My Friends and I have started a Bhangra Team at our University. We have been awaiting this opportunity for a long time. We have performed at local Vaisahki Mela's, weddings, and ect. I have been to countless Bhangra Competitions to know what needs to be taught, however I think being a captain you should know the proper names to moves. I know the moves and could also come up with moves on spot, but do you think it is necessary for me to know the names? If so i've read one forum with all the names to the moves, but how would I connect that to the move itself?
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Being a Captain?
- Thread starter atomrahb
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DGoraya
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- 211
i dont think knowing the names of the moves is that important. You still have to teach them to your team. You cant just say "do chaal for four beats" and expect your team to understand. Demonstration is still very important. You can know the names for your own personal satisfaction but its not really important. Thats just my opinion
ashvin.kapur
Member
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- 34
I completely agree. A few years ago when I took over as captain of my team, I knew names for very few of the moves. You'll learn them as you progress as a dancer and attend more competitions (with people repeatedly using the names), but your team will be no worse off without knowing the names. Call them names with which your team can easily identify the move.
sajan250
Member
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- 58
ashvin.kapur said:
I've been using the names I learned when I joined the team: "ups, downs, cross-overs".
I think it's important for the captains to know the traditional names for the sake of knowing them, but when teaching I'll interchange the trad names with something they can remember easily.
The only time I don't change names is when I'm teaching a style or instrument.
Good luck captaining!
J Wong
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- 301
As common-sense as it sounds, the most important thing about being a captain is knowing how to lead by example. Having direction for your team is important because the team relies on you to be the foundation, while compromises are okay, compromising for the sake of compromising is no way to lead. Sometimes you have to step in and say that 'this is what we are doing'. While knowing traditional names is, in my mind, important for the sake of preserving the wealth of history sometimes 'up-downs' or 'squats' can be better than bath-ke. I personally like using the actual names because they really describe the essence of the action.
amancheema
Active Member
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Saab
Today is a gift
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- 991
Generally, knowing dance steps is one of the smallest problems when first starting a brand new dance team. Honestly, your team should move through phases:
1. Build
-make your team and identify internally a style you want to present
- set both long and short term goals for the team
- perform as much as possible with gigs and shows
- practice a set you can execute, perform, and enjoy at all times
Compete
- make sets that that challenge your dancers and yourself in both choreo and logistics(time/thoroughness of teaching)
- codify step names to make it easier to teach. Some names are pretty prevalent, while other you might pickup or makeup(names are not as homogenous as you might think)
- make videos for competitions, have performances prep for competitions, compete locally or internationally is a goal here
-build cohesion with your dancers while perfecting your style/choreo
-recruit
Elite
- place at comps regularly
- make sets challenging for your team and for anyone on the circuit
- steps and style are synced, people know differences between your style and another teams
- motivations of the team are the same
- organized and fully cohesive team that operates at high efficiency
- recruit
This is a really crude diagram I just scribbled out in a few minutes, and there are a lot of permutations to what I just said. However, I think the most important thing is to set yourself some goals and create benchmarks to attain them. Keeping a good mix of manageable and challenging is where I think some teams fail.
1. Build
-make your team and identify internally a style you want to present
- set both long and short term goals for the team
- perform as much as possible with gigs and shows
- practice a set you can execute, perform, and enjoy at all times
Compete
- make sets that that challenge your dancers and yourself in both choreo and logistics(time/thoroughness of teaching)
- codify step names to make it easier to teach. Some names are pretty prevalent, while other you might pickup or makeup(names are not as homogenous as you might think)
- make videos for competitions, have performances prep for competitions, compete locally or internationally is a goal here
-build cohesion with your dancers while perfecting your style/choreo
-recruit
Elite
- place at comps regularly
- make sets challenging for your team and for anyone on the circuit
- steps and style are synced, people know differences between your style and another teams
- motivations of the team are the same
- organized and fully cohesive team that operates at high efficiency
- recruit
This is a really crude diagram I just scribbled out in a few minutes, and there are a lot of permutations to what I just said. However, I think the most important thing is to set yourself some goals and create benchmarks to attain them. Keeping a good mix of manageable and challenging is where I think some teams fail.
Anik915
Member
- Messages
- 268
I think knowing the "proper" names of moves is important for individuals on the team who serve as points of contact to the rest of the circuit. Just like many other "circuits" or activities or sports, having a common language allows ease of communication between the members involved.
An example: lets say you go to your first competition, and a judge is attempting to give you feedback on certain moves. They'll most likely use the "traditional" names for moves, and it would behoove a captain or leader of a team to understand this and go back to practice and work on these specific moves with your team. Regardless of the language you use to raise your own team (up and downs etc), the somewhat standard Bhangra terminology that we use to understand each other in the greater context can certainly be beneficial. (However, it's true that different teams have different names for different moves, but in general there is some common understanding).
You can connect this to sports - When someone in basketball says run a pick-and-roll, or man-to-man defense, or a 2-3 zone, this common understanding of terminology can lead to efficiency.
But most importantly, when someone tells you that they love your fasla, you want to know what they're trying to compliment =)
Best of luck with your journey with your new team, have fun.
