BBC show review

[smehta313]

These used to be more prevalent back in the day, hopefully more ppl can share their thoughts


Tufts - pretty clean and strong way to open up the show. I wasn't expecting much tbh but I realized if ya had taken this routine to tashan or a smaller comp of that sort it could very well have placed. Red and yellow male johris held it down, but outside of that you could tell who was new. Good way to start off the season and the show. Tarundeep’s paghs looking on fleek.

Cornell - started off similarly with the "where's my saap?" Gimmick which got botched in the beginning of the center row, but the saap gimmick after was pretty entertaining and the coordination for that was on point. Some of the other gimmicks were repeated from the blowout/WBBC routine last semester, which got annoying for people who have seen the routine, but the crowd loved it. Thought the bhetka ending with butt kicks could've been alright but your dancers clearly had no stamina for it and it took away from the fairly clean routine you guys had. Blue and yellow johri were the stronger dancers of the routine and the pink johri's jhoomer was great, but it became obvious that the pink johri’s choreography was adjusted to take out bhetkas/butt kicks throughout the set alongside with the khunde having a string on it. Gimmicks complimented the routine like how most Cornell sets do, execution of it and stamina will take this team much farther.

Empire - intro segment was badass. Empire has always had sick intro segments and this one was no different. BE took a traditional approach to their first few segments with the empire flavor and it was definitely fun to watch. Dancers (Jackie, Poonam, and kiranjit) who've been the face of empire killing it with a different style must've been tough and the beginning was sloppier than expected from empire, but the gimmicks kept the segments strong. When the poppin/hip-hop segments happened, it looked like the empire of years past again, but even stronger somehow (kiran for that whole segment was absolutely phenomenal) however I didn't understand the point of killing off the extra dancer and having him be pulled off stage. After all that, what we thought were mannequins came to life and the crowd erupted. The "Folk vs. empire" segment was pretty entertaining for the audience and smart for the dancers. The ending with the smoke and poppers was hype af. Assumed them to place for sure. Really excited to see the traditional aspect of empire emerge more

BU - seeing Gurteg and Anita dance again was awesome, watched them more than the rest of the team , but when I did I saw the usual clean college team esque routine that BU's been known for, but was waiting for the crowd pleaser or an x-factor that you'd expect at BBC and was disappointed in that regard
Gurteg's sher in the beginning was awesome. Shout out to the chimpta, whose turle fell out, but the kid kept dancing and showed good stage presence.

Xtreme - started off really sloppy, especially the saap segment. Seemed as if they were clicking with no purpose basically and stage presence was lacking. Red johri was the best, but there were other strong dancers on this squad that with more practice will fill in the flow of the routine the way it was meant to be. Ending was hype, but I didn't understand the Thor-esque hammer slam or the relevance of the large costume holding CN tower character. The ending would've been better with just purely dancing all that out instead of forcing the last 2 gimmicks.


MIT - saw you guys at SPD and you guys have improved white a bit. Form and energy still need to be greatly improved, but the team is heading in the right direction. Also, was the yellow girl formerly on SMD? Would explain the large strides in cleanliness. Also, did the red male johri leave and a girl come out to take his spot? Was under the impression that happened. Good luck with the rest if the season. I'm expecting better formations though. You guys go to MIT for God's sake lol

NEBC - crowd was going crazy before they got on. Uphavan destroyed it and I was hoping to see the rest of the girls match her, but that wasn't happening. Routine was well constructed and powerful. Thought with energy dying out they wouldn't place, but I was clearly wrong. Intermission - most people I spoke to had only empire placing and so did I, however a lot of people enjoyed tufts which was a clean routine, just had a few weak dancers.

KPGD- the crowd adored this team and makes sense because there wasn't a dull moment during their routine. - The way this routine was catered for the Boston crowd, but still kept dancing going during their gimmicks and such was genius. It did get quite sloppy at certain parts, but there was not a moment that the dancers lost the attention of the crowd. Small standing ovations after the Bollywood incorporations, ripple effects, Kurta pajama change and ending, obviously. It's sad this set can't be executed at comps like burgh, elite, maybe not even bruin, but for as far as top tier comps go, kpgd stole the show. Congrats on first. Kuntal you destroyed jhoomer.

