Bhangra Fusion OFFICIAL RESULTS

[campy614]

mbt- so excited to see u guys, huge crowd support. tech fucked their performance by actually skipping two songs. but u had mad energy the whole time and we loved the blacklight M at the end. hail to the victors!

Ok-that should NEVER happen... EVER!! That easily takes away a team's chance of placing. They should have been given an option to reperform their set, or compensated in some sort of way. Shout out to MBT for pulling it off.

And on another note-VCU 1ST PLACE-WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!

And congrats to PDDS for placing at their last comp!

 

[mafzal]

All my videos got deleted, sorry

DVD should be out soon

 

[Saleem]

I dont understand how you can skip two songs, burghwala? plz elaborate. Was their mix split amongst more than 2 tracks??

 

[mafzal]

I dont understand how you can skip two songs, burghwala? plz elaborate. Was their mix split amongst more than 2 tracks??

I don't know what happened, but basically MBT's mix was going into their jhummar/slow song... then suddenly cut into "Mehfil". And the team got maddd confused. It was pretty bad, but then they picked it up and ripped the rest of "Mehfil". I actually thought it was a gimmick during the routine, because they went from being soo lost, to just tearing it up. But I don't think it was a gimmick because afterwards the team seemed very upset. Props to them still because once they got into the flow of Mehfil they ripped it up like I said.

The organizers called up 2 captains from every team to come up during intermission and speak privately. I'm assuming it was about all the technical difficulties (3, 4?). The show ran smooth post-intermission.

 

[ludhiana]

here's my review:

cmu: first time i've seen u guys... really good, the girls are really good with energy and expressions. the choreo was good, just need to get everyone at the same level.. the pughs were distracting, as lots of ppl around me kept wondering why one of the guys was holding a larh of the pugh in his mouth throughout the dance... good job though

nw: wow.. this is was a really nice surprise.. i was shocked when they didn't place.. so clean, and all the dancers were great.. some of jodis in the back could be brought up to the front more, but ur energy, formations, songs, chroeo were all good, so i thought u guys could have placed.

michigan: home crowd got them pumped.. from the start, one pugh fell off in like 20 secs.. then the music skipped once a little, and then the big skip like 20ish seconds.. when this happened, the whole audience started clapping them on. congrats for pulling that off, really impressive, especailly all the grace and energy that you guys maintained after the skip in mix.. still, after the mix, some of the dancers looked confused and worried, which is understandable.. congrats again,

msu: these girls have so much energy, there bhangra is so intense in a good way. they explode and made full use of the stage. the dancer in the center front was amazing, so much nakhra and grace. the guy coming out with the violin to the jhoomer song was really creative and good. i thought you guys could have placed too..

apd: heard a lot about this team, and it reminded me a lot of kj. really similar style. they got the crowd going and had a lot of audience interaction. too bad the tower fell down at the end, the intro video was hot too

boston: don't remember too much about the routine, nothing too memorable, the gimmick was the funniest part, along with the turlas.. haha.. plz get those changed.

pdds: one word: amazing ;D.. these guys had the crowd up in there seats. from the live intro to the music, the choreo was sick, so much grace in all of the moves.. the choreo to jattan wali was tight, and then the gimmick during "jatt maujan karde ne rab ne thor koi na rakhi" was one of the highligts of the night they literally made it rain on the audience. genius. all the guys were in sync and had energy, expressions. reminded me of daviet, really good job guys. plz don't stop. congratuations

vcu: its vcu, really great choreo, the change in songs from prior routines was nice, and i liked the jawani song that you guys danced to. the joker and bhangra joker at the end was really creative, and the formations were all on point. this team has really defined what a coed bhangra team should be. they all dance so naturally and they make is seem easy, but it looks so good. great job, one of the best teams of the night fo sure.

sfu: i really liked there outfits. they were the last team, and still they had a lot of crowd support and they had good energy. A few messups with stunts and towers i think may have hurt you, but the choreo to the songs was great. i really look forward to seeing sfu more, all the guys and girl dancers danced as a team, which is hard to find.. they were all at the same level of skill, a high one, which was really entertaining to watch.

here's what i was predicting after i saw the show:
1. pdds
2. vcu
3. northwestern/msu
overall, the show was great, the mc was annoying after he kept saying "bungrah" but he had lots of energy.
congrats to all the teams, and the show organizers,

 

[pluthra]

Wish it was like a toronto comp...or even other comps were probably better than this. But everyone did a great job. Placings were good/accurate. My question is who were the judges??????? They old, like 50s and they looked soooo bored, which made me mad because it seems like no matter what the teams did the judges wouldn't smile they looked bored. Didn't think APD deserved 3rd, personally thought that Northwestern was way better.

