***Cornell Bhangra - 1st place at Bhangra Blowout, Elite 8, and WBBC***

[Armaan Kapoor]

Hello BTF!

It is a great pleasure to share with you Cornell Bhangra’s performances from this semester – Elite 8 Bhangra, World’s Best Bhangra Crew, and Bhangra Blowout 22 (where we took 1st place!)

This year was quite the roller coaster ride for my co-captain Taisu and I. Never have we experienced so many injuries, last-minute substitutions, and obstacles to overcome. From having a dancer break his heel on the day of BBC, to having a girl dress a guy 3 days before a competition, to our freshman who learned the set in a week, and to our alum, Vinay Rajur, who stepped in to dance last-minute, this year was definitely not how we imagined it. But it’s the passion for Bhangra, the motivation from our friends and family, and the drive that our team had that kept us going.

To Cornell Bhangra, words cannot describe how proud I am of you for how hard you worked this year when all odds seemed against us. Thank you for the most amazing 4 years of my life. You all have taught me so much, and it was an absolute honor to serve as one of your captains this year. I’m going to miss each and every one of you so much and know that I will always be here for you.

A huge shoutout to some important people:

Anik Saha: Anik, I don’t know where I would be without you today. Besides Bhangra, you’re a role model to me, and more importantly, one of my best friends. It was such an honor working on the set last year with you, and thank you for being the best mentor a person could have. You’ll always be my brother.

Kartik Shastri: Kartik, if it wasn’t for you man, I would still suck. You taught me this beautiful form and taught me how to become a leader on this team. You’ve been here for me all these years, and your input this year was so valuable in helping Taisu and I form the set. I don’t know how Taisu and I could’ve put this together without learning from you when we were freshmen.

Hardeep Singh: Fupa, you are such a huge part of this team, and I’m so glad we finally met last year. Simply put, you tie the best paghs ever. We missed you so much at Blowout, and I can’t wait to see you soon.

Harjot Hundal: Harjot, every competition, we become closer and closer, and I only wish we could’ve met earlier. You introduced me to Bhangra when I was 16, and I never would have done Bhangra if it wasn’t for you and GTV. I’m so glad we’ve gotten to know each other better, and thank you for everything you do for this team, and everything you do for this community.

Rohit/BBC Committee: Rohit and the BBC Committee, it was such a pleasure finally making it out to Boston this year, and we had an absolute blast! Rohit, I especially appreciate the genuine concern you showed for dancer who broke his heel and all that you did to communicate to the judges that we were going on with 11 people. Your committee did an amazing job, and I hope to make it back next year!

Elite 8 Committee: Sidra, Simi, Waleed, Keshav, and co, it was Taisu and mine’s dream to compete at Elite 8, and thank you SO much for making that a reality. I would have never thought that I’d one day compete at the competition I grew up watching, and it was an absolute honor dancing on that stage with 7 of the most talented teams in the world.
WBBC Committee: Ankush, Faizan, Raj, Simrat, Karan, Sargam, Disha, Jaggi, thank you again for such a memorable weekend at WBBC. You guys know how to put on a show, market the event, and organize. I can’t tell you how much we appreciate that. It’s always a pleasure working with you!

Blowout Committee: Aanand, Umna, Saira, Anum, Kieran, Rohini, Swi – WOW. Just simply WOW. Bhangra Blowout 22 was the best competition I’ve ever been to. The way you guys communicated with teams before and during the competition weekend was absolutely absurd. You guys were so on top of your shit. Swi, thank you for tying some badass paghs on us, and I can’t wait to chill with you when I move to DC in a few months. Rohini and Kieran, you guys were hands down the best liaisons I’ve ever worked with and thank you for making my last competition the most memorable competition of my career.

Alumni: To all alumni – Suna, Madhuri, Sahej, Sharm, Anita, Priya, Pavan, Sahil, Vinay, Brennan, Malvika, thank you guys so much for your support this year. It means so much to us that you guys came to so many of our competitions this year and continued to be a part of this family. We love you guys so much, and I can’t wait to join the alumni family soon!

DCBC: Ashita and co, thank you guys SO much for lending your chunnis to us before Blowout. We completely blanked on packing them, and thank you so much for coming through. We owe you big time!