Virsa - nothing unexpected. Strong ass folk routine with no bullshit, just 7 minutes of straight dancing. Aneesh, Sandeep, you 2 were phenomenal, lucky was sick as well. I know there were some chaadre issues and energy in general wasn't what it normally was which was sad, but the team still brought it and I thought had 2nd place on lockdown.


DRP - saw it from an off angle on the side and pretty close up, so I couldn't make out formations too well, but the dhol O gimmick was really clever and maneet is such a sick dancer. Didn't have the same perspective as the other views but I thought you guys would have placed


DCMPAA - was on deck for this performance, so couldn't really watch too much but the parts i saw of the routine and with their younger dancer, jyoti(?), absolutely merked it. The string confetti gimmick also got the crowd riled up.

MBT - Didn't get to see any of it because I was standing behind the backdrop, but I did enjoy a lot of elements to this set. Thought the crowd reactions to certain gimmicks were interesting because I thought the Pause-spin into chaffa would've erupted the crowd and same thing with the props used during jhoomer. Howie, Sahab, Eshaan, Pratik, you 4 are sick and I hope you guys can bring some glory home for the collegiate bhangra scene in Michigan. 'Twas an honor dancing for you guys with my boys on Furteelay for the final minute of that set. #StateOfMichiganVsEverybody

All in all, 2nd half was a lot more entertaining than the first half and It's funny how the lineup ended up that way like all 4 Boston teams being in the first half. My placings were

1 . KPGD
2. Virsa
3. Empire or EMPIRE/DRP tie

But it seems that the competition took a modern approach to the placings this year, nonetheless all placings were well deserved.

Biggest letdown was the after after party being cancelled. The reason being something in regards to the attacks in Paris. I get the concern for safety, but being informed during the after party was a pretty big letdown especially since the after after is one of the unique things about BBC.

Also big shout out to Saatvik and Ekta on the BBC board. These 2 had such poise and kept BBC quite lively this year as opposed to dry 1.5 hour mixer speech about what not to do at the hotel. Usually whoever is running around and coordinating whatever needs to be done for the show is stressed out and being rude to their fellow committee members and/or teams. However these 2 somehow even got tech time, which was 30 mins late, to catch up and finish early somehow. The 2 made BBC a much better experience than ones of years past.

Please excuse any grammatical errors and spelling mistakes. Great start to the 2015-2016 bhangra season

 

[Howie Magz]

So this was our overall review of the weekend from MBT's account.

Friday:
The hotel was very nice and accommodating to all of our needs. The coordinators picked us up from the airport on time and drove us directly to the venue. I really appreciated this since we cmae in at 9AM. The coordinators of the event were very helpful and answered all of our needs right away. I want to shout out Rohit and Ekta for helping us out with everything. They were very quick to answer all of our needs and delivered incredibly. However, there was only one issue which was our liason. Our liason was introduced to us and from the beginning gave us a difficult time in regards to helping us gather basic bhangra necessities such as sta flo or liquid starch. We had to figure out which stores had it on our own and when asked to go with him to pick it up, he refused to come with us because he needed to be at the mixer. We are not from Boston and it would of been helpful if he lent us a hand to at least help navigate around the big city. We had to venture out into Boston on our own in order to find sta flo for our paghs. I found this to be incredibly irritating especially when there are other concerns that needed to be tended to. The mixer was fun in terms of the games that were being played, but there were just too many of them. We especially enjoyed the mixer games, but only felt that they should of kept it to only a couple. The captain's meeting was helpful in terms of what the expectations of the competition was and was transparent.