An example: lets say you go to your first competition, and a judge is attempting to give you feedback on certain moves. They'll most likely use the "traditional" names for moves, and it would behoove a captain or leader of a team to understand this and go back to practice and work on these specific moves with your team. Regardless of the language you use to raise your own team (up and downs etc), the somewhat standard Bhangra terminology that we use to understand each other in the greater context can certainly be beneficial. (However, it's true that different teams have different names for different moves, but in general there is some common understanding).
You can connect this to sports - When someone in basketball says run a pick-and-roll, or man-to-man defense, or a 2-3 zone, this common understanding of terminology can lead to efficiency.
But most importantly, when someone tells you that they love your fasla, you want to know what they're trying to compliment =)
Best of luck with your journey with your new team, have fun.
Sachin
New Member
- Messages
- 30
So at CMU we took a slightly different approach.
We actually strongly encouraged and kinda required that all of our dancers learn the names of most of the basic steps (phumaniya, batika, jhummar, chal, jugni, phataka, bedi, etc.) and props in conjunction with knowing how to do the steps and use the props. At the end of our training "bootcamp" session (before teaching new choreo/formations for the year) there would be a short quiz for groups of people to make sure people are up to speed. We would call out a name of a step and see if everyone could do it. It helps you see who is really interested and also who is a fast learner.
There are three reasons for the philosophy of learning the step names as someone sort of said before. 1) when learning something, whether it be an art (dance) or economics, you need to know the proper vocabulary, if you don't than you look silly. Yes this will take practice and time for sure, it doesn't happen over night. 2) You want your dancers to be able to learn from other teams when you go to competitions. Encourage them to talk and mix with other teams, bhangra steps are always something that comes up. 3) You want to run practices efficiently. You don't want to have to stop practice and do a certain step in your segment to tell the team to figure out where you want them to start in the segment. You should be able to stay start at the phumaniya etc.
This is all within reason, I definitely do not know all of the names of all the steps, and no one is expecting you to. It's just good to have a general idea. Another point someone made was pretty good: come up with something that the team understands. One great example of this on my team is: the chicken step. I'm pretty sure you can all figure out what step that is. It's when you flap your arms like a chicken. You also can just say start at the jumps- you don't expect everyone on your team to know what kanchi charanal is. Again this will all come with time.
What Ram said was spot on. RECRUIT. Your team will only be as good as your future dancers. The time you take to invest in the younger people is what really matters. It will determine whether or not the team will continue competing 5 years down the road. You want to build a culture around recruitment.
The the last part- EXCITEMENT. Keep everyone interested and invested. Do team bonding activities, have fun with everyone. Encourage people to come up with choreography, formations, etc. Have time to just mess around in practice (within reason of course, don't let people go breaking saaps by accident). Half the people on my team didn't drink last year, so we had to find some sober activities (not an easy task). Get the word out about Bhangra on your campus- make t-shirts, hoodies, something that everyone on campus will associate with bhangra.
I'm sure you will do well, your team picked you for a reason. Go out there have some fun and keep everyone's spirits up.
We actually strongly encouraged and kinda required that all of our dancers learn the names of most of the basic steps (phumaniya, batika, jhummar, chal, jugni, phataka, bedi, etc.) and props in conjunction with knowing how to do the steps and use the props. At the end of our training "bootcamp" session (before teaching new choreo/formations for the year) there would be a short quiz for groups of people to make sure people are up to speed. We would call out a name of a step and see if everyone could do it. It helps you see who is really interested and also who is a fast learner.
There are three reasons for the philosophy of learning the step names as someone sort of said before. 1) when learning something, whether it be an art (dance) or economics, you need to know the proper vocabulary, if you don't than you look silly. Yes this will take practice and time for sure, it doesn't happen over night. 2) You want your dancers to be able to learn from other teams when you go to competitions. Encourage them to talk and mix with other teams, bhangra steps are always something that comes up. 3) You want to run practices efficiently. You don't want to have to stop practice and do a certain step in your segment to tell the team to figure out where you want them to start in the segment. You should be able to stay start at the phumaniya etc.
This is all within reason, I definitely do not know all of the names of all the steps, and no one is expecting you to. It's just good to have a general idea. Another point someone made was pretty good: come up with something that the team understands. One great example of this on my team is: the chicken step. I'm pretty sure you can all figure out what step that is. It's when you flap your arms like a chicken. You also can just say start at the jumps- you don't expect everyone on your team to know what kanchi charanal is. Again this will all come with time.
What Ram said was spot on. RECRUIT. Your team will only be as good as your future dancers. The time you take to invest in the younger people is what really matters. It will determine whether or not the team will continue competing 5 years down the road. You want to build a culture around recruitment.
The the last part- EXCITEMENT. Keep everyone interested and invested. Do team bonding activities, have fun with everyone. Encourage people to come up with choreography, formations, etc. Have time to just mess around in practice (within reason of course, don't let people go breaking saaps by accident). Half the people on my team didn't drink last year, so we had to find some sober activities (not an easy task). Get the word out about Bhangra on your campus- make t-shirts, hoodies, something that everyone on campus will associate with bhangra.
I'm sure you will do well, your team picked you for a reason. Go out there have some fun and keep everyone's spirits up.