***CORNELL BHANGRA @ WBBC 2014 - FIRST PLACE***

[Anik915]

Dear Bhangra Community,

I am proud to release our performance video for World's Best Bhangra Crew 2014. It's been a crazy, intense journey over the past school year. This entire year, my team has felt the pressure of continuing the legacy of Cornell Bhangra - After winning WBBC last year, we graduated 8 competing dancers, and had the daunting task of moving forward with an almost brand new squad. The whole team worked throughout the summer, through videos and choreography training, focusing on form in our dance. We came to T Dot and Burgh, excited and eager to show that Cornell was still a force in the circuit.

While we got a 2nd place at Burgh, we received some very critical feedback from the circuit. Initially, we were slightly hurt and disappointed - we worked our butts off and wanted the circuit to be appreciative of it. But after taking a step back, and opening our minds to everyone's thoughts, we did our best to to go through every single piece of feedback and see how it could help us in our performances. Hopefully, you will see that many things were reinvented, innovated, and rethought during the path to our WBBC performance.

It's been my greatest honor being a captain of Cornell Bhangra for the past 2 years - these kids are the most amazing people I have met in my life, and it's going to be very hard to let go of something I've held so closely for so long. The best part of this team is that, no matter what happens, no matter what anyone says, or doesn't say, these kids don't change. They don't let anyone else's words or actions define who they are, and always stay true to themselves. Whether we place or not, we always feel honored to perform, and love to see and support the other wonderful teams in this circuit. My team has exhibited great perseverance this past semester. After two consecutive 4th places at Bhangra Fever 5 and Bhangra at the Bell, it would have been easy to get discouraged. But my team refused to give up on me, and practiced nearly every single day from Bell to WBBC, willing to go above and beyond to make our performance happen.

As I start moving on from competing with Cornell, I just want to take a moment to thank all of my dancers, family, friends, alumni, and anyone else who has supported me and the team on this journey - without you, none of this would have been possible. Special shoutout to the seniors dancing competitively for the last time with Cornell - you guys all emerged as fantastic leaders of the team - couldn't have asked for better friends to work with. Big Thanks to Hardeep for not just tying our Paggs, but for becoming one of our best friends we've ever had - you've had our back this whole time - love you bro. Thank you to Ankush, Faizan, Jaggi, Disha, Raj, and our Liaison Simrat - wow you guys are literally amazing - more to come in my competition review. And Harjot, how can I thank you enough - you have documented someone of my post precious memories over the past couple of years. I'm honored to know you, to be your friend, and I am so excited to work with you at Pao - you're a true legend, and an even greater friend of the Bhangra community.


To Taisu Kumar & Armaan Kapoor: I started working with you boys this past summer - we started our as friends working on a set together, and now I feel that we have grown into brothers. Not a single thing would have been possible without you guys by my side - your sets next year will be absolutely brilliant, and we'll all be watching with the biggest smiles. Honored to have watched you guys grow into the leaders of the team. Sahil Jain, my co president, my best friend, what can I even say man: We did it. 4 years to this moment, I'm glad I did it with you <3 Brennan Chu you are a god, a genius, a dancing phenom, and a beautiful, beautiful man.

Finally, a piece of advice to everyone out there. Please stay positive (a lesson I learned from one of my best friends, Kartik Shastri). Within your own team: encourage others to step up, have fun, and be happy. This dance is too fun, too pure, and too beautiful to generate hate, so don't let it. With other teams: Be proud and excited when other teams work hard and do amazing things. Don't hate a team, just because you didn't go to their school, or because they're different. Embrace everyone, all styles, and all people - we're all doing the same thing; please don't forget that.