[SIZE=small]Saturday:[/SIZE]
We were delivered the strangest breakfast. We were given stale bread, chips, and granola bars. I don't know if any of the other teams got this as well, but for some reason I don't believe so. After he delivered the breakfast, our liason was no where to be found until the show. The coordinators did provide an awesome practice space and helped us out tremendously by accommodating to our last minute needs. Once again shout out to Rohit and Ekta. Tech time ran smoothly as we were able to perform our run through with no problems and test out our gimmick The show started on time and ran smoothly throughout and finished on time. This made it easier for us to get back to the hotel and get ready for the after party which was also inside the hotel. This made the stress of getting ready and not making the after party non existent for us which we were grateful. Only upsetting thing was that there was no after after party this year, but I could understand with how everything else was going on inside the hotel and externally as well.

Overall I thought this was a smoothly run competition and would definitely recommend any team to apply to this competition. The coordinators were awesome and kept a positive attitude throughout despite the fact that they had a million other things to deal with. The only downside was our liason who was extremely unhelpful. Ekta and Rohit made up for his mistakes and we are very happy to have them help us out so much this weekend. I want to congratualte KPGD, Empire, and NEBC for their respective placings and the committee once again for having us.

I want to thank Furteelay Shokeen for helping us out once again with our ending. You can catch a snippet in the link below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qR1xnbzPQA0

P.S: I apologize in advance for any grammatical errors.

 

[streetvelocity25]

Hello BTF,


Long time since I've posted/commented, but I'll try to keep it short since most things were touched on by previous posts.


On behalf of DRP I'd like to thank everyone on the Boston Bhangra Committee for their hard work and efforts to make this past weekend a memorable experience for all the teams and the audience. To our liaison Shivani, thank you for all your help with those damn extension cords after everyone practically left the venue (apologizes). To Ekta, thank you for helping record our video and running around all day to help us and everyone else during the show. You and Rohit really made sure everything was handled well. It was great meeting you.


The last time I performed on this stage was in circa 2011 (the craziest show I've ever seen live - AEG surprise girl gimmick - too nuts, still a landmark performance) and I hadn't been back till this past weekend. It was so refreshing to see that nothing has changed about Boston and the how special you feel being a part of this experience. It truly is a legendary stage and I'm glad I had a chance to share it with my team one more time.


First things first, a Public Service Announcement: I'm not going to point fingers, if you are reading this you'll know who you are. Here it goes: PLEASE don't drink alcohol when you are wearing your vardi with your pagg on. I was so disappointed to see people who I have watched dance on big name teams, full on drinking a glass of beer after they were done performing in the first half. This is disrespectful and straight basti. The integrity of the vardi is real, its not a "costume." You are representing a dance that holds so much historic value and connection to our virsa and culture, when you do shit like this it is dirtying that sanctity. You might not think about it, but the vardi is not just another shirt you put before hitting the bar, its special, it holds meaning. Its tradition and deserves respect just like the respect your props have when you placing them down during routines. I'm not pointing fingers, but for the love of bhangra, be a better example for future generations to come. Have some class. If you have counter arguments to my statement or feel the same way, please add. Note that I will not be making further remarks that starts some petty argument (I don't have time for BS). This was the main reason I even wrote this review. And if you have a personal issue with it, message me directly. I keep it 100.

Now for some actual reviews:

Hotel: Boston Park Plaza was a great hotel overall. Upscale and provided everything the committee needed to host a comp. DRP got in around 6 AM Friday morning, but we had to bum it in the lobby pretty much till 2 PM. For some reason we didn't get our rooms till almost 4 PM, which was really annoying. But the committee helped get us a conference room on the 4th floor where we were able to stay out of the way and practice a bit. Thanks for doing that. Not blaming committee on this, could just be that the hotel was over booked or something, but just annoying if anything after catching a red eye flight and not getting much time to really get situated in our rooms before the mixer.


Mixer: Fun as hell. So glad we could initiate the dancing before the mixer properly started, thanks to all the teams for joining in and just having fun doing what we love to do. So many comps people just stand around before the mixer and stuff. Good to see people just dance and have fun. Overall, games were hella fun and were not just a time waste. Virsa and DRP battle was sick to watch. Miss this sort of fun competitive spirit. The team choreo game to Kay V's music was fun to watch. I was in and out so I missed some things in between.