A few things:
MBT: chadraan/pagghan problems, and i'm not a fan of the over-exaggerrated facial expressions + singing. but they did good coming back from the tech prob
Boston:????? wat up w/the chikkas?
APD: all the guys just dance sooo differently. It's like hey I dance like this and I dont wanna change it to match my team. Like if they did khich, everyone's at different levels. Like they had great energy, but not a fan.
Northwestern: They were clean as everyone's said. The guy in the purple and dark orange was amazing. Some facial expressions made me :/.....personally, I'd rather watch just the Northwestern guys because they're a lot stronger. Only thing I hated, was that the girls suits weren't that great but the guys vardis wereee amazingggg.
PDDS: luved it, especially the facial expressions, like out of all the people who performed you they had the best facial expressions
VCU: extremely coordinated, like it was amazing to watch in person, but I was hoping that like every 20 seconds they would break out into something amazinggg, like they had but could have had more. Fav part, the joker came out and danced at the end. And someone in purple/blue has amazing phumaniyan!!!

 

[ban3rg]

thanks for review payrule!

Northwestern: They were clean as everyone's said. The guy in the purple and dark orange was amazing.

VCU: And someone in purple/blue has amazing phumaniyan!!!

Yesssss I KNEW my boy Anirban would rip it uppp (hopefully thats who you're talking about, tall guy, dashing good looks, one of the two in orange/purple). SAHUUUUUUUUUUUUU

and probly Aman or marshmaster!!! Both soo good at their phumaniyan woooooo. see all 3 of u meistros at blowoutttt

 

[Nikhil]

Actually VCU Blue and Magenta Jodi's were...

Aman and Manu, and Sheel and Amna



marshmaster was making smores

 

[Cowabhangra]

Hey all, name is Samit, I'm one of the dancers on MBT, I decided to come on just to clarify what happened, just fyi I'm speaking for myself not necessarily my whole team...

From the start of the show there were some technical problems as the exhibition act and other acts had their music skip at certain parts, but the beat would come right back and they could continue the dance, they said it had something to do with the bass in certain parts of the music... which was unfortunate because during tech time earlier in the day the sound for everyone I talk to including ours was just fine.

Before our set started, we usually set up a 3-man (stand-sit-stand) in the middle for our intro, the same one we did last year at Fusion. For some reason while we were setting it up they cut out all lights, including the ones backstage, so we were trying to set it up blind in the pitch black, and I (I am the one that stands at the very top) tried to step onto one of our members shoulders and fell off the front, knocking off one of our members paghs and loosening both my own and another team members. Then our set was about to start so we kind of started off flustered.

Then midway through the dance, during one of our songs about 3:00 in, the music skipped like 15-20 seconds, we tried to catch it as soon as possible, and continued the dance, and then about 20 seconds later it skipped again and it skipped a whole song and went into midway through "Mehfil", so we tried to catch that as quickly as we could too. Shout out to all the teams and audience members who started going nuts for us when we got back in the flow, it showed a lot of class and spirit, and we appreciated it a lot.

From there obviously it kind of disturbed our flow, and just took out one of our "wow" factors, and we were all upset for a hot second, but performances like this happen, no need to be bitter, plus PDDS' performance definitely lifted our spirit. Hope that clarifies what happened to all those that are wondering.

Lastly, shout out to all the teams that performed (Northwestern looked awesome from side stage!), especially the placing teams, and MSU (cuz we always love you)...

APD, you guys tore it up, had an awesome set, props on having the guts to tell fusion to start your set over when your sound wasn't working (we shoulda done that too, probably wouldn't have worked since we were already 3.5 minutes in though... haha), sorry about the stunt, I was looking forward to it, but you guys still had a killer performance.

VCU, you guys were sickkk as always, the new joker thing was ridiculous, perfect purple/green outfit too, congrats on yet another 1st!