Without further ado, Here is Cornell Bhangra's first place performance at WBBC 2014:

Cornell Bhangra @ Worlds Best Bhangra Crew 2014

The dancers who never gave up, I love all of you:

Yellow: Anik Saha & Mahak Goel
Blue: Brennan Chu & Malvika Raj
Purple: Armaan Kapoor & Darah Barnes
Orange: Taisu Kumar & Romoli Bakshi
Red: Vinay Rajur & Ashley George
Green: Sahil Jain & Stephanie Guo
Silver: Shiva Bhargava
Back Stage Helpers: Spandan Agrawal & Chandra Rathnam

Below, I have put our performances from Bhangra Fever 5, and Bhangra at the Bell 2014 - some of you may enjoy watching how the set/dancers have evolved over just a few weeks =)

Cornell Bhangra @ Bhangra at the Bell 2014:
Cornell Bhangra @ Bhangra At The Bell 2014

Cornell Bhangra @ Bhangra Fever 5:
Cornell Bhangra @ Bhangra Fever 5

Enjoy & Much Love,
Anik

 

[krishkrish]

YAYYYYY ANIK!!!!!!!
we will miss you tons


tanx for being da best


woo first btf post


YEAHHHHH CORNELL BHANGRA!

 

[spandanagrawal]

Anik,


Having you as a captain can be the best start to a Bhangra career anyone can hope for. You are truly one of the most hard working people/captain I have ever seen, and its amazing how you pull through even the toughest of times. I've seen you crying and I've seen you laughing, I've seen you in the toughest of times, but never have I seen you give up on anything, and that is what makes you who you are - an amazing, yet crazy person. You're a god man


It has been an amazing journey for the past two years, and being friends with you and working on the same board as you was truly an honor.


Will miss you a lot bro!

 

[Mals718]

That was a beautiful post Anik It's amazing to see how far this team has come in just this one year!! Gonna miss you so much dude - thank you for everything you do for the team, words can't even express how much we appreciate and love you.



And I also wanted to say to the entire team, alumni, and everyone else who has supported us along the way: I love each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart. I really feel just so blessed to have been a part of such an amazing experience!! Thank you all for making the past few years some of the best.


A huge huge thanks to Harjot for capturing some of my most precious memories on video. My family has never gotten to see me perform live but after seeing your videos they have never felt that they missed out. You have such a great, positive impact on the circuit and we can't wait for you to come to Pao!! I especially loved post-performance interviews you added to the WBBC videos - they really complete the story of who we are and why we dance.


And to the bhangra community, I hope y'all have as much fun watching our set as we did performing it!!


~Malvika

 

[SGupta7]

Back to bhangra...


Congrats on your win, you know that we always love facing off against you guys. Anik, Armaan, and the rest of the team, I had a great time kicking it with you all weekend. Especially when we were waiting to get inside the afterparty for 40 minutes haha. Hope to see you all soon!

 

[megz]

Anik, so well written! You summed up everything so perfectly! The alum from my years on the team, and especially me, having been your first jodi partner when you were a freshman, have seen you evolve so much as a dancer and such an incredible positive influence on this team. Since the first time dancing with this team as a freshman at Fever, you were always going above and beyond and adding so much positive energy with your excitement and extreme enthusiasm (and goofiness lol) for bhangra and your team. All of us alum knew that your love for this team would continue to carry on Cornell's legacy and so much more. We are all so so proud of you and of course of all the dancers who helped you make all of these amazing accomplishments possible! =)

Brennan: When the heck did you turn into such a bhangra ninja! lol remember when you were learning how to step for UBC hahah and now you are a GTV star!

Sahil: You are an amazing leader of this team! Your personality adds so much fun to the team and helps everyone forget about the stress of comps. I have seen you go out of your way for every member of this team just so that they will be able to look back at their time on Cornell Bhangra and only have great memories! So proud of you killing it on stage this year!

Taisu / Armaan / Vinay/ Darah /Malvika: danced with you guys as freshmen on the team also; you guys amazed me then, and amaze me now with your unbelievable talent. Can't wait to be in that audience next year and see what's next! =)

To all the girls who were in this set: YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!!! can't get over how good all of you are!!

Amazinggg video Harjot! This new angle idea was sickkk!