Tech-Run: Ran 30 mins late, but honestly I couldn't even tell. There was no BS and it was done well. I don't think it even effected anything. So no harm done. Lots of snacks, water and etc (this was good throughout the whole weekend).


Show: On time and ran great. No issues. Indian food was provided, but unfortunately we only got 3 boxes on food for a team of 21 people. Partly because we didn't want to eat desi curry before performing on stage, so we waited till after and food ran out. Our fault we didn't just grab it before, but it shouldn't run out before all teams have eaten. But no worries, pijja to the rescue.


Performances (what I saw): Most details have been touched on so I won't restate the same things hopefully.


Empire -First half was weaker, Empire was the strongest (Congrats Jackie, Meenu, Josh and team).


Cornell - some ideas were the same from Elite 8, but beginning segment with Sapp hopscotch was very creative (and risky) but you definitely hit it. It rebuilding time for you guys (Collegiate team problems), but keep at it.


KGPD - saw it from side stage, you guys were hella entertaining. After watching the performance, I had you at first. It was obvious. Great ideas in the set.


Virsa - Cleaner than past performances have been. Very folk, strong dancers, but unfortunately going up right after KGPD definitely didn't help you guys. I love the folk style and the natural flow of proper bhangra you guys bring, but Boston wasn't favoring that this year (or ever?). But you all are great at what you do. Don't be discouraged, keep it folk.


DCMPAA - I'm a genuine fan hands down. I don't care if you didn't place, but you girls (sorry DCMPAA boys lol) are some of the best naturally talented and nakhra filled dancers I've ever seen. Each time I watch you live or on video, I admire your presence on stage and your focus on just nakhra that makes bhangra so entertaining without the gimmicks. One of the girls from the red jodi (sorry Idk your name), you have such presence on stage and its hard to follow anyone else when you hit your moves. Your shoulder pop when you dance and I can tell you aren't even forcing it, that sort of flow is missing in the circuit and you shit on most guys (including myself). I kept talking about you to my team over and over again, that is what pure bhangra should be like. Great set, keep doing what you guys are doing. Your coaches have done an amazing job with you all.


MBT - Great clean set, but X-factor was missing. Bringing out Furteelay was great to end. Push the envelope, potential is all there.


Didn't get to see NEBC (Congrats) but i'm curious to see their video since they placed.


But yea,

DRP - saw it from an off angle on the side and pretty close up, so I couldn't make out formations too well, but the dhol O's gimmick was really clever and maneet is such a sick dancer. Didn't have the same perspective as the other views but I thought you guys would have placed

Shahil, it was great meeting you bro. Thank you for the kind words and being so friendly. I hope to see you at bruin.


Gsimz, Sukhraj and Furteelay guys, it was hella fun hanging with you guys in the room bumping music. Come back to Cali in May, I look forward to hanging with you guys again. Sukhraj thank you being so friendly and playing some secret Gsimz shit lol


Congrats to all the placing teams, I'm proud of my team for the performance we put on. So much fun dancing on stage again. Thank you to my homies on Tufts and FAUJ for cheering me on to kill that routine and have people to do nakhra at (I got through the set cuz of you).


Peace and Love,
Manni


P.S. - Sorry for any grammatical errors as well.

 

[sumeetj]

First things first, a Public Service Announcement: I'm not going to point fingers, if you are reading this you'll know who you are. Here it goes: PLEASE don't drink alcohol when you are wearing your vardi with your pagg on. I was so disappointed to see people who I have watched dance on big name teams, full on drinking a glass of beer after they were done performing in the first half. This is disrespectful and straight basti. The integrity of the vardi is real, its not a "costume." You are representing a dance that holds so much historic value and connection to our virsa and culture, when you do shit like this it is dirtying that sanctity. You might not think about it, but the vardi is not just another shirt you put before hitting the bar, its special, it holds meaning. Its tradition and deserves respect just like the respect your props have when you placing them down during routines. I'm not pointing fingers, but for the love of bhangra, be a better example for future generations to come. Have some class. If you have counter arguments to my statement or feel the same way, please add. Note that I will not be making further remarks that starts some petty argument (I don't have time for BS). This was the main reason I even wrote this review. And if you have a personal issue with it, message me directly. I keep it 100.