Abhishek: Abhishek man, simply put, you are a god-send. You have done amazing things for this team, and I’m so proud to call you my brother. From helping us so much at Pao, to driving to pick up chunnis, to coming to every one of our competitions this year, you’ve been an amazing friend to this team. Can’t wait to tear it up with you next year in DC!

Spandan: Spandan, I’ve seen you grow so much this year, and you’re one of the smartest guys I know when it comes to making a set. You think through everything, make sure everything is perfect, and make some KILLER fucking mixes man. I’m glad you and I have become so close, and I can’t wait to see the things you bring to Cornell Bhangra over the next two years.

Taisu: What can I say my brother, we did it. I still remember our freshman year when we barely hung out to now when you and I literally spend every moment together. You’ve been the most amazing co-captain I could have ever asked for. Furthermore, you’ve been the most amazing brother I could’ve asked for. I can’t imagine Cornell Bhangra without you, and I can’t wait to rip the stage again with you one day. #purpleandorange forever <3.

Thank you all for your support these 4 years, and enjoy the performances! We would appreciate your thoughts and feedback!!

-Armaan and Taisu

Bhangra Blowout (1st place): Cornell Bhangra @ Bhangra Blowout 22 (2015)

World's Best Bhangra Crew: [SIZE=78%]Cornell Bhangra @ WBBC 2015[/SIZE]

Elite 8 Bhangra: [SIZE=78%]Cornell Bhangra @ Elite 8 Bhangra 2015[/SIZE]

 

[hardeep_singh]

cornell is the only bhangra team i've ever truly felt like i was a part of. i had no idea when i flew out to tie your guys paggs for the first time at burgh that it would be such an awesome ride, thanks for giving me the chance to be a part of it all.

 

[Taisu Kumar]

I wanted to reiterate Armaan’s thoughts from my end as well. Thank you to everyone listed above who helped make this past year an amazing experience for my first year as co-captain. In addition to those listed by Armaan, I have a few special thank yous and thoughts myself:


Anik Saha and Kartik Shastri: At a moment’s notice you guys dropped everything whenever we sought guidance. Thank you for your continued support both as mentors and everlasting friends.


Cornell Bhangra, past and present: As Armaan said, we went through some very tough situations this year and at times we doubted ourselves. In the end, our passion for dance and our love for each other overcame all obstacles. Never let doubt cloud your minds; as long as you have each other, and you work hard, you can overcome anything.


Armaan Kapoor: Armaan and I are complete opposites. His ideal night is getting plastered; mine is playing fifa with friends. I don’t give two shits about my appearance; Armaan specifically goes to this black barber in the corner of Ithaca every two weeks. Regardless of our differences, our love for this dance and team united us. At times, we argued till the ends of the earth, but in the end, I came away with a lifelong brother. It is an honor to be your co-captain, and your friend. Love you bro.

In the past, our performance posts have been followed by some heated comments. Despite this, Armaan and I have made a conscious effort to consider all criticism we received and implement necessary changes in our set this year. In fact, it is amazing to compare our past years’ performances to this set; I think there are notable changes in terms of choreography and flow. What I’m trying to say is your constructive feedback helps, and we take your comments seriously. To jumpstart discussion, here are some points that we would like feedback on:

1. Set flow – we’ve consistently been criticized for this and we’ve been trying to figure it out. In general, how is the flow of our set? Are there stoppages? Please provide specific examples so we can see what you’re talking about – that is very helpful.

2. Choreography flow – again a big criticism in the past that we’ve tried to fix. Are there awkward points? Again specific examples help.

3. Gimmick Integration – we’ve tried to integrate our gimmicks & other X-factors to incorporate the whole team. If not possible, we made it a point to have the whole team dance during individual gimmicks. Feedback on these aspects will be helpful to assess our progress.

Any other feedback unrelated to these topics is also appreciated! We want to hear what you think – it challenges us to be better each year. Thanks in advance and I hope you enjoy our performances!

 

[nathan.e]

First and foremost, congrats on the win at blowout! Armaan, I can only imagine how much it meant to you after your years on the team and your efforts as captain this year.