~ Sharm

 

[hardeep_singh]

i love this team, i've gotten closer to cornell just from being a pagg tier than i've ever gotten to any of the teams i've actually danced with. you guys are all a bunch of goofballs who love doing bhangra and i'm glad all the hard work paid off. thanks for letting me be a small part of it

 

[SimratG]

Had a blast spending this weekend with you guys. Easily one of the chilliest teams out there. Anik, unbelievable job on putting this routine together. The entire team killed it. Armaan, sick Performance man. Anytime you decide to stay on stage it really works out well for you (; Taisu you are the man. Looking forward to see what this team does in the future. Congrats once again !

 

[pavbhaji91]

For those of you who don't know Anik: I can tell you all first hand how hard working, passionate, and determined this man truly is. He has grown so much over these last four years, from that scrawny little freshman to that majestic gabroo Harjot was able to capture at Bhangra Fever. This is shown in how he led this Cornell Bhangra team to a successful year this year. My favorite part about this year's journey was how he was able to absorb all of the criticisms of the Burgh 7 set/mix and use them as fuel to go HAM on this World's Best Bhangra Crew performance. Anik, you have left your mark not only in Cornell Bhangra, but also in the Bhangra community. I love you bro!


To the seniors of Cornell Bhangra: Congratulations on such an amazing season! You guys have definitely stepped up huge this year! Good luck Anik, Brennan, Sahil, Vinay, and Malvika!


Taisu/Armaan: The legacy of Cornell Bhangra couldn't be left in better hands. Your dancing has improved tremendously these past three years. I can't wait to see what you guys have in store for us next year!


-Pavan

 

[Sawhill69]

Those gimmicks were really sick, if anything the video angles made the gimmicks/choreo hit harder for us video viewers, for example at 5:06!


Please release the mix!!

 

[Suna]

I really could not be more proud of this team. I haven't had the chance of watching the 2013-2014 team live until wbbc weekend and it really just reinforced the passion and love Cornell bhangra dancers have for bhangra. Anik, I'm so FREAKING proud of you and impressed with what you've done with the team. Every single dancer was highlighted throughout the set at some point or another and each one killed it! The talent of each individual dancer is just amazing! What a great last competitive performance for the seniors! And what a way to round out the competitive season in general. The team is clearly in good hands with Taisu and Armaan (you'll always be freshmen in my heart!) So much love for all of you! <3

 

[venividivici]

Well deserved guys! You're definitely one of my favourite teams on the circuit. Best of luck in the future!

 

[jsidhuu305]

Congrats on the 2 Peat

 

[Psant]

I'm going to go against the tide here, and give my honest opinion - I was not a fan of this set at all. These are all very clearly personal preferences, so please take that into account.

Starting off, the hyperextended khundey spinning thing. This is what the thought process that I envision. "Hmmm, so last year and in the past we had one guy spazz on stage while we all took a breather and did simple moves in the background...but not he's graduated. How can we recreate that effect?" I think the spinning lasted too long and didn't add anything at all to the set. Before and after that, most of your dancers don't have high knees and wide legs during the saaps segment. The only person who is focusing on that is the purple guy (Armaan?). Then at the end, you guys essentially recreate the BK machine gun sequence from WBBC last year sans projector.

At 1:55, BEST DECISION EVER to put Armaan in front for the college sequence. That was the best part of the entire set by far from a dancing perspective. Next, jhummar was a tad on the boring side. There was little flow between moves, and it all seemed very robotic and cookie cutter.

At 3:37, I don't understand what the point of that gimmick was other than to take a break. Maybe it's the asshole in me, but it looks like an emphatic jerkoff on stage?

Now for the khundey segment - predicted it based on what you guys did last year. Take an old Cornell gimmick, then increase the scale. I know you guys are great at purchasing magic tricks in bulk. That's all I see from that whole segment. The actual choreography was pretty basic.