I am sure this post is referring to me - didn't really even think about it while I was doing it and that's 100% my fault. I'll be more careful next time and I apologize if this offended anyone - this action was completely an oversight on my part and doesn't reflect the attitude that my team (or any other teams that I have danced for) have towards bhangra and our culture.

BBC worked out very well for my team this year and we were very lucky to have been a part of it. Much appreciate the comments made by posters about our performance in their reviews and we hope that our video (when released) and future performances live up to the hype.

 

[dkaks]

Tufts - pretty clean, I wasn't expecting much tbh and realized if ya had taken this routine to tashan or a smaller comp it could very well had placed. Red and yellow male johris held it down, but outside of that you could tell who was new. Good way to start off the season and the show. Tarundeep’s paghs looking on fleek.

Thanks man, being a small collegiate team aint easy and it meant a lot for us to finally bring Tufts back to BBC (I was red johri and a captain for the past 2 years so thank you). My overall review is below, as a disclaimer this is just my opinion so take it as you will.


Friday:
Being a Boston team we didn't stay at the hotel Friday night so we weren't given any food, which is reasonable enough in my opinion, I'd suggest that if that's going the be the case maybe lower reg fees would make sense. Mixer games were pretty fun overall, maybe went on a little long. I think the way show order was decided was pretty strange though. Prior to the mixer starting 5 teams already got to pick their show order because (from what I understand) they had applied and were accepted during the early registration process. I know Tufts also applied early reg but wasn't accepted until the regular registration process so it kind of seems like this format just lets BBC evaluate if they want any of the early registration teams to have first pick at show order. There are also plenty of factors that influence if a team can apply early (funding, scheduling, dancer availability) so even if my understanding is incorrect, why not just have show order completely randomized?


Saturday:
We had tech time first, early morning set up by the crew and large props delayed things maybe 20 minutes but thats fine, we were still able to have our full tech time without any problems. Thanks to the sound crew for playing our mix beforehand as we had been having some mix problems earlier so that was appreciated. There was breakfast food after and we were told to take our subway sandwiches (lunch) with us from the venue so that is what we did when we hopped on the bus to the hotel. Abha (one of the team reps) was super helpful and got us slotted in for practice space at the hotel so that was great. Got ready at the hotel fine, the biggest complaint I had though was that there was zero water at the hotel from the comp. When we texted our liaison we were told all of the water was at the venue but we were told earlier that every team had to get ready at the hotel and that water/snacks etc. throughout the comp would be provided to us so that didn't really make sense. Took a bus to the venue around 4:30 I think and we had plenty of time to get ready before the show started around 6:30 I think.


Show: (these are all just based off my live viewing so they're just notes)


Boston Bhangra Juniors were a fun start to the show


Tufts - that's us so I'm not gonna really say anything about us or anything but I heard a lot of positive things from people so I'd love to see some reviews! we'll be posting our video soon.


Cornell -Enjoyed watching you guys, some gimmicks were repeated from the past year but they were mostly executed very well, I think teams could learn a lot from the way you guys incorporate gimmicks. Dancing level varied between dancers but you guys made your big moments hit. I think once you guys have a bit more time to get dancer level up you'll have a great next semester. Green guy struggled at ending but I believe he was hurt so that's a tough break.