PDDS, words can't describe it. I'm a little biased cause I know most of them, but this was one of the best performances I've seen. Every dancer was SUPER into it, the crowd was behind you, the choreo was awesome, the band was awesome, you even threw in a little gimmick for the crowd, 1-2 was definitely a toss-up between you guys and VCU. Congrats.

 

[partyanmol9]

V-C-U.

 

[ban3rg]

Actually VCU Blue and Magenta Jodi's were...

Aman and Manu, and Sheel and Amna



marshmaster was making smores

haha marshmallows for the marshmaster.... wow Samit, props to you guys for your werewithal! so psyched to see what PDDS brought now.

 

[faizan]

MBT, very classy. Respect.

 

[HarmanSingh]

It was definitely a great weekend and a blast for us to end it in front of our friends and family who were cheering us on.

Although we had a good time and enjoyed chilling with all the teams, there were some issues which really put a damper on the event. As Samit said, Michigan and the ENTIRE first half of the show had to suffer through a terrible job by the sound people or the sound system. Teams' mixes skipped, the sound was distorted and mics were cut during live segments (Northwestern in particular). Although mistakes happen, this kind of thing is hard to forgive because it really screws people over hard. I think Fusion should reimburse all of these teams with giving them their registration money back in full with an apology for really blowing it for all their hard work. To see so many faces drop on stage because of mixes was hard to watch but I was glad to see teams support one another and cheer each other on when that did happen. Respect to the teams for not letting it get to them and continuing to show class.

About the judges, a couple things stood out to me. One, Subash Kelkar has no mention of bhangra in the bio we were given. He is a radio personality in Detroit and it looks like he is not exactly an ideal judge. As always judging is a very complicated and controversial thing but I would like to see Fusion incorporate more folk minded judges to their roster, rather than who are more versed in other dance forms.

To review the teams,

CMU Chak De: First time seeing you guys and you are certainly on your way to becoming a legit coed team. Some of the dancers lacked grace and energy, and the drop off from the front jori to the back was pretty drastic. Had some difficulties with Pughs, but glad to see you guys handled it with respect.

Northwestern: Sucks the singer had to re-do his intro because of the mic being cut off. But you guys were the most folk of the coed teams there after VCU and have a bright future if you stick to traditional moves. The dance was lacking a memorable quality and nothing in particular stood out to me.

MBT: I wont even review this team becaue of the problems they had due to the sound. Their entire routine was thrown off because of it and they really had no control over what went down. Sucks to see a team have that many problems in front of the home crowd that is there to cheer them on.

MSU Bhangra: Good energy, the only all girls team of the night. As always, great crowd support for them and I felt they should have placed over APD. They were cleaner and had more dancing as opposed to stunts. But a lack of grace on some moves probably hurt this team more than anything.

APD: Good thinking to cut the mix as soon as you noticed something was off. However, it seemed like you guys never fully recovered and were pretty shook by the whole thing. Multiple stunts were dropped and when that is really the focal point of your routine, it is hard for me to say you guys deserved to place. I am not a fan of the "poppy" style you guys have and would prefer teams to show more grace and less "in your face" moves/facial expressions. What probably got you guys to place was good energy and creativity throughout.

Boston: One thing that stood out to me from the beginning was the guys' turlas. They were VERY odd, something I have never seen before b/c it was almost a cylinder on your head with the way the turla wrapped completely around your pugh. And it was made worse when they began to come loose. I would not take you guys seriously until you fix that. The style you guys have is very 2003ish and is not to my liking. I didn't get to see much else as we were backstage and didn't see the full routine.

VCU Bhangra: They did what VCU does and that is put on a show. Grace, energy, creativity, style, choreography..they had it all.

SFU Elite: Another solid team that had a shot at placing. But the level of dancing was not the best and some things you guys did were odd and ruined the flow of the dance (like the thing you did before Mirza). I would work on facial expressions and showing more traditionality over modern style.

Again, it was a blast and the crowd was unbelievable. Thanks to all those who supported us throughout the years. It is hard to say goodbye to something you love so much and have done for so many years but due to work, school and other commitments we have decided to call this the end of the road. But you will most likely see some of our guys still on the circuit (like our choreographers Manu and Juggy who are seniors in high school).

 

[GavinJ.]

V-C-U.<3

 

[KaraN]

vcu!! lets go lets gooo letss go!! seems like you changed ur routine, cant wait to see it!
shout outs to PDDS n APD congratss!