Infinite bethkes segment - I think you guys did a much better of a job with this segment than in the past! I like the drop at the end of the segment. It hit HARD.

End - Once again, the same ending as last year essentially. If you watch everyone that's not the popping-and-locking guy, it looks like everyone is dancing at 50%.

Overall, I think Cornell understands perfectly how to play to the WBBC rubric and I applaud you guys for that. It's a truly impressive feat to win such a highly hyped competition two years in a row. That being said, when it comes to bhangra, if everyone danced like Armaan, then I'd probably have a different opinion on this set. My concern comes from a stunt/gimmick/magic-focused set beating multiple teams with arguably better choreography.

 

[AKadar]

what's the song at 2:34?

 

[sunnyd48]

I'm going to go against the tide here, and give my honest opinion - I was not a fan of this set at all. These are all very clearly personal preferences, so please take that into account.

Starting off, the hyperextended khundey spinning thing. This is what the thought process that I envision. "Hmmm, so last year and in the past we had one guy spazz on stage while we all took a breather and did simple moves in the background...but not he's graduated. How can we recreate that effect?" I think the spinning lasted too long and didn't add anything at all to the set. Before and after that, most of your dancers don't have high knees and wide legs during the saaps segment. The only person who is focusing on that is the purple guy (Armaan?). Then at the end, you guys essentially recreate the BK machine gun sequence from WBBC last year sans projector.

At 1:55, BEST DECISION EVER to put Armaan in front for the college sequence. That was the best part of the entire set by far from a dancing perspective. Next, jhummar was a tad on the boring side. There was little flow between moves, and it all seemed very robotic and cookie cutter.

At 3:37, I don't understand what the point of that gimmick was other than to take a break. Maybe it's the asshole in me, but it looks like an emphatic jerkoff on stage?

Now for the khundey segment - predicted it based on what you guys did last year. Take an old Cornell gimmick, then increase the scale. I know you guys are great at purchasing magic tricks in bulk. That's all I see from that whole segment. The actual choreography was pretty basic.

Infinite bethkes segment - I think you guys did a much better of a job with this segment than in the past! I like the drop at the end of the segment. It hit HARD.

End - Once again, the same ending as last year essentially. If you watch everyone that's not the popping-and-locking guy, it looks like everyone is dancing at 50%.

Overall, I think Cornell understands perfectly how to play to the WBBC rubric and I applaud you guys for that. It's a truly impressive feat to win such a highly hyped competition two years in a row. That being said, when it comes to bhangra, if everyone danced like Armaan, then I'd probably have a different opinion on this set. My concern comes from a stunt/gimmick/magic-focused set beating multiple teams with arguably better choreography.

This.

I have not seen all of the videos, so I cannot say that Cornell was better/worse than other teams, but what I can say is that this set was a repeat of last year. There was not much that was new or refreshing, just recycling ideas from previous years. That's not always a bad thing; however, when it feels like you've seen 90% of the set already, things need to be changed up.

I couldn't seem to get into the set either. There seemed to be no clear direction. As soon as a little bit of dancing started, it was interrupted by a few beats to set up the gimmick, then the gimmick itself. Example: the saap machine gun gimmick. You guys took two or four beat to get into the gimmick, hit it, and then took another few beats to get back into dancing. I think it would have made a bigger impact if the gimmick came unexpected, without as much "setup." Another example is the confetti launch. Two beats to interact with the jodi, two beats to walk up, at which point I was thinking to myself "ok, something is going to happen, this is something I've seen before." If you had it better integrated into the routine, with more of a surprise element, it could have hit harder.

Psant hit most of my other points. The choreography was nothing special or too complex, the strength of your dancers varies quite a bit, and I think the changes that were made to the gimmicks could have been made last year, even between two competitions. Movements were very robotic, especially in the saap segment.


I don't want to take away from your victory; you guys played it smart. These are just some points you could take from and use them in the future. Or don't, up to you guys. Just my thoughts. Congrats again on the win!

 

[DamanSingh]

what's the song at 2:34?