Empire - Lightsaber khunde has been done more than enough for me. Dancing was pretty clean with solid energy. The tutting was fine for me, not as good as the old tutting segment imo. after hearing/seeing critiques for portions of other teams' sets being too violent or aggressive I thought that killing the guy at the end of the tutting segment was interesting and didn't really make sense to me. I wish I hadn't seen the mannequins walking around before bc that just took away the surprise. Folk Vs. Empire was weird for me, I liked the Folk dancing that was happening more than the Empire dancing so I was confused about the point (maybe I just missed something). I have some problems with the gimmicks used on ending though: I just feel that you shouldn't be leaving things on stage that could impact the next performance so while I love confetti I think you should really make an effort to sweep it off afterwards and that didn't happen. Also the blue smoke stuff seriously interfered with breathing, I heard plenty of audience members complain about that and I can not imagine what it was like for BU to have to perform next with that smoke still all over the stage. I know this happened at tech and I'm honestly surprised this was allowed by BBC. Overall they were clean, high energy, I didn't love the gimmicks and I thought the smoke was questionable.


BU - Aside from the over extended saap I didn't notice anything bad. Energy was solid and dancers executed a solid traditional set, would like to see some "x-factor" moments tossed into the set moving forward. Shouts out to red johri killing it.


Xtreme - Maybe the highest energy performance so I was definitely entertained. Things got more sloppy as the set progressed and I could see maybe a third of the dancers lost smiles and didn't really have any nakhra which is more of a problem for me than being sloppy. Someone also had a chadre that was up at their knees the whole time so that was distracting. Good choreo ideas and great energy, better flow and cleanliness would be huge.


MIT - Overall I thought they got sloppy at multiple points and didn't really have anything crazy going for them. I think red guy was actually a girl (may have mixed up my teams) so props to her for not sticking out.


NEBC - I didn't realize 7 teams were going to go in the first half with 5 in the second, was this common knowledge for everyone? I missed the first minute or so of their performance but overall I thought they were fairly clean but I didn't think they did anything gimmick/choreo wise that stood out. Could see a disparity in dancer level.


KPGD - I missed the beggining of their set unfortunately but I really liked their creativity and energy. Shoulder chaal was mad hot. Kurta pajama set up got messy but I liked the gimmick. May have gotten a little sloppy at points but with the high energy, creative ideas and high entertainment value I immediately had them as the best team so far and figured they'd place top 2.


Virsa - They also had some of the best energy of the night. Red johri murdered it. Choreo was creative and fun to watch, I think if they had tailored their set to have some more crowd pleasers they would have placed but I had them as at least top 2 just off of their strong dancing.


DRP - missed the beginning of their set too but I saw nothing but high energy and great execution. Manni's nakhra was straight fire, always a good time bro. I got to meet Angela later she killed it too. The dhol smoke rings were hype. I thought this was a placing worthy performance as well.


DCMPAA - These girls are just too talented. Thought they were clean with solid energy and i liked their gimmicks too. Dancer level was very even throughout. Had this one as worthy of placing too.


MBT - Thought they had good energy for 70 % of the set but it dropped at times and I think they had a few pauses in their set where they could pick energy back up. I hope I'm not mixing up teams but Pink girl's nakhra was on point. Didn't love having Furteelay carry the ending and then doing the AEG crowd dancing but otherwise a solid set.


Final placings were not quite what I expected but my top 4 was definitely KPGD, Virsa, DRP, DCMPAA and I guess I would have had something like 1. KPGD 2. Virsa 3. DRP with DCMPAA close behind.


Random Notes:


From what I heard judging feedback was VERY nonspecific and while judges are allowed to have different opinions they were saying contradictory things (ex: one says there was a big lack of traditionality while another said traditionality was great) so I'm looking forward to seeing if scores/sheets are released.


I don't think serving teams dinner at the venue makes sense for many reasons. Teams don't want to eat until after they perform (so 2nd half teams will have a hard time), the venue is crowded, everyone is in their vardi and no one wants to spill Indian food on the vardiyan.

I am sure this post is referring to me - didn't really even think about it while I was doing it and that's 100% my fault. I'll be more careful next time and I apologize if this offended anyone - this action was completely an oversight on my part and doesn't reflect the attitude that my team (or any other teams that I have danced for) have towards bhangra and our culture.

Respect. The venue is absolutely amazing to perform at, I just wish there was at least a safe room where teams could store their vardiyan/props after performing, this would give dancers the chance to change as well.