I think what really impresses me about this performance is the way you have clearly incorporated a lot of the feedback and criticism you've received over time. I'm aware that at times the bhangra community has not always been the most receptive to your team and the way you've constructed performances in the past, and it's really unfortunate when people move away from constructive criticism in their comments and opinions. However, I am impressed with how you guys have consistently maturely responded to any negativity and have taken the real critiques and feedback to heart. I'd warrant a guess that most teams would not react nearly as well.


I would be lying if I said I was a big fan of the Cornell style of the past few years. That being said, I've always respected you guys a lot for the performances you've put together, and for the clear amount of effort and thought that goes into planning them. If anything, I would maybe say some past performances were almost overthought -- too precisely put together, in a way that may have taken away from a more natural flow. Still, there is clearly always a lot of thought and planning in your sets, which is commendable.


Anyway, what I'm working toward saying is that this was actually one of my favorite sets of yours in recent years. I really liked that you took some of the major critiques and comments that have been repeatedly made about your team's style seriously and evidently made efforts to improve in those areas. A few examples... this set was not nearly as gimmick focused as usual -- they were still there, but they were well incorporated and a lot more fluid. The dancing didn't stop, there weren't as long of breaks, and in general they were more concise and smooth. I thought your dancing style had improved too, there was less stiffness and right angles and instead more modhe and flow. I liked the choreo as well, it felt more original and didn't seem like filler between gimmicks, something I feel you guys struggled with at times in past. There was also less repetition from previous years/sets, which I was happy to see. Still some short song clips and throwbacks, and you still used the same old underlying ending buildup beat and the guy/guy jhoomer switch gimmick, but there weren't whole songs or segments that were a year or more old. One thing I think you could work on in a few places was flow / transitions between segments. In general, though, it was a solid set. Clean, entertaining, with some good flow, gimmicks, and choreo. Also, the title of your post is a tad misleading


There is obviously always plenty of room for improvement in choreo, cleanliness, refinement of style, creativity, etc, but I liked this performance a lot and I'm happy to see you guys move in this direction. Best of luck in the future and congrats again on the win!

 

[Anik915]

So proud of the resilience you guys displayed through out this year. This set had a great balance of choreography, energy, formations, and X-factors. Amazed at how young this team is - the team prioritizes training and teaching bhangra to our youngest members, and it's the reason why you will continue to excel year after year. A well deserved 1st place for Cornell Bhangra.


~Anik

 

[scaplash]

I'll try not to re-iterate any of the critiques already given- for the most part gimmicks were integrated a bit more seamlessly than in years past.
Pros:
-really like the formations, each one seemed fresh in its own way
-Saap bust out was well-executed
-The phumaniya formation concept and drop I think hit well
-Iphone warga had a nice build-up and drop
-Liked the khunde choreo was refreshing because of how it deviated stylistically from the choreo in the rest of the set
-Jugni drop was really nice, visually aesthetic formation change

Cons:
-I felt like modhe overall could have been much better- it took away from a lot of the chaal drops. but it seems like the team is young and I think with time more grace and modhe will come
-Felt that the saap formation (where people stagger move in) and the mirza formation seemed a bit too similar- taking away the effect of the mirza formation
-As said earlier- pass me a saap took a bit too long
-Visible disparity in energy and stage presence on the team.
-Phumaniya variation i think went too far from phumaniya (to the point where it didn't look really like phumaniya
-I didn't think khunde needed two gimmicks right after the other- though both were pretty cool
-Mirza drop I think could have been disguised better for a stronger effect
-Didn't like the ending gimmick, I just felt it broke the momentum of the ending song

Hats off to first place and keeping up pace with the success of years past! I hope this helps!
-Sonny

 

[Armaan Kapoor]

Thank you for the feedback thus far!


Post has been updated with the GTV link

 

[Gabroo Tv]

Harjot Hundal: Harjot, every competition, we become closer and closer, and I only wish we could’ve met earlier. You introduced me to Bhangra when I was 16, and I never would have done Bhangra if it wasn’t for you and GTV. I’m so glad we’ve gotten to know each other better, and thank you for everything you do for this team, and everything you do for this community.

The love is ever so mutual, not just for you but for the entire Cornell Bhangra clan.

 

[Armaan Kapoor]

Would love some more feedback if you guys have any comments!