 

[SunnySingh827]

Samit, nice post, very classy...

It was sad to see that happen. My review:

CMU - Nice outfits, good dance, up and coming co-ed team, lacked a memorable moment, first in the show hurt as well, a couple strong dancers, could have had more energy though.
Northwestern - Very clean routine, traditional as well, but the choreo lacked creativity and riskiness. Still, I liked the dance overall, good job! The jumps at the end were very coordinated, their ending was traditional but somewhat unoriginal.
MBT - Despite the problems, this team still has a lot of bright spots. Something was off right in the very beginning, then it picked up. One of their guys had a crazy face, the other one in the front of Apna Sangeet whose turla was falling off had amazing energy and sang all the words. I liked some of the choreo a lot, they caught the music when it came back pretty quickly and although some dancers looked upset (I think you could see one of them yelling on stage), some of their dancers showed a lot of pride by ending strongly. Saw them cheering for other teams right after that happened to them also, a nice change from some other teams who would be rowdy and obnoxious if their mix got messed up like that.
MSU - These girls have tons of energy and look strong on stage, and they have a very original style... guys may help them add presence though. They were really good when they were co-ed... the violin was very nice, the ending stunt didn't come through completely, but they were very entertaining and had a strong showing.
APD - APD is really on a tear, if they would have gotten their stunt up at the end I could have seen them winning over VCU, they have a very poppy style, but they look good at it, some of their guys have amazing expression, one of them (very light skinned one) was very fun to watch. Still in my top 3 even though the stunt fell down.
Boston - They were very strong, I do agree that their turle were tied very poorly though. They were going backwards instead of straight up, but the dancers were strong, energetic, if they had more complex choreo I could have seen them taking one of the placing spots over APD.
PDDS - Very solid dance, good traditional choreo, nothing too memorable (same make it rain stunt as DRP and other teams have done) but they did have a lot of energy, a lot of grace, and they were the only team to go partially live, so they were probably the most traditional. Didn't think they would place, home crowd probably helped them, still a very good performance though.
VCU - What can you say about these guys... they always bring it. The joker was fantastic, the choreo was traditional and entertaining, and their guys in the purple/pink are outstanding. Every time i have seen them I have been impressed, Bhangra Fusion was no exception. Great job guys, keep it up!
SFU Elite - End of the show, but following VCU was a tough act to pull. They looked less energetic, with less traditional choreo, and less stunts. Overall they had a solid dance, following VCU made them look somewhat obsolete though.

Congrats to all the teams that placed... and all the teams in general that dealt with the sound problems fairly well from what we could see.

 

[Pooja]

A few things:
MBT: hate their facial expressions, hate their chadars, and looks like a huge blob of people on stage, and the moves were like oh I like this move so let me use it here and then add another move (like there was no flow)

perhaps we could be a little more constructive there little lady!


Wee See You finaalllyyyyy!!! Hopefully you guys are performing your new routine at AVAP so I can see it!!!

PDDSMD WOOHOO. Can you guys still come to comps and sit in the hallway and sing songs really loudly? Thanks.

 

[Varan Rakhra]

would love to see APD vids...other than that GO VCU!!!

 

[Kapil]

Congrats to VCU, PDDS, and APD. The competition was mad fun, with the exception of the technical glitches many talked about earlier. Shoutout to Sid and the other APD bros, they know that at the end of the day it's really about the love for bhangra (and drinking a shitton haha).

CMU- first time i've seen them, not too bad of a set. Still needs a bunch of work, cleanliness. You guys had a few weak dancers you tried to hide, but they still stuck out. Nothing really memorable though. keep workin hard and there's potential
Northwestern- Up and coming team for sure. They had some empire-ish formations, especially this circle drop-off formation which was off the hook. But, I think at one point they did a very similar lean down on one leg like empire with two halves, and people in the middle marionetting. That's a no-no, I hope it was unintentional. Otherwise very entertaining (and say hi to my cousin Chirag-- get that kid to join the team! lol)
MSU- super high energy, very entertaining to watch. Definitely thought they were placing worthy, clearly a top contender in the all-girls teams sphere. Reminded me a little of NBA.
Michigan-the technical issue was unfortunate but when you guys caught back on, I jumped to my feet cuz you KILLED it. The part of the set before the glitch was still not as refined and entertaining, I think you can do some more cleanin up. Although I did hear the audience cheering, it definitely was much more dampened then in 06 and 07...I expected more crowd support for a home team.
APD- these boys ripped it. missed the ending stunt after attempting it twice, but the set was nasty. These guys bring a poppy style which defines them uniquely, and that in of itself makes them different and very entertaining. There was one dude who kept looking angry (I think he's the one with braces), but most other dancers expression were great, especially the winker lol.