Great show and great job to all the teams!
-Derek

 

[Saleem]

First things first, a Public Service Announcement: I'm not going to point fingers, if you are reading this you'll know who you are. Here it goes: PLEASE don't drink alcohol when you are wearing your vardi with your pagg on. I was so disappointed to see people who I have watched dance on big name teams, full on drinking a glass of beer after they were done performing in the first half. This is disrespectful and straight basti. The integrity of the vardi is real, its not a "costume." You are representing a dance that holds so much historic value and connection to our virsa and culture, when you do shit like this it is dirtying that sanctity. You might not think about it, but the vardi is not just another shirt you put before hitting the bar, its special, it holds meaning. Its tradition and deserves respect just like the respect your props have when you placing them down during routines. I'm not pointing fingers, but for the love of bhangra, be a better example for future generations to come. Have some class. If you have counter arguments to my statement or feel the same way, please add. Note that I will not be making further remarks that starts some petty argument (I don't have time for BS). This was the main reason I even wrote this review. And if you have a personal issue with it, message me directly. I keep it 100.

So, I understand staying respectful and being a good representative of your team or community, especially when in your vardi. My general rule (Rule #1) for my team was "don't be an idiot". However, I think it's important we continue to make the distinction that this is not a religious uniform. Yes, it has cultural significance. Yes, people's fathers and forefathers and father's forefathers danced bhangra. But I personally pick my battles and I take greater offense when someone is straight out drunk while in their vardi (because they're being an idiot, breaking Rule #1). Or, as I've personally witnessed, entire teams trying to fight each other while all in their vardiyan, because that breaks Rule #1 en masse and is a blemish upon us all.

The easy line is "show respect!" But when I step into a temple, I show respect: in my attitude, in my speech, in my behavior e.g. not running, not on my cell phone etc. Should we start enforcing these respectful rules while in vardi? Why is responsibly taking a sip of alcohol now banned out of sensitivity? Can I smoke? Can I dance bhangra, but not non-bhangra dances? Happy to discuss, and if we do discuss, I'll likely split the topic so that this thread can remain on BBC show reviews.

 

[Guppi]

First things first, a Public Service Announcement: I'm not going to point fingers, if you are reading this you'll know who you are. Here it goes: PLEASE don't drink alcohol when you are wearing your vardi with your pagg on. I was so disappointed to see people who I have watched dance on big name teams, full on drinking a glass of beer after they were done performing in the first half. This is disrespectful and straight basti. The integrity of the vardi is real, its not a "costume." You are representing a dance that holds so much historic value and connection to our virsa and culture, when you do shit like this it is dirtying that sanctity. You might not think about it, but the vardi is not just another shirt you put before hitting the bar, its special, it holds meaning. Its tradition and deserves respect just like the respect your props have when you placing them down during routines. I'm not pointing fingers, but for the love of bhangra, be a better example for future generations to come. Have some class. If you have counter arguments to my statement or feel the same way, please add. Note that I will not be making further remarks that starts some petty argument (I don't have time for BS). This was the main reason I even wrote this review. And if you have a personal issue with it, message me directly. I keep it 100.

Just out of curiosity, wouldn't this act normally disqualify a team? Because I am pretty sure majority of competitions put on their registration packet the use of alcohol at the venue should lead to automatic disqualification.

 

[KushK]

I think Sumeet did a solid job of coming out and apologizing to the community before it got any further. Respect for that. None the less I don't think bhangra and religion go hand in hand and I agree with a lot of the things that Karn said above. First time I missed BBC in a long time and seems like it was one hell of a show!!!

 

[ramv88]

^Agreed....been in this circuit for some time and I know that these things have happened in the past and very FEW have owned up and made sincere apologies.

Great reviews Sahil, Howie, Manni and Derek. Heard Kay V's performance----Imo----I didn't really feel him as a live performer.
One critique that stands out to me was what Derek was saying in his review ---saying how the judging feedback was below par----that blows. hope the score sheets were better than what was told during the judges meeting.

Congrats to the BBC committee---Can't wait to see the videos!




