (or "set" i.e. they just need to re-do what was done last year) competitions. I would follow in what Binghamton did with Bhangra Fever:

- moderately sized competition keeps logistics a bit easier and easier to find a venue.
- modest prize money ($5000 will bring all the powerhouses. Even with $900 1st place prize last year, they got good teams).  The lower prize money makes it easier to budget for the competition organizer, and means that teams won't be flying cross country to kick ass at your competition.

Beyond this, it's an excellent opportunity to hold an event on your campus and raise the community's awareness of the Bhangra team.  It's via oncampus performances and Pao Bhangra that Cornell Bhangra became a 'household' name in Ithaca, people didn't know about bhangra coming into Cornell.

Examples of competitions that have done this: Bhangra Fever, and now it's getting bigger. Burgh, now it's getting bigger. VPD's getting bigger. 

+1 

very few bhangra teams organize their own collegiate bhangra competition....but i definitely think its a plus...
i feel if the organizers are dancers/team members themselves, ALOT of times when making decisions about competitions they think ALOT more on a "what would the audience/teams/judges enjoy more" rather than, what will save us a few quick bucks, or make us a few quick bucks

No disrespect to competitions that are set up by organizations, or individuals who aren't on teams, there are plenty of great ones out there that are, but just my opinion

Quote from: walkertexasjr on December 13, 2009, 06:58:44 PM

Quote from: psoni1 on December 13, 2009, 06:37:26 PM

I really think that more competitions should "blindly" select teams to compete...Instead of focusing on the name and rep of the team applying, just base selection on the application/video....that way, really strong teams who may not be well established have a fair shot...being on a competition committee I know that being completely objective is more of an ideal than realistic, but still, it would be nice 

I initially thought that was how it was done, and then a) someone told me it wasn't, and b) I realized that the primary goal of the competitions are to make money, and promote bhangra dancing.  The goal is to draw people to the venue, and that usually takes a well-known, crowd-pleasing team/money-maker to do it.  Apparently for Raas comps, you're not allowed to indicate what team you are at all (clothing, logos, etc) in your video/background of audition video.  I agree when you say it's an ideal - unfortunately its still a business decision...

yeah itd be interesting
perhaps when teams apply they shouldnt apply with a name but simply as each application comes in, the organizers should label them as Application 1, Application 2, Application 3, etc etc.

I wonder if fusion team committees do their process more like 'us' or like raas competitions

Thats wut DDA does...when they view videos the team name is blurred out - and they label all the teams by 1,2,3,etc....

i like that way...BUT at the same time i think that it shud be prac videos that are judged b/c i think that if someone sends a comeptition video then maybe it cud alter a committee's decisions b/c they cud be able to tell frm the vardiyaan n stuff which team it is?

i bet vpd labeled all the teams by numbers except when it came to our team they posted in bold and all caps "ECU BHANGRA"

How about a competition that picks the top losers for the year, like Terrible Ten instead of Elite Eight. They still bring crowd, and it could be fun to watch!

Quote from: abhigames on December 14, 2009, 12:57:09 AM

How about a competition that picks the top losers for the year, like Terrible Ten instead of Elite Eight. They still bring crowd, and it could be fun to watch!

Sounds bad to say this...but I would SO pay to watch that.

How did you manage to refresh, quote, and type a reply to a post within 75 seconds.

Quote from: rajkaran on December 14, 2009, 12:58:25 AM

Quote from: abhigames on December 14, 2009, 12:57:09 AM

How about a competition that picks the top losers for the year, like Terrible Ten instead of Elite Eight. They still bring crowd, and it could be fun to watch!

Sounds bad to say this...but I would SO pay to watch that.

How did you manage to refresh, quote, and type a reply to a post within 75 seconds.

Just finished a term paper...my fingers are FAST and I'm on a post-paper high! WOO-PAH!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj9hmg9eVkI

At the same time bro, bhangra competitions are a species on their own. They aren't only competitions they are SHOWS. Selling tickets is a big part to what makes a competition successful and keeps competitions going... so when you say its wrong of organizers to think of saving money or selling out....its a huge part of what makes it or breaks it.

I def agree that all teams should get a chance to showcase their talents...all i'm saying is I don't know how many people out there are willing to take the risk of putting on a show like this....

Touche, that i can agree with

but one thing organizers could do is put a little more leg work into getting sponsors than relying solely on ticket sales, and therefore with more money they could utilize it more perhaps if they set up a competition like this, that some people may think would not sell out as quick as comps w. a crazy lineup like E8, then they could use that extra money t attract ticket sales such as paying bigger/better known teams to exhibit, or perhaps an artist

but i definitely see your point,

quite honestly i wasnt bashing their committee i was making a joke. if you read the vpd thread then you would realize i never once bashed their committee, i kept my mouth shut. and your not on our team so you don't know the speech i gave our team about being respectful of vpd's decision and working harder to get into it next year or to other comps - don't bring this stuff back up man - its done w/ and quite frankly no one on our team wants to revisit it after a really rough week about this.

hope med school is going well for you