BSM 4 review

[gdholi7]

Before I go any further, my review does not represent any team or group. This is my personal opinion.

Mixer: the venue was at the hotel which was super clutch. Typical games and line up selection, nothing more than that.

Tech time: it was slightly delayed but 20 mins which isn’t bad compared to other comps where its like an hour or so.

After tech time there was a lockdown at the hotel venue for about an hour and half. Some crazy lady ran through the hotel and cops had the place surrounded. This may have effected some teams that needed to get in the hotel or out to get ready for the show. Thankfully no one was hurt during this situation.

Now heres the fun stuff
Comp time- After arriving to the venue I realized how small the dressing rooms were. there were only 2 dressing rooms and one large room for 9 teams to get ready in and stretch before their performances. They used one room where teams could use to warm up before going up on stage which was cool but it was small.

After the performance- I over heard some members of another live team saying in punjabi “ I don’t wanna lose to an all girls team” when I heard this statement it bothered me that in 2017 this was still an issue.

Placings-
I’m just gonna say certain members of a team did complain about me playing 13 seconds over the time limit, but from the original registration packet the time limit indicated that live sets could be 12 mins and that the time would begin as soon as the first dagga hits. BSM committee failed to communicate professionally and touch bases with us notifying about the updated rubric or anything. Anyone can reply back by saying we did inform the team captain, but this is not true because the information was being sent out to an incorrect email despite having all the correct information sent to the committee. You guys dropped the time limit from 12 to 10 mins for live, something the team was not aware about. If you’re going to throw a live competition it should be 10-12 mins time simple as that and a buffer period should be included. This whole miscommunication cost Royal Bhangra Girls 1st place. You guys also had a judge on the panel who was affiliated with one of the participating teams. When I spoke to the committee about this matter they simply replied, "We told you guys about the judges you could’ve of said something before" however, they told us about the judges Thursday night, less then 48 hours before the Show. I doubt the committee would have done something about the judges panel on such a short notice. The lack of proper communication and professionalism of BSM's committee effected a team big time. After the results judges told Royal bhangra they had first place but the fact that they were over the time limit by 13 seconds they had to drop them from first to 2nd despite a 43 point lead.

After party- didn’t attend kicked back at the hotel played a few rounds of bhabi.

On a side note where were the rides for some teams to the airport? This is something a lot of comps need to fix. Matter of fact I recall two of the girls from our team having to drop off members of other teams 5 in the morning. Once the comp is over committee thinks they don’t need to help or anything. The comp isn’t over until team liaisons make sure the team they are responsible for is taken care of and are on their way to reaching their destinations safely. If you’re providing liaisons for teams make sure they are there to help the team out now just show up for Friday and Saturday then disappear at the after party.

BSM you guys have a lot of work to do. I honestly don’t recommend this comp to any Senior caliber team. I know teams from Canada / East Coast are looking for cali comps to perform at and I’m sorry to let you guys know that this comp is not the comp you wanna spend your $$$ on.

The saddest and most upsetting part of this weekend was hearing comments about losing to girls. This shit needs to stop, it is 2017 Girls have every right to win and dominate in the bhangra scene.

BSM you had the chance to fix things but you refused to and made various excuses rather than owning up to your mistakes.

 

[Lally]

Here is a review of BSM from 2 years ago. It's pretty similar to this one... seems like nothings changed. http://bhangrateamsforum.com/a/threads/bhangra-state-of-mind-review.26098/#post-233118

 

[hardeep_singh]

i dont care about placings or drama, post the videos!!!

 

[Bhangra state of mind]

First and foremost, the Bhangra State of Mind (BSM) committee would like to thank all participating teams for putting on a wonderful show in Sacramento last weekend. It was a true pleasure for our community to watch teams take pride in performing and displaying our culture.

Unfortunately, one sided reviews are always going to make or break a competition and we hope everyone will be able to understand both sides before forming an opinion about BSM. After our second year of hosting BSM, we did our best at our third year to redeem ourselves and regain the trust and support of bhangra dancers all across North America. We acknowledged every short coming and we tried our best to come back more organized and prepared. The BSM committee would like to address some of the issues that have been brought to our attention.

Regarding comments being made about this year:

1. The lock-down that occurred at the team hotel was an unpredictable situation that no one could have foreseen. It was a situation that BSM committee had no control over. We are thankful everyone came out safe and hope nothing like that ever happens again at this competition or any other competition. We do apologize for any inconvenience that this may have caused for any of the teams.

2. The performing arts center was not able to lend us another building where teams could lounge in; we tried our best and spoke with the school district representatives, but they were adamant about their decision and we didn’t have another alternative solution at that point.

3. The BSM committee carefully hand selected every judge that was on the panel this year and under no circumstances will we accept any form of disrespect towards them. It has come to our attention that some competing dancers had issues with the judges and the rubric that they based their scores off of so we would like to address these issues as well.

1. A rubric was not sent in the original BSM registration packet. A time limit was set when giving requirements for music/live teams, but that was later modified when final rubrics were sent to teams.
   
   
2. Yes, the registration rules indicated a different time than the rubric; we take full responsibility in regards to the different times. We apologize for the miscommunication and lacking to notify every single team of the time modification and we also apologized to particular teams who have been affected by that.
   
   
3. The final rubric was sent out to all of the teams around Dec. 19th. To our knowledge, teams usually finalize their routines based on the rubric; as our judges indicated it is the team's responsibility to follow up regarding the rubric if they have not received a scoring rubric in a timely manner. When assigning the team a liaison we made the mistake of having a typo in the email address, once again we have owned up to this mistake and we truly do apologize.
   
   
4. As for live/music judges being personally affiliated with teams—liaisons announced judges to their teams on different accounts prior to the week of the competition. The first time the committee announced the judges was on Dec. 18, 2016. If any teams did have any objection to any of the judges, the committee tried their best to replace that particular judge if they believed that the accusations being made could lead to any biased judgement. These judges have had more than enough experience and knowledge of bhangra to judge competitions and the BSM committee will not tolerate any form of disrespect that is shown towards them. We stand by and respect the decisions that are made by the judges and we believe that all competing teams should do so as well.

4. Regarding the ride issues for out of state teams. Royal Bhangra dancers were willing to drop off some of Royal Folk dancers to the airport--we made sure, just like at BSM last year, that all out of state teams had transportation. We were not going to make the same mistake as we did our 2nd year. A couple of our committee members were with the teams downstairs ready to call for an Uber, but Royal Bhangra girls voluntarily offered to take Royal Folk to the airport. We would like to thank the Royal Bhangra girls for being so generous; you ladies are wonderful!

5. One final issue that has been brought to our attention is the occurrence of one team member overhearing another dancer say, “I don’t want to lose to a girl’s team.” The BSM committee does not condone any kind of behavior like this and we are very disappointed to hear that someone would say such things in this day and age. Bhangra is a beautiful art form that has wonderfully evolved over the past years and the BSM committee completely supports all dancers regardless of their gender, age or ethnicity. We apologize that such things were said and we hope that people with this type of mindset would open up their minds and realize that bhangra could be perfectly executed by anyone, no matter where they come from or what their gender is.

Besides these issues we really hope that all dancers and audience members enjoyed the show and had a wonderful weekend. We apologize to Royal Bhangra Girls for the emotional damage we may have caused, but we cannot reverse the placings as this will undermine the judges’ credibility. We apologize for any inconveniences that these issues may have caused and we again apologize and take full responsibility for the lack of communication to ensure all teams received the modified final rubrics. We are more than happy to hear about and address any questions/comments/concerns so that everyone is content with the Bhangra State of Mind competition. And again, we would like to thank everyone who came out this weekend and we hope to see you at BSM V.

 

[BhangraSUCKS]

Was this in sacramento? Screw sacramento

 

[BhangraSUCKS]

and further, the whole lets not lose to a girls team is not sexist, its competition. My god, man up and grow a spine bro. Its not that bad to say "I don't want to lose to a girl." As long as it doesn't go to race or ethnicity, the comment is not going to make someone fall over and say "HOLY CRAP, THAT WAS TERRIBLE TO SAY."

Stop overshadowing your incompetence BSM by continuously failing to throw a competition with all these stupid mistakes you make each year by highlighting someone else's prejudice, even if it is slight and immaterial.

 

[Mr. Mankiran]

and further, the whole lets not lose to a girls team is not sexist, its competition. My god, man up and grow a spine bro. Its not that bad to say "I don't want to lose to a girl." As long as it doesn't go to race or ethnicity, the comment is not going to make someone fall over and say "HOLY CRAP, THAT WAS TERRIBLE TO SAY."

Stop overshadowing your incompetence BSM by continuously failing to throw a competition with all these stupid mistakes you make each year by highlighting someone else's prejudice, even if it is slight and immaterial.

I'm not really seeing how you can say one of those things is bad and one isn't.

 

[Ricky916]

Was this in sacramento? Screw sacramento

Thanks for your love for Sacramento, we here appreciate it!

 

[gabrunakitheynipunjabvarg]

Gagan dholi I have known you for a really long time. And this whole rigged thing at bsm is starting to annoy me. What was west coast did was a math error that can be proven but I want you to Remember how you felt at bulldog? Remember what u said about leaving the judges to the judging and people being greatful of the competition for keeping our virsa alive?

 

[Mans]

To add to the above Gagan you seem to call out the BSM committee in the "Reign of Bhangra" thread for not having a professional response. I thought their post was professional enough with the responding to every single one of your concerns

 

[gdholi7]

Gagan dholi I have known you for a really long time. And this whole rigged thing at bsm is starting to annoy me. What was west coast did was a math error that can be proven but I want you to Remember how you felt at bulldog? Remember what u said about leaving the judges to the judging and people being greatful of the competition for keeping our virsa alive?

I never said the competition was rigged, as far as the judges are concerned the RB girls did win first place which I heard first hand from all of the judges. What annoys me is that the committee docked points after failing to get the timing changes across to us. 10 points off per judge for what we were told was "13 seconds over the time limit" doesn't add up. Have you ever heard of a team losing this many points for a technicality like this? You've known me for a long time because I've been in this scene long enough to see when something is unfair. People may get annoyed of this but I'm going to stand up for our girls team until they get the recognition they deserve. I've been in this scene too long to watch a first place performance not get the recognition it deserves. Any other competition that has had issues with placings/judging so far this year has owned up to their mistakes and I respect that, so why can't this competition own up to it? Yes, they're trying to admit that issues could have been prevented but have they made any efforts to fix their mistakes?

You can pull up all the screenshots from years ago but the truth is if a team rightfully wins a placing and they're robbed of that- it's not our virsa. Our virsa teaches us to have fun, and respect bhangra as an art form, but overlooking such a big mistake is far from respect. I would have no issue with this anymore if the committee made an attempt to rectify their mistakes but RB girls are clearly being overlooked. Get as annoyed of this as you want, but if this was your team you would want justice as well. I have never been this vocal about a placing before and frankly if this was any other team in this position I would stand up for them as well, even if I have to stand alone.

As far as what West Coast did with the math error, that could have definitely been avoided if they were a little more careful but I respect their attempt to fix things and I think we can all agree that it seems like the committee will take more precautions in the future to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. With BSM- it seems like they made their money and no longer care about the impact of their mistakes. I wouldn't be surprised if things like this kept happening and kept being overlooked which is honestly sad and disheartening. Competitions should put as much heart and soul into running their competition as the teams do when preparing to compete.