Had a great time at Big Apple and just wanted to post some thoughts from the show. Feel free to agree/disagree and add on.
Friday Night: Didn't get to make it to the mixer because all flights into LaGuardia were delayed but finally arrived at about 1 AM. The committee was welcoming and kind enough to find space in the hotel for teams to practice in. So that was definitely nice after being stuck in airports for about 9 hours.
Saturday: Tech time was a bit delayed but to their credit, the committee didn't take that out on the teams. Our team got the rightful amount of time to rehearse and we were never penalized/held accountable for whatever misfaults were going on on their end. One thing that did make the day very long - and I'm not sure if or how this could have been fixed - but we had to stay at the venue once we got there. So since we were first in the show, we were at the venue from 10 AM - 10:30 PM. That might be something to try and fix for BAB 3.
Show Review:
Music Teams
GMU/Guardians: Didn't get to see you guys but heard great things. I'm sure someone else can fill in for me here.
SSNY: Could see that there were some good ideas and potential but the main thing that detracted from your performance was there were too many choreo slip ups and the formations didn't hit very well. If the set was executed better then I think it would have given the audience a different impression but it was distracting to continually see someone doing opposite legs/forgetting a move/being out of place. Like I said though, good potential and hope to see some improvement in the future.
DCBC: Had some really great segments! Overall I liked the ideas in the routine and I'm a big fan of the girly-swag that is highlighted at key moments in your routines - loved the freezes in photo rakh ke. Great song selection as well (I believe 2Nyce did your mix so props to him). I think the energy at times was a little low and could have been higher and there were a couple key times when dancers messed up choreo and i think one fell - from what I remember especially in the ending song. That left a bit of a bittersweet taste because the last impression I got was seeing choreo being forgotten. One thing I would watch out for is when the team is doing jhummar, it looks like some of the girls are over dancing (swinging elbows) Also maybe at your next competition, if you do the light up khunde again, try not have black out lights for too long - the initial impression was great but then as time went on the idea started to get stale.
SGPD: Very very dramatic and original beginning. The crowd was definitely pumped up by it with a lot of audible "oohs" and "aahs." The props segment was extremely innovative. I'd say even a step up from Elite 8, which was impressive. After the props segment though, the routine started to lose it for me. Some of it might have been because I've watched the Elite 8 performance a bunch of times so I knew exactly what was coming in the recycled choreo, but alot of it was the messiness/lack of energy throughout the performance. You've created an almost unfair standard for yourselves because of how many great performances you've put on. With the reputation of being an elite team comes the expectation of always executing like an elite team. At BAB, I didn't get the vibe I was watching SGPD. Rather, I got the vibe I was watching another team do SGPD's routine. I have no doubt you'll amaze us with many more performances in the future and you're still my favorite team to watch, but the routine didn't click for me on Saturday night.
AEG/SMD: Now this team clicked for me Saturday night. The mix was fire, the swag was there, and the execution was pretty on point. A lot of great things to be said about this collaboration and as anyone in the audience can attest to - they had by far the loudest crowd reaction of the night. In fairness, I'm sure some of this was from being the hometown team; that being said, it was a very well earned reaction and in my opinion, AEG/SMD deserved first place.
Gajjdi Jawani: Props to the other team from NC! There was a lot of great stuff here and you can tell this is a well coached/run team. In this lineup, with the amount of firepower that was there, I think GJ looked a little bland. But that's not to say it wasn't a solid performance - the dancers are high caliber and I'm sure we'll see them at many more top tier competitions in the future.
Furteelay Shokeen: First off, congrats on a great mix - that was a very well deserved award. This team is on the upswing and is going to be a force in the near future. In the past year, I think FS has shown they can get into all the big name competitions, but now they are starting to show they are contenders to place wherever they go. One thing I will say is keep working with dancers on your form. At points in the routine people weren't completing moves and that took away from the performance. All around though, very impressive and congrats once again!
KPGD: Really proud of my team, especially for all the adversity we faced getting to BAB. Unpredictable stuff happens to teams all the time, but we lost a dancer 2 days before the competition (props to FCB's Harman Deol for picking everything up in a night) and didn't have our first full team practice until rehearsal the day of the competition. This team has constantly improved and it's because of the hard work put in by our captains and the core of our team - Sumeet, Nikhil, Kanwar, and Varun. The four of them held it down and the other 8 of us followed their lead. Though we didn't come away with a placing this time, we're pleased by our performance and glad so many others were as well.
Live Teams
I'll allow someone else to put together a review of this side of the competition. I'm not as well versed in live to give as well informed of an opinion or perspective on it. That being said, I thought 3D was the best live team at BAB and should have won 1st. The grace, power, execution, and creativity were all on point. NJ was a close second but I thought 3D got the better of them.
Special thanks to Havish for helping us with our paggan, Harman once again for coming through in the clutch, and the committee for a great weekend overall. Congrats to all the placing teams!
Friday Night: Didn't get to make it to the mixer because all flights into LaGuardia were delayed but finally arrived at about 1 AM. The committee was welcoming and kind enough to find space in the hotel for teams to practice in. So that was definitely nice after being stuck in airports for about 9 hours.
Saturday: Tech time was a bit delayed but to their credit, the committee didn't take that out on the teams. Our team got the rightful amount of time to rehearse and we were never penalized/held accountable for whatever misfaults were going on on their end. One thing that did make the day very long - and I'm not sure if or how this could have been fixed - but we had to stay at the venue once we got there. So since we were first in the show, we were at the venue from 10 AM - 10:30 PM. That might be something to try and fix for BAB 3.
Show Review:
Music Teams
GMU/Guardians: Didn't get to see you guys but heard great things. I'm sure someone else can fill in for me here.
SSNY: Could see that there were some good ideas and potential but the main thing that detracted from your performance was there were too many choreo slip ups and the formations didn't hit very well. If the set was executed better then I think it would have given the audience a different impression but it was distracting to continually see someone doing opposite legs/forgetting a move/being out of place. Like I said though, good potential and hope to see some improvement in the future.
DCBC: Had some really great segments! Overall I liked the ideas in the routine and I'm a big fan of the girly-swag that is highlighted at key moments in your routines - loved the freezes in photo rakh ke. Great song selection as well (I believe 2Nyce did your mix so props to him). I think the energy at times was a little low and could have been higher and there were a couple key times when dancers messed up choreo and i think one fell - from what I remember especially in the ending song. That left a bit of a bittersweet taste because the last impression I got was seeing choreo being forgotten. One thing I would watch out for is when the team is doing jhummar, it looks like some of the girls are over dancing (swinging elbows) Also maybe at your next competition, if you do the light up khunde again, try not have black out lights for too long - the initial impression was great but then as time went on the idea started to get stale.
SGPD: Very very dramatic and original beginning. The crowd was definitely pumped up by it with a lot of audible "oohs" and "aahs." The props segment was extremely innovative. I'd say even a step up from Elite 8, which was impressive. After the props segment though, the routine started to lose it for me. Some of it might have been because I've watched the Elite 8 performance a bunch of times so I knew exactly what was coming in the recycled choreo, but alot of it was the messiness/lack of energy throughout the performance. You've created an almost unfair standard for yourselves because of how many great performances you've put on. With the reputation of being an elite team comes the expectation of always executing like an elite team. At BAB, I didn't get the vibe I was watching SGPD. Rather, I got the vibe I was watching another team do SGPD's routine. I have no doubt you'll amaze us with many more performances in the future and you're still my favorite team to watch, but the routine didn't click for me on Saturday night.
AEG/SMD: Now this team clicked for me Saturday night. The mix was fire, the swag was there, and the execution was pretty on point. A lot of great things to be said about this collaboration and as anyone in the audience can attest to - they had by far the loudest crowd reaction of the night. In fairness, I'm sure some of this was from being the hometown team; that being said, it was a very well earned reaction and in my opinion, AEG/SMD deserved first place.
Gajjdi Jawani: Props to the other team from NC! There was a lot of great stuff here and you can tell this is a well coached/run team. In this lineup, with the amount of firepower that was there, I think GJ looked a little bland. But that's not to say it wasn't a solid performance - the dancers are high caliber and I'm sure we'll see them at many more top tier competitions in the future.
Furteelay Shokeen: First off, congrats on a great mix - that was a very well deserved award. This team is on the upswing and is going to be a force in the near future. In the past year, I think FS has shown they can get into all the big name competitions, but now they are starting to show they are contenders to place wherever they go. One thing I will say is keep working with dancers on your form. At points in the routine people weren't completing moves and that took away from the performance. All around though, very impressive and congrats once again!
KPGD: Really proud of my team, especially for all the adversity we faced getting to BAB. Unpredictable stuff happens to teams all the time, but we lost a dancer 2 days before the competition (props to FCB's Harman Deol for picking everything up in a night) and didn't have our first full team practice until rehearsal the day of the competition. This team has constantly improved and it's because of the hard work put in by our captains and the core of our team - Sumeet, Nikhil, Kanwar, and Varun. The four of them held it down and the other 8 of us followed their lead. Though we didn't come away with a placing this time, we're pleased by our performance and glad so many others were as well.
Live Teams
I'll allow someone else to put together a review of this side of the competition. I'm not as well versed in live to give as well informed of an opinion or perspective on it. That being said, I thought 3D was the best live team at BAB and should have won 1st. The grace, power, execution, and creativity were all on point. NJ was a close second but I thought 3D got the better of them.
Special thanks to Havish for helping us with our paggan, Harman once again for coming through in the clutch, and the committee for a great weekend overall. Congrats to all the placing teams!
