Although this is a few days overdue (BBC takes up all your time), I feel it's really important for teams and the community to know how amazing OPA's 1st ever bhangra competition went! My review is below:
Overall:
Competition was run extremely smoothly. Contrary to the US stereotype of canadian teams (lol), the overwhelming majority of Canadian teams were extremely hospitable and nice-- they did a great job of making us feel at home. Friday was simple and non-intrustive, short logistically so we could go on and do our own thing. Saturday was great since we were done at 3pm, and all the stress was gone for the afternoon/evening. The competition itself had qualified and well known judges (unfortunately no female judge though) and venue was good choice. Hopefully it will get more attendance in years to come. Overall no major issues and a great time-- I'd recommend this competition to every US team for next year!! OPA really blew us away, and their committee is truly dedicated to the teams and has a great passion for the bhangra community!
Leading up to competitionGood:
-AMAZING help by Sunny (the organizer). He got back to my emails very quickly and answered ALL my questions. On top of his shit when teams are in need, it was great. How every competition organizer should be!
Improve:
-Notify to us before we ask sometimes. For example, I didn't get a request for lighting or mix until day of...not that it's a big deal, but I was atleast expecting an email like here's the update and what you have to look forward to.
FridayHotel...Courtyard MarriotGood:
-comfy rooms
-great price of $73+tax a night (canadian dollars! wooh!)
-lobby, with all the sitting area, became a great congregation place to meet other teams
Improve:
-Would be great to have a hotel with a bigger banquet room, as 25x25ft wouldn't be good enough for teams who want to do a quick late night brush up.
-All rooms we got were king + sofabed...especially with a co-ed teams, having those two queen size beds is clutch...so keep that in mind when doing the block reservervation next time
"Captains Mixer": 8pm, we all sat around, they went over competition details, pretty chill. Good:
-Quick and to the point, we got the info we needed, assigned liason, and show order
Improve:
-Randomizing team order is silly. Pick out of a hat for teams and let them have the choice.
-Assign a liason earlier, 1 month b4 the comp!! It was great to have the organizer helping us until this point, but as your comp gets bigger you will need to split up these responsibilities earlier
-It would be great to have an actual mixer or organized hang out of sorts...we were EXTREMELY blessed that all the teams were being hospitable but if more teams were there I feel it would have been tougher.
SaturdayStage runthrough, getting ready, show Stage runthroughs at 9, got ready at venue, competition started at 12:30, ended by 3!
Good:
-shuttle to and from hotel, great
-Nice auditorium, sick lighting and sound, great stage. Great venue overall
-Dressing rooms for each team. Despite a minor confusion, we got a room for guys and girls with plenty of space and great facilities.
-They had plenty of water and snacks around, so that was clutch.
-Comp was run well, I could grab anyone wearing those nametags and ask for help and they were VERY helpful. Staff truly cared. Great attribute to have at a comp.
-Stayed on schedule, and everything was done in an orderly fashion! Great!
Improve:
-Please notify us things before hand...we were told we have to be upstairs in 30 seconds for our stage runthrough we were like WTF! And ran up, forgot our camera etc. But they were acommodating and fair.
--> If the stuff is running late, we assume stuff is pushed back.If you stick on schedule , notify the teams immediately so there's no rush!
-Ticket sales/attendance could have been better! First year comps are usually like this though, so be sure to hype it up a lot next year.
-light breakfast in morning was wraps(?)...maybe muffins or bagels? Not too big a deal though. Food is food
-MC: Ok. MC's should never comment about comparison of teams. At one point they were like WOAHH Team Y that was phenomenal. Team X who just went better watch out! Faux pas. Male MC entertaining, Girl MC needed to tone it down a notch
Afterparty-Seven lounge downtown
Good:
-Great venue, good music (from what I remember)
-Shuttle to and from venue: CLUTCH
Improve:
-friendly bhangra battles were imminent and always are at bhangra competitions. Since you already know this, always try to get as big a space as possible!
-please get bhangra music for the bus ride lol. I was stuck listening to silly hindi movie music haha.
Side note: Canada is really expensive! We bought two handles of crown and that cost $110. US teams, buy your alc at customs!
Performances are already up, so no need for team reviews.
Big shoutout to Sunny, Aman, Vic (who tied 40 paghs lol) , Jandooooo!, Satmik, Mandy, Ranjit and everyone else we met on all the teams ( i know I left out a bunch of ppl) !! I hope to see some of you in Boston at BBC or at other competitions to come-- we'll party it up and I'd love show you guys around my city.
Kapil
MIT Bhangra Captain