In the WBBC video, it's Hasdi Hasdi by Manpreet Kaur of Punjabi Hit Squad.

Harjot now lists the songs underneath the video description!

 

[Anik915]

I'm going to go against the tide here, and give my honest opinion - I was not a fan of this set at all. These are all very clearly personal preferences, so please take that into account.

Starting off, the hyperextended khundey spinning thing. This is what the thought process that I envision. "Hmmm, so last year and in the past we had one guy spazz on stage while we all took a breather and did simple moves in the background...but not he's graduated. How can we recreate that effect?" I think the spinning lasted too long and didn't add anything at all to the set. Before and after that, most of your dancers don't have high knees and wide legs during the saaps segment. The only person who is focusing on that is the purple guy (Armaan?). Then at the end, you guys essentially recreate the BK machine gun sequence from WBBC last year sans projector.

At 1:55, BEST DECISION EVER to put Armaan in front for the college sequence. That was the best part of the entire set by far from a dancing perspective. Next, jhummar was a tad on the boring side. There was little flow between moves, and it all seemed very robotic and cookie cutter.

At 3:37, I don't understand what the point of that gimmick was other than to take a break. Maybe it's the asshole in me, but it looks like an emphatic jerkoff on stage?

Now for the khundey segment - predicted it based on what you guys did last year. Take an old Cornell gimmick, then increase the scale. I know you guys are great at purchasing magic tricks in bulk. That's all I see from that whole segment. The actual choreography was pretty basic.

Infinite bethkes segment - I think you guys did a much better of a job with this segment than in the past! I like the drop at the end of the segment. It hit HARD.

End - Once again, the same ending as last year essentially. If you watch everyone that's not the popping-and-locking guy, it looks like everyone is dancing at 50%.

Overall, I think Cornell understands perfectly how to play to the WBBC rubric and I applaud you guys for that. It's a truly impressive feat to win such a highly hyped competition two years in a row. That being said, when it comes to bhangra, if everyone danced like Armaan, then I'd probably have a different opinion on this set. My concern comes from a stunt/gimmick/magic-focused set beating multiple teams with arguably better choreography.

[SIZE=small]Lol. You've made it clear over the past couple years that you're not a fan of our sets at all. Starting from Blowout 19, when you posted "How much did Cornell pay you to advocate for them?" when someone posted supporting us. Things kind of came around full circle when we all found out that Cornell placed first in points. But that's old news! Lets move forward![/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]What I love most about you is your love, no, obsession with Cornell. After every competition video, I always wait to see a Psant post bashing the set - it's like clockwork! Your consistency is admirable! [/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]But what I want you to remember is that you also said this: "...don't take away from the hard work that the placing teams put in to preparing for this competition." You may not intend to (or who knows, maybe it is in fact the asshole in you, or what's in your asshole, there are infinite possibilities with this joke), but you're doing exactly what you asked others not to. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]I appreciate your feedback (I honestly do). I appreciate the fact that you appreciate our understanding (mastery) of the WBBC rubric as well. You must truly love us to always take so much time out of your life to give us such detailed feedback, and for that, I love you too! But bro, I honestly think you can say your things in a more constructive way - you have a way of saying things that make people feel pretty shitty about their hard work (which is something you once asked others not to do). When you compare things in our set to an "emphatic jerk off," you're cumming off as an emphatic jerk off (lol, had to do it).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]Overall, I appreciate your feedback, I just wish that it did not feel like it was always so attacking, comp after comp after comp. Obviously don't change your ways just because I made a recommendation ("These are all very clearly personal preferences, so please take that into account."), but just consider it feedback on your feedback, you can do with it whatever you please (just like we will).[/SIZE]


~Anik


P.S - Sorry if this came off as oversensitive, I'm honestly not trying to be. We've taken a lot of shit from a lot of people, and so I just thought Psant, who seems to be an understanding guy, would appreciate my perspective. All love.

 

[Gabroo Tv