I would like to say that Bhangra Blowout this year has been an awesome experience for both myself and MBT. This was my first time at Bhangra Blowout and was very impressed. Everything from this weekend went smoothly and there were no troubles whatsoever. The liasons, coordinators, teams, and even the after party committee were just flawless. Now onto the real review.
Arrival
-We met our liasons at the hotel at around 3pm and both Sneha and Sagar greeted us with probably the best and funniest gift basket in the world. Not only were there amazing snacks and T-shirts, but also stickers and condoms which is very untraditional for some of you, but hilarious at the same time. Shoutout to the committee for their creativity. I personally think this was the best gift basket I have ever gotten at any competition period. Sneha and Sagar from the get go stayed with us and did not leave us for one minute as soon as they stepped through the door and gave us the whole breakdown of the weekend and kept us on track to get ready for the mixer which for once we were able to get to on time haha.
Mixer/Practice Space
-I personally enjoyed the mixer venue and the dress up aspect that was enforced. I liked the whole western formal idea and registration was very very smooth from the coordinators. The food was good and I didn't really have to wait in line and the mixer games were actually fun for me. The way show order was picked was very fair and everything ended relatively on time. The practice rooms that were given to the teams were very spacious and providing the case of water and gatorade for just the practice night was perfect and smart. I really don't like it when competitions give all the water and gatorade at once because in all honesty we will probably end up wasting it or leaving it by accident. Blowout committee did exactly what I expect which is split it into two different days which was perfect. We had the practice room until 2am which is plenty of time for us to have practice in comparison to only getting a practice room for 30min segments.
Tech Time
-Having Tech time beginning at 11am for the first team is perfect. I think this gives every team adequate amount of time to sleep the night before. Team captains had to be there earlier to set up the rig and lighting beginning at 8:30am which may sound like a bummer, but it allowed us to change lighting cues and actually see the stage and set up our gimmicks
. We were also given a practice room for the whole entire day until the night of the show which allowed teams to practice to their hearts desire and worked out perfectly. We were given plenty of water and Gatorade once again which made me happy. Tech time went smoothly and Lisner Auditorium is just an awesome place to dance at. The stage was spacious and Saira and Joy both were on top of their game by accommodating last minute lighting cues or changes. 20 minute tech time was plenty of time for us to practice. Although there was a small mishap in our lighting, Joy and Saira allowed us to talk to the tech crew for 30 minutes to fix any issues we had.
Show
-Holy shit....I have not danced in front of a crowd like that since WBBC. As soon as MBT and myself stepped into that auditorium I was shocked to see how huge that crowd was. That was a real sold out crowd. All of the seats were filled and it made performing on stage so enjoyable. The crowd all really really got into the performance for all the teams which is what we all really want at the end of the day. Show was quick and smooth and the MC's for the show were excellent because they were concise in introducing the teams and didn't let the energy from the crowd die. Shout out to Tejasvir from CMU for lending us a orange chunni last minute and also to Akash from Buckeye Bhangra and Yeshel from UNC for lending us their markers literally right before we went on stage.
Judges Meeting
-This was a very powerful judging panel. Ankush, Cherag, Ashita, and Sid are some of the most respected captains in the Bhangra circuit for what they have done and provided excellent constructive feedback. They told us exactly where we went wrong in our set, pointed out specifics to fix moving forward, and actually told us the truth. I usually hate it when I go to a judges meeting and they only tell me things I already knew that went wrong on stage or they try to be nice, but each judge told us blunt and truthful opinions.
After Party
-Great after party a lot of people showed up and we didn't have to wait forever to get inside the venue. Drinks were relatively cheap and it went on til 3am. Beats traditional 2am venues and gave all the teams enough time to get ready and pregame. It was nice to see some old faces out there alongside the same familiar ones
Team Brunch
-This was a fun idea and the awards given out were even funnier. Thanks for the Best Finale and the paper plate award for most likely to have an asian captain. Shout out to Bobby Grewal from our team for receiving best nahkra.
-On a ending note I would like to thank the Bhangra Blowout Committee once again for everything and especially to Mukta, Naveneet, Saira, Joy, and Umar for helping us out. Thank you to our liasons Sneha and Sagar for tending to all of our needs. Also a special thank you to Dilbagh, Shahrukh, and Simran Sodhi for helping us out with paggan, chadra, and cheering us on while we were on stage. Dholi Ram I want to thank you once again for playing for us this weekend and also for the DMV hospitality. You have done so much for us this weekend starting from Thursday to Sunday. I highly recommend any collegiate team to apply to this competition.
