**Bhangra in the Burgh 9 Placings + Post-Competition Review**

[Bhangra in the Burgh]

Hello BTF,


We want to thank all the teams for putting on amazing performances last night and making the show so successful. This year was truly one of the best lineups we could have ever asked for.


The official placings of Bhangra in the Burgh 9:


1st Place - Nachdi Jawani Warriors
2nd Place - First Class Bhangra
3rd Place - Shaan Mutiyaaran Di

Congratulations to our three winners!


We are so sad that Bhangra in the Burgh 9 is over, but we can't help but think about what's on the horizon - the 10th edition of Bhangra in the Burgh.
We would love to hear any comments or feedback that you guys have for us from the weekend. Any and all comments are welcome so that we know what to improve on in the future.


Feel free to post your comments to this thread or send us an email at bhangraintheburgh@gmail.com

Thank you to everyone who made this weekend so memorable. See you all next year!


~The Bhangra in the Burgh 9 Executive Committee 8)

 

[sartajjudge]

Was GTV there?

 

[Nimit]

Once again I want to congratulate the placing teams on some incredibly memorable performances. You guys all killed that shit. I want to make a special shoutout to MOB and Alamo City for their sets as well. That was some of the strongest co-ed bhangra I've seen in the United States and you guys had some fire choreo (and some dope gimmicks as well).


That being said this weekend was really made by the lineup. The Burgh committee really needs to work on making sure that their staff is informed and that their liaisons are informed. There were a LOT of times where our team didn't know where to go or what time we needed to do things and neither did our liaisons or a majority of the staff. The mixer was very poorly planned and the committee definitely could've done a better job of planning games, etc at the mixer to get teams involved and start off the weekend well. Also responding to emails was a big issue. The committee was not great about updating our roster, giving us confirmation emails, and/or communicating to us a proper (or realistic) itinerary of the weekend. If I ever had a question about where we needed to be or what room a meeting or practice was in, someone had to ask someone else who had to ask someone else. This competition ran the show well, but honestly it seemed like the comp was more about the show and MUCH less about the teams competing in it. The acceptance packet was missing a lot of key information including how much time we had on stage to set up the stage (which turned out to be only a minute and a half), where and when any captains or judges meetings will take place, and afterparty ticket information. After the performance, we had only five minutes to talk to judges and we barely got to hear more than a couple sentences from each which I was pretty upset about personally.


If the lineup wasn't as good as it was, I don't think I would've had as positive of an experience at Burgh. The competition day itself was incredible with how awesome the venue is and getting a chance to watch some of the best teams on the circuit, but the weekend seemed poorly planned and communicated to anyone that didn't have "co-lead" next to their name. I expected more out of a competition of this stature and I hope that BIB 10 will have a more informed staff, better informational packets, better email communication, and a better weekend in mind for those dancing. Once again congrats to all the teams for putting on a great show, and we were happy just to get an opportunity to share the stage with all you guys. Good luck for the rest of the year!

 

[HdBrar]

Was GTV there?

Yes.

 

[mafzal]

After the performance, we had only five minutes to talk to judges and we barely got to hear more than a couple sentences from each which I was pretty upset about personally.

Nimit, I can take some of the blame for this. We (the judging panel) agreed with the committee on a strict 5 minutes each. You're right, this only allowed for about 1 minute per judge. However, with 8 teams it adds up and we still didn't leave the venue til ~11:30 PM. We just wanted to make sure everyone had time before we got kicked out. That being said, we sincerely meant it when we said we will follow up via email. I can promise you a very hearty email from me within a few days, and I know the other judges will also be able to answer all your questions and hopefully provide useful advice

 

[mafzal]

I had the pleasure of judging again this year along with Gopi, Karthik, Kinnell, and Amrit "ASG". It was a phenomenal show and extremely difficult scoring and deliberation process. Overall I was very impressed with the caliber of dancing this year.

I believe email addresses, score sheets, and comment sheets will be circulated by the committee. Please reach out with any questions. One thing Burgh continues to do year after year is invite judges who genuinely care about the teams above all else, and who are passionate about seeing the circuit continue to grow. I'm personally humbled to be a part of it.

Committee: From my perspective in the audience, the show ran very smoothly. Congrats on that!

Teams: Fantastic performances from each of you. Extra congrats to the winning teams!

 

[ampal]

I pretty much agree with everything Nimit said. The lineup was wonderful, the venue was beautiful, and the judges were great but other than that, the competition did not provide a lot of help/support to our team.

Communication was a huge issue. When I applied to the competition, I waited two weeks for a confirmation response before searching the committee members on fb and asking if they had received our application. They responded with, “I believe Meghana replied, it must not have gone through.” They also forgot to tell our team that the mix was extended to Nov 4th instead of Oct 23. Apparently there was an email sent out (which we never received) and we only found out after I asked our liaison if we could get an extension and she said she would ask (I guess she didn’t know either that it was extended.) I believed that and moved forward. Since the post registration packet came out very late, I was constantly asking Meghana some questions about transportation from the airport (we were one of the only teams/if not the only team flying into burgh). She told me that they’re in the process of getting transportation but we should probably figure out a way to get to the hotel (the hotel was 40mins away from the airport.) Thankfully, we they were able to give us rides from the airport (even though the drivers said that they weren’t getting paid enough to do this). I also wasn’t told that we would be on our own to get back to the airport after the competition. Our liaison told us Saturday after the comp that we should probably uber it. We also got a text from our liaison the day of the mixer saying “So you're on your own for getting to mixer aka I would uber. Sorry about this but every other team has cars and we don't have a shuttle set up!” Long story short, Texas is not a driving distance to pittsburgh. We didn’t have cars. The least they could have done is give us a ride to/from the mixer and back to the airport. Or just told us that we should probably rent cars. It seemed ridiculous that we had to uber our way everywhere. Also, we had two liaisons but only saw one most of the weekend and it seemed like she was forced to do this.

Mixer was okay. There was one game that two or three teams participated in. There was indian food. Then it ended. They had subway for lunch and nothing after the comp.
That being said, the competition day was great. We were given 30 mins for tech time and that is the most we’ve received at any competition which was very helpful. The show ran on time. All the teams got to watch the performances. There was a pre judges meeting that was unnecessary and a post judges meeting should have been longer than 5 minutes. There were five judges which gave them each barely a minute to talk and no time for us to ask any question. To us, that is the most valuable part of the entire competition. We get to hear fresh feedback from the judges and use that to improve but it was rushed. I hope the committee is able to send us our scoresheets and comments from all of the judges.

Once again, Congrats to NJ, FCB and SMD and every team that danced their hearts out on that stage, You guys were a pleasure to watch. Special shout out to some of the members of CMU and FCB for being so hospitable to us and Richie Dholi for driving down and playing dhol with us, we really appreciated it!

 

[mrchicity]

I'm gonna try to post a more detailed review of the comp later, because having attended this show 6 times in the last 8 years, I've seen a lot of change from how the comp was run in previous years. I agree about the length of the time that was allowed for judges to speak, and it's as Mariam stated above, we chose to run the post show meeting that way because it was getting very late and there was only that much time to talk before the venue closed down. Our compromise for that was that we would be able to provide full feedback at a later time, which is certainly what we intend to do. I believe that the committee is giving out our contact info for teams, so please do contact us and we'll be able to give the teams as much constructive feedback as they all deserve. We've all danced for a number of years and we've all been to judges meetings where we left less than satisfied, and I know all of us are pretty committed to making sure other teams don't feel like that.

 

[Nimit]

Thank you for clearing up confusion about the judges meeting. I appreciate you all taking time out to send us feedback.

 

[KushK]

I'd like to take this moment and thank Sargam Sethi for being a huge inspiration to all the dancers that performed at Burgh!

 

[NiteshK]

Ministry of Bhangra would like to start out with congratulating the placing teams: Nachdi Jawani Warriors, First Class Bhangra, and Shaan Mutiyaaran Di! And an awesome job to all the teams that seriously killed it at Bhangra in the Burgh 9! Everyone brought their A-game and very entertaining performances! Thanks Nimit for the shoutout

Being it our second year at BIB, we believe that everything during the weekend ran pretty smoothly similar to the previous year. We would agree with Buckeye and Alamo that pre-comp communication by the Burgh Committee could be improved next year, as well as paying attention to the details of the registration packet(s) as some key information was incorrect or left out. We too were surprised by the set-up time requirement that was left out of the packet. After many discussions with the committee, they were responsive to our concerns and their communication with us during the weekend was better than pre-comp. In the end it all worked out, but the added stress this caused us the night after the mixer could have been avoided by having a fully accurate packet.

While the committee communication could be improved, in contrast our liaisons were amazing both the months leading up to competition, as well as throughout the weekend. Sruti and Saru were always there for us with whatever we needed (even on crutches!) and we wouldn’t have had such a great weekend without them. They’re the true MVPs and really the epitome of what a competition liaison should be.

The mixer seemed a bit pointless since not many of the teams actually mixed, whereas some teams already knew each other so everyone did their own thing and just ate the Indian food that was provided by the committee. We did appreciate the competition providing us with a space to practice after the mixer (something all comps should do). Though we did run into a communication issue when a burgh staff member told us our practice time was starting imminently, so we had to rush to our spot only to learn that our session wasn’t starting for another 30 minutes. Luckily our helpful liaisons were able to find us another room in the building to use.

Like all judges meetings, they were rushed and we didn’t get to ask all the questions we would have liked, but this is no different than any other competition. Also, since the judges are all so accessible by email for further critiques this is not a big deal. And we did appreciate all the constructive feedback we got from the judges in the time we had.

Overall, a fun time and awesome experience yet once again. The line up truly did justice to Burgh this year and we got to meet some really great people as well.

 

[TSingh1]

Hey BTF. Just thought I would provide some clarifications/CMU Bhangra’s own personal review about BIB 9 this year.

CMU Bhangra has always supported BIB in the past, and will continue to do so. I did want to provide one clarification. Bhangra in the Burgh has never been run by CMU Bhangra. This year the captains and more experienced dancers on CMU Bhangra sought to give their feedback and help in preparation for the competition, in order to help the committee out. I can confirm that SMD, FCB, Alamo, and Buckeye are all teams that reached out to me personally beforehand about how communication and logistics for the competition were running. I tried to help out to the best of my ability in hopes that their competition experience would run smoothly.

During the weekend, I will agree with other teams and say the mixer was essentially useless although it was nice meeting other teams. Our tech time was very poorly run, with BIB ops staff trying to test out their lighting cues during our run-throughs. I did hear other tech times ran smoothly, which is good since we were not actually competing.

The committee communication was certainly poor and many things they skipped out on such as transportation back to the airport after the competition. One big shoutout to Piyush for working his butt off and dealing with all the crazy people during Friday and Saturday, although one his first times in such a position. Amazing line up, with some fantastic performances. I hope the committee steps up next year because had the line up this year been complimented with a well run comp, BIB would never have to worry about selling tickets again. BIB had the potential to be come the new frontier of comps, and I wish the board recognized that. I wish them the best of luck next year and as always, they will have the support of CMU Bhangra.

Tejasvir Singh.

 

[sammyk]

Whaddup, a lot has been said already, but just wanted to comment on behalf of TBS.


Firstly, congrats to NJ, FCB, and SMD on the placings and wonderful performances. As for the other teams, congrats on putting on a fantastic show, and I personally very much enjoyed what everyone brought out that night.


Pre-comp weekend: I would say the communication was lackluster in the sense that the committee was not taking initiative to get in touch with teams. For us, if we needed anything, or had a question, we were relentless pestering the committee and they did provide us with answers. The deadline extension should have been conveyed more smoothly. There were also many typos in the reg and acceptance packet that Shreepal and I had pointed out which definitely may have confused other teams.


Mixer: Wasn't much mix and mingle happening, and it was a very plain mixer. I did show up late, so I missed a good chunk before show selection, but others have expressed there opinions.


Tech Time: Bus was not on time in the morning for pickup, so we did a combination of driving and bussing to get our team to the venue on time. Thank you BIB for pushing the schedule back. Our lighting cues at tech were incorrect, and getting to AB Tech to correct the problem was a hassle, thanks to Shawn Gupta for handling our lighting in whatever time window that worked for them. The 30 minutes was nice to have and we thank BIB for that. There was a loose nail on stage that almost injured one of my dancers, and I wish BIB had checked stage before letting the competing teams on it. TBS was the first tech time after CMU, so we cleared it up and hopefully no other teams faced any issues. I also faced an injury at tech, and would've appreciated ice at the venue, rather than being forced to get it at the hotel some hours later. I know in the past, BIB has provided breakfast, but relying on the hotel gave us a small window to get breakfast and left us waiting until 1PM for lunch.


Afternoon: I will have to say our liaisons were very attentive to us, but due to time and vehicle limitations, they were unable to provide us with essentials like Advil and Bengay (critical for comps). They were required to be around, though having essentials was more important to us.


Show Time: Very organized running the show. Was very smooth, and committee did a great job.


All in all, BIB did a good job, I think there were some obvious holes in execution which others have stated, so I will not belabor the point. Some things have been going right, BIB is in its 9th year. There are some hiccups, but take the advice constructively and improve.


Thanks to the committee, all the competing teams, the audience, and most importantly my team for a wonderful weekend.


Best,
Sammy

 

[jasraj93]

Everyone has already said the main points such as mixer and poor communication but for next year i highly recommend getting an actual change room and not a hallway taped off with like 9 feet of room to get 12 dancers ready, shootout to Buckeye for letting us use their "box" to get ready LOL. Also the committee was making everyone go and watch the show before their performance...would definitely look into this as we'll because in the 7 years i've been competing i never watch another team before going on stage because it throws me of my game but that could just be me! By far the best stage i have ever performed on! Shoutout to our liaisons for everything they did for us! Best of luck is the future for BIB!