Boston bhangra liveblog

[jfried]

I'm going to catch a ton of shit for saying this, but although I think NJ just won, I was not a fan of that set. It was extremely tight, technically, and was as close to flawless from a choreo standpoint as I've ever seen NJW, but it was way too frenetic. A routine has to have an ebb and flow, and this was all 1000mph. And I hated the mix because they used that hoiiiii sound effect literally three hundred times.

Empire next, last act.

 

[jfried]

Okay, I'm not going to catch a ton of shit for saying this, but Empire's not gonna place.

It was pretty standard empire. Some slightly new choreo but nothing earth shattering. Where they're normally flawlessly clean, there were a few notable stumbles. The highlight was a spin on the jump rope gimmick they did at bruin, where they did a double decker jump with two sets of two-man towers. I could write a whole essay on what this performance means to bhangra heads versus the non-obsessives, but I'm on my phone. Suffice to say, it just wasn't quite good enough tonight.

If I had to guess on places, it'd be dependent on judging. If they go folk, I think it goes like this:

1. NJW
2. DCMPAA
3. Punjabi Hit Squad

If they go more modern, it probably looks like this:

1. NJW
2. Anakh-e-Rutgers
3. NEBC

 

[Bballer]

Really appreciate the updates jfried.

 

[abhij95]

Placings should be close

 

[jatt22nature]

Thank you jfried for the updates.

Can't wait for placings!

 

[jfried]

Ru third.

 

[jfried]

DCMPAA second.

 

[jfried]

NJ Warriors first.

 

[jatt22nature]

Congrats to all placing teams. Bet it was a close call for placings.



Sidenote: 100th post.

 

[jfried]

Definitely a close call. Honestly, I thought it was a crapshoot for places until NJ came up. I think NJ was the winner in terms of skill and execution, even though there were aspects of the set I didn't like (see above). There was maybe a hair's breadth separating DCMPAA, RU, Nishani, NEBC and Punjabi Hit Squad. The judging definitely leaned a little folkier, but I think it was a pretty fair call.

Congratulations to all of the placing teams.

 

[singhk1]

Anakh e rutgers bro doesn't make any sense haha but Nj good shit pumped too see this vids

 

[lakha23]

can't wait for DCMPAA video.. good thing the comp was folk!

 

[jfried]

Anakh e rutgers bro doesn't make any sense haha but Nj good shit pumped too see this vids

Fully aware, lol. Sounded better than REG. RU was great, but the AEG influence was extremely obvious (to the point where they did a dafli segment that was very similar to AEG at Bruin 2012)

 

[KushK]

Anakh e rutgers bro doesn't make any sense haha but Nj good shit pumped too see this vids

Fully aware, lol. Sounded better than REG. RU was great, but the AEG influence was extremely obvious (to the point where they did a dafli segment that was very similar to AEG at Bruin 2012)

Damn they stole our segment?!

 

[jfried]

Anakh e rutgers bro doesn't make any sense haha but Nj good shit pumped too see this vids

Fully aware, lol. Sounded better than REG. RU was great, but the AEG influence was extremely obvious (to the point where they did a dafli segment that was very similar to AEG at Bruin 2012)

Damn they stole our segment?!

Lol, Ankush. No laser priyanka chopra cross dressed as a guy though. I was disappointed.

 

[J Wong]

Nice meeting you in person bro

 

[jfried]

Nice meeting you in person bro

Great meeting you too, Jordan. You guys killed, by the way.

 

[RoohAfza]

Definitely a close call. Honestly, I thought it was a crapshoot for places until NJ came up. I think NJ was the winner in terms of skill and execution, even though there were aspects of the set I didn't like (see above). There was maybe a hair's breadth separating DCMPAA, RU, Nishani, NEBC and Punjabi Hit Squad. The judging definitely leaned a little folkier, but I think it was a pretty fair call.

Congratulations to all of the placing teams.

how was empire's performance?

 

[jfried]

Definitely a close call. Honestly, I thought it was a crapshoot for places until NJ came up. I think NJ was the winner in terms of skill and execution, even though there were aspects of the set I didn't like (see above). There was maybe a hair's breadth separating DCMPAA, RU, Nishani, NEBC and Punjabi Hit Squad. The judging definitely leaned a little folkier, but I think it was a pretty fair call.

Congratulations to all of the placing teams.

how was empire's performance?

They struggled a bit. It wasn't as clean as usual, and their stunts and gimmicks didn't hit as hard as usual (although the double decker jumprope had the potential to be an awesome gimmick, and was pretty great as is). The choreo was pretty standard Empire stuff, and in this company, it just kind of looked a little dated.

This is going to be a very interesting season for Empire. They haven't placed in a while, so it'll be interesting to see if they introduce some new choreo, or change up their form a little bit to mix it up. I actually really like Empire: they were basically my introduction to bhangra (hat tip, Ashveer), so I'm always going to have a soft spot for them, but they have to figure out what they're going to do next.