PDDS- the best I've seen PDDS yet. They were great, graceful, and energetic. Although i'm sure all the dancers are very passionate about bhangra, I still feel like the best way to display that passion on stage is through body and facial expression, with the latter lacking in their performance.
VCU- not the best I've seen them, they've executed better. BUT the joker gimmick which I expected to be the same as VIBC (since they recycled the star wars khunda swing and V-C-U formation gimmick again) turned out to be a shocker when a bhangra joker came out and ripped it. still, a great set, and always great to see talent get rewarded, congrats again
SFU- I feel like this team has a ways to go, but in a way are underdogs (kind of like UCI). They were a little sloppy, but slightly above CMU, Michigan, and equal to Northwestern.


As for us, I know we have to figure out our Turla situation...it's been back n forth with a company in Punjab that keeps screwing it up


Finally, the best thing about Fusion is allowing the teams to sit right up front together. On behalf of BB, we had an amazing time cheering all the teams on and sharing the love for bhangra together at Fusion 10. A great time as always and hopefully the organizers will get their shit together for next year.


Kapil
Boston Bhangra

 

[[Sher] Imran]

I hate posting reviews but I was @ Fusion so i might as well talk about what i saw:

-CMU: Had your good moments, but your routine needs a better flow. We walked in right when you guys were starting, so I missed a little bit of it.

-Northwestern: Liked the circle drop-off formation, but the choreo was choppy overall. It seemed like you were slapping 4 count moves together in an effort to keep your routine fresh. Again, its all about flow. There were a few points where i was like huh? you guys would do a move, then there'd be this dead count, and all of a sudden BAM into another move (aka choppy). Like the potential though.

-MSU: Entertaining routine, definitely should've placed. There was some poppy bhangra involved, but it kept the audience involved. Not sure why they didn't place. I can see this routine going to BOB and making a dent.

-MBT: Turlas and paggs flying everywhere. I was cringing watching one of the guys dancing and still refusing to take off his pagg, which was basically undone at that point- It looked like a football helmet. They recovered well from that mix-malfunction, although im not sure how it happened. If they had more than 1 track on their CD then i can see why, but its odd how no one else's mix skipped. Parts of the routine didn't hit, and i noticed it was where their moves weren't big enough. Maybe it was energy or frustration of the mix issue or something.

-APD: Their cleanliness is what kept em in this game, and what gave them the edge over MSU. There are some style differences between dancers, but they hit the main parts together. I love watching Kenny's bro dance, ive seen that guy dance at gigs with kenny since he was a young vato haha. Ending stunt didnt go up 2x, but again, their cleanliness overtook it.

-PDDS: First time i've seen em dance, let alone live. I thought they were solid, they didnt make many mistakes. Their live section was safe and clean. Loved how they used the entire stage for Jattan Wali. Glad I got to meet a few of them after, including the world famous Harman haha.

-Boston: Liked the Motor City shoutout for Gaddi, that was tight haha. Sorry i dont like this team anymore because BHAMBI didn't even call me while he was there playing dhol for them. Bhambi you are officially uninvited from ever coming to my apt in downtown LA again haha. Boston had solid energy, and i thought they were the darkhorse in this competition.

VCU: Clean and good energy as always. The joker gimmick put them over the top. parts of their set were old, but they killed it and were the clear 1st place favorite. Benny i dont care what you say but you better be coming to bruin!

SFU: The routine was too choppy. I was trying to find a "theme" or something that would tie their routine together. There was a point where the audience thought the set was over, but then they came out with props. You guys have good potential, but update your routine for sure.

Thumbs DOWN to detroit weather holy F its cold out there, i was freezing my pelotas off. Random people in the hotel saw me and guessed i was from Cali, i wonder what gave it away, the fact that i had 30 layers on or my thermostat in the hotel room was at 90 degrees haha.