- Dholi Ram

 

[tajinder]

Sumeet jindal ne maafi mang lai so hun bas karo matti payo. avain stretch karan da ki faida. jeda banda maafi mang leh oh mahaan hunda aah. KPGD <3 at BBC agg lah diti si

 

[Sue Sylvester]

First things first, a Public Service Announcement: I'm not going to point fingers, if you are reading this you'll know who you are. Here it goes: PLEASE don't drink alcohol when you are wearing your vardi with your pagg on. I was so disappointed to see people who I have watched dance on big name teams, full on drinking a glass of beer after they were done performing in the first half. This is disrespectful and straight basti. The integrity of the vardi is real, its not a "costume." You are representing a dance that holds so much historic value and connection to our virsa and culture, when you do shit like this it is dirtying that sanctity. You might not think about it, but the vardi is not just another shirt you put before hitting the bar, its special, it holds meaning. Its tradition and deserves respect just like the respect your props have when you placing them down during routines. I'm not pointing fingers, but for the love of bhangra, be a better example for future generations to come. Have some class. If you have counter arguments to my statement or feel the same way, please add. Note that I will not be making further remarks that starts some petty argument (I don't have time for BS). This was the main reason I even wrote this review. And if you have a personal issue with it, message me directly. I keep it 100.

This intrigues me a bit.


Someone wearing a vardi for a dance performance is not wearing it for religious reasons. They are not assuming a Sikh identity nor are pretending to be Sikh for those 8 minutes on stage at a competition for material prizes and momentary fame. That would be absurd.

And if you think someone who is wearing a pagg (which is typically tied differently from one worn for religious reasons) for a dance performance is dirtying Punjabi culture and tradition so much, do you hold those who drink while wearing a pagg as Sikhs (for actual religious reasons) outside of the scope of competitions/vardi to the same (or probably more) contempt? All power to you if you are a Sikh who wears a pagg and does not drink, but expecting others to follow Sikh religious tenets when the vardi is not a religious uniform, the venue is not a religious site and the competition is not a religious event is a bit preposterous. Should eating meat while in a pagg/vardi also be a taboo?

I completely agree with Saleem. It comes down more to the "end behavior" rather than upholding these religious sensitivities. There are young kids, elders, families and even young dancers at these competitions - it's important to recognize that and behave accordingly. The pagg has religious/cultural significance and it definitely deserves the utmost respect, but it's important not to obscure the line between bhangra and religion. Paggs are worn not only in Sikhi but also won in other religions and other cultures for various events (ie: Hindu weddings). And Karn, I agree with you that there are many things in bhangra that have religious origins and religion may continue to influence aspects of bhangra (ie: songs), but bhangra is not a religious dance. It's not about stripping bhangra of these things, but simply not enforcing religion upon bhangra and its dancers.

Edit: Formatting.

 

[faizan]

always remember that the etymology of bhangra comes from the word BHANG. lol.

 

[KushK]

Sumeet jindal ne maafi mang lai so hun bas karo matti payo. avain stretch karan da ki faida. jeda banda maafi mang leh oh mahaan hunda aah. KPGD <3 at BBC agg lah diti si

honestly, who cares, this has been the entertaining thing on BTF since MCB 2

what happen at MCB 2?

 

[Saleem]

Sumeet jindal ne maafi mang lai so hun bas karo matti payo. avain stretch karan da ki faida. jeda banda maafi mang leh oh mahaan hunda aah. KPGD <3 at BBC agg lah diti si

Again, I didn't see what the specific behavior was but if this dancer just had a drink and wasn't being an idiot, I don't think he needs to ask anyone's forgiveness at all.

 

[sumeetj]

Sumeet jindal ne maafi mang lai so hun bas karo matti payo. avain stretch karan da ki faida. jeda banda maafi mang leh oh mahaan hunda aah. KPGD <3 at BBC agg lah diti si

Again, I didn't see what the specific behavior was but if this dancer just had a drink and wasn't being an idiot, I don't think he needs to ask anyone's forgiveness at all.

I was being an idiot but that was long before I touched any alcohol