Team Reviews:

Kinnell provided some good analysis/reviews. I can simply provide some general feedback, because I would have to watch every team's performance over again to give specific suggestions on improvement.

Nakhre Jehre Maardey - Not bad for a performance without much practice, but that shouldn't be an excuse coming into a competition. Performance was sloppy, team members were not fully in sync, energy was good (but varied between people too much.. try getting everyone at the same level). Overall it looked you guys had fun performing and you can only get better with more practicing/performances. It's tough going first, but you guys held it down.

Gajjde Gabroo – Their singer, dholi, and sarangi player were really good. The dancers varied too much and didn’t function as one team (had distinct styles of executing the same move). Also, not all the guys would put in energy on all the moves. Some moves were not completed fully, especially during the faster portions of the performance. I would need to see a video of your routine to give you more specific suggestions.

PANJ Girls – Exact same routine as the Toronto Bhangra Youth Festival (TBYF), but just executed cleaner. Also the mela scene (which was awesome) was at the beginning, rather than the end. The varidiyan are sickkk and look great on stage. You guys had one of the best mixes of the night in my opinion and I really like a lot of the formations (they provided for great use of the stage). The variation in bhangra moves was great. I would just make sure people are executing moves the same way. Lastly, your energy was top notch and it would help for the future to make sure everyone it hitting their moves at the same time. Great job to Nicky for pulling through a great performance despite the chunni incident.

Texas Bhangra – The new vardiyan for this year are an improvement over last year. You guys seriously need to pin your chadre better though because I saw an awful lot of legs/shorts. Not surprisingly, this team had the most crowd support. Typical Texas Bhangra style with this routine, except finally incorporating more traditional elements. I would still want to see more variance in speed in the mix/routine with much more creative/complex formations. Also, work on getting in sync more.. especially with your quick changes in moves (doesn’t seem you guys repeat any moves). The end of your routine didn’t end with a “bang” because the guy with the TX flag fell, which you can’t afford to have happen at a competition. Overall, I feel Texas Bhangra concentrates more on quick movements, non-repetitive, in-your-face bhangra.. and I personally would like to see more grace. You guys have talented dancers, but you need to slowly walk through all your moves and make sure everyone is doing them the exact same way at the exact same time with more of a concentration on grace than speed. The short girl (I believe her name was Gini) tore it up with her energy/nakhre.

GMU Bhangra – I was in shock to see what this team brought (didn’t expect it at all). The routine was very explosive and much cleaner than Desi Dhamaka (while they had 12 dancers at Showdown vs only 8 dancers at Dhamaka). The vardiyan had contrasting colors and looked great on stage. Their dancers seemed so comfortable on stage and all of their facial expressions showed their confidence. Their moves were folk, but done to modern music (similar to VCU, SGPD, etc). The mix had a really good combination of slow & fast music, which matched the choreography perfectly. I agree with Kinnell that you guys should remove the leprechaun kick, because the first thing I said when I saw it was “they jacked that from SGPD.” It might have been cool to see for the average audience member, but since you guys are a nationally competing team, it would be safer to develop your own “trademark” moves. If you guys can implement a clean routine like this into more complex/varying formations, I totally agree with Kinnell that GMU could rise to the status of a tier one collegiate bhangra team this year. Look forward to seeing you guys improve and compete more!

UCLA Bruin Bhangra – BEST intro video of the night. I am sorry I don’t have more feedback for you guys. I don’t remember your performance specifically, so I would need to watch it/see it again.

LSD – Definitely had the most experienced dancers and it showed in their performance. Their singer was amazing (forgot his name) and Nana was great on dhol. Your vardiyan were some of the best I’ve seen; I loved how they shined on stage. The routine was done very well, with only minor mistakes that I noticed. Very traditional performance and I loved seeing so many different moves used in your routine. I feel you guys could have gotten a bit more creative with steps, while still keeping it folk. Energy wise, I thought you guys seemed a bit low in the beginning (maybe due to being nervous), but then picked it up toward the middle/end. The nakhre were really great (especially by the red jori & light blue jori).. but some of you guys would not be smiling and seemed to be concentrating on the moves more. Overall, I would have loved to see a greater variety of formations and high energy throughout the routine.

had a great time in texas....rupinder did a great job running the show, despite the fact that she wasnt feeling 100% either....it was great to see her and the siblings run the show together....bit of advice i have in regards to the lineup selection: the process made things way too complicated, i think picking numbers out of a hat would have been more fair to all the teams, or at least having all the teams there for the selection is important...but other than that, everything was great, we all had a blast...ill try to give reviews as best i can:

njm: couldnt see you guys since we were rite after you, but it was nice meeting all of you guys...should out to kinnel, ram, vic, sid, n whoever else i may have missed....mix sounded good from the snippets that i heard, but cant say much bout the dance

panj girls: AWESOME performance...ladies had great nakhre, n they all knew how to dance really well....i thought it was a great performance, maybe some critiques are that coordination was off at a few points, and the energy did go down at certain parts, but overall, it was a great set and it was executed well

texas bhangra: i thought they had a mix of traditional and "modern" steps, but either way, they def brought energy...i think the team is transitioning towards the folk side, but the same colored vardiyaa is somewhat out of favor today...i would say to use jodi colored vardiyaa and slow down the jhummar a bit...but otherwise, this team is headed in the rite direction and will def bring it with the hott mixes...shoutout to dholi harry, one of the coolest guys i met all weekend

gmu: WOW!! these guys KILLED it...this performance clearly puts GMU with the top college teams, they had energy, were coordinated, and they even brought some creativity to the stage that i hadnt seen before....as far as critiques, i think just a few parts had a less energy, and one or two formations were a bit off...but overall, they clearly ripped it and deserved the first place....shout out to j-deep, pam, n the rest of the crew whose names i cant remember haha

lsd: really was great to watch these guys in person...they had great energy n nakhre, n vardiyaa were beautifulll....ricky had a great folk voice for bhangra, n nana was clean as always....shahrukhs bro is crazy sick for his age haha....shout out to waleed n jap!

overall great weekeend....long ass car ride (45 hours total in driving time), but def worth it....im proud of all my gajjde gabroo guys for pulling it together n getting it done....half the team hadnt done live before, so the experience was def new for them...thanks 2 ameer n apurva, n sumeet for the dedicated driving to practice...arjun was a great co-captain too haha ...band did perfect out there, which was amazing considering they only practiced all together one time before the comp...hope to see everyone again next year! n ill visit you gmu guys when im in dc again

lets see some videos! a lot of teams that i havnt seen in person before (or atleast anything recent), so lets get them up!!

Hello!!

First off, I would like to say thank you to everyone who made it down to TXSBC! You guys made this show a success!! I wanted to also thank everyone for their constructive criticism, it is very much appreciated. This will really help me better the show next year. I am planning on going to more shows within the year to get guidance and help on organizing my show in the upcoming years.

Congrats to all the teams who performed and placed. This was an amazing show! Every performance was beautiful! I want to say thank you to everyone who made it out and everyone who helped.