First of all - congratsss!
a lot of good dancers on this team... but blue girl was superb. blue guy sick too
a lot of good dancing in this performance... but a few parts were awkward, so if you can work on them for next time u'll be even better. one example is jugni... girls 6:58, either practice doing chaal w long strides or else don't move across a quarter of the stage if it's gonna make u have to literally walk across stage completely killing the beauty of the move.
I thought fasla around 5;24 was excellent, very fluid and natural.
Firstly, I second all of that up there.
Aight so I was unsure whether or not I should critique this vid since I don't really know anyone on Cal Bhangra, and I don't know how you guys would take my comments...
However, there were a few main reasons why I felt like I should:
1.) You guys won this comp with a music, folk stylized, coed set; considering what teams I'm on, this really floated my boat
2.) Only Mariam has left any critiques, and although you guys won first place, every team has room for improvement, and I'm sure you guys would appreciate some feedback
3.) I had two exams yesterday.. and although I have 2 tomorrow too, I can't help but procrastinate
So.. yeah... I'm going to just step through this segment by segment as much as possible.
I'm going to avoid a lot of performance-specific individual critiques because I think you guys can handle that best yourselves. Furthermore, everyone has their onstage slip-ups that are atypical from practice. (I will, however, be comparing dancers' styles so that you guys have people around you to aim for for specific parts of the routine.)
I'm also going to skip the generalized compliments; you guys must already be proud of how you did that day, and I'm sure you'll hear plenty more about your ballerness from others.
It was a well deserved win, and for the record, I enjoyed the performance a lot
SaapsFrom a wholistic critique point of view, your intro/saaps is one of your strongest segments as far as catching the audience's attention goes.
A lot of the rest of your set kind of assumes you already have the audience's attention, so they notice your cuteness and such. (This is a perfectly fine way to do things btw)
In my opinion the green guy killed this segment. There was decent extension on everyone's part, but his was best imo.
At 1:09, the whole team does a graceful step except for Green who stomps, but to be honest, that was hot.
From his saap extension when you guys move out and then over to his stomp, my eyes are on him all of saaps. (Which he kills, so that's good.)
But everyone could be like that. The thing is, as coed teams our styles are inherently cute and dainty enough that murking saaps and throwing in some hot stomps like that really catches the eye.
Also at 1:33, again everyone else looks the same and they all end their spin facing sideways. However, green guy's spin is different; but again imo, green guy's spin is on point.
When green guy spins and ends facing front he's on time with the words "saperra kudiye!" which really hits. (Although right afterward it looks like he almost forgot the next step
)
Also ending a fast spin like that by facing front just looks better than not doing so. It hits harder and it's easier to keep clean once you get it down. (It is admittedly harder)
I feel like you guys could do more with your slowed-music section (get lower and move a little or something?) and watch the transition when the beat picks back up, some people are off.
KhundeThe khunde choreo was pretty hot, so props on your props segments
(lamest pun ever.. lol props on props on props)
Anyway, I think it's pretty obvious that the lines at the beginning could use some work, and I'd also like to draw some attention to around 2:40 when you guys do your jumps.
If you look at the feet only, you guys are on point with your jumps. However, the whole bit still gives off a "messy" impression, and that's cause you guys need to work on standardizing your arm-timing/khunde angles for this bit..
For the part right after that (at the end of the cool khunde swinging bit) the green guy hits the *camera sound*
so clean and gets
low.
If everyone had hit it that clean and low for all three *camera sounds*, it would've been SICK.
(Also the transition after khunde into jhummar could use some work, but you're prolly already fixing that though.)
JhumarMostly just standardize moves here. Be even cuter? You guys were pretty damn cute on a whole though.
Personally I wish everyone could have the orange and blue jodis' cuteness for this bit.
hi guys this is akash's roommate i stole his comp for a few seconds bye now
also you guys are awesome
Miss Pooja/JodiyaanLoved this bit <3
Pasand Kar LaooThe morchaal could use some work for sure.
(Just a quick find, but it works)
Check out their morchaal at like 0:45 it's pretty sick. Aim for that?
I liked that we saw a little hint of blue's upcoming buckness
Kalli Kite MilThis whole bit up until Blue jodi steals the show at 5:28 (which was so fucking cute btw) is a little weak, the audience starts to lose some attention.
Of course you get it right back with the blue jodi bit. <3
Notorious JattActually I liked what you guys did with this song even though it's over used... I liked seeing a coed team go for it
DhamaalI liked the beginning of dhamaal a
lot. I've actually been thinking of some similar steps myself.
Wasn't a fan of the little interlude with the leg crossing thing.. I'm pretty sure I know what that's supposed to be, but I still wasn't really a fan...
Blue jodi continues to win my heart at the front of the stage here
Jugni6:58 Mariam called you guys out... It's true. Also personally I prefer a lower jugni... that's a style thing though.
EndingI'm just going to call the whole rest of the dance the ending. First off orange guy killed it from 7:05-7:25.
Definitely the blue guy stepped up later when he got to middle and also killed it. Both orange and blue dance very similarly until 7:45 (in a good way)
At 7:45 though blue guy starts going buck, which is hot don't get me wrong, but the rest of the team isn't keeping up. (Orange guy comes closest)
Honestly though I think if you could get all the guys to dance like the average of the blue guy and the orange guy for these ending segments, that would be ideal.
In my opinion blue guy's style at the end (albeit cool) was just a hair too wild for a coed team. Something in the middle of blue and orange would be pretty hot though (even hotter in my opinion) and something everyone could likely attain as well.
FormationsSo I can't really comment on formations, any view other than center balcony gives a relatively flattering view of formations (read: "they looked fine to me").
So I'll just leave the formation work to you guys.
Overall ImpressionsThe balance between cleanliness, grace, and power is something every team struggles to perfect. You guys are pretty good, but there's always room for improvement in that regard.
Also the orange jodi is probably the most understated jodi on your team. (Uh oh, I hope I'm not starting drama!!
I just mean relative their amount of front time) They are both pretty damn good, and the orange jodi in general is just really cute when they dance together. They could really capitalize on some front stage time and it would benefit your team as a whole because it would freshen things up.
Anywayyyy this review was long and shit, (It probably would be longer if I didn't have to go study now) but hopefully it helped you guys out.
I apologize to the ladies, I know I didn't critique you very much, but I'm not going to pretend like I know how to exactly. It would take me a very long time... (which I don't have right now) maybe I'll come back and talk more about lady specific stuff.
In general the blue girl is the one to aim for on your team. Even she could work on her power bits though. I noticed someone commented that the red girl was good at power, I don't have time to verify, but if so then a blue/red fusion of the girls' style would be ideal.
tl;dr I digged this set a lot, and I look forward to more from you guys. You guys have some things to improve on stylistically and balance-wise, but this is true of all teams.
Hopefully we compete in a competition together sometime!
Let's be friends and partayy! Congratulations on your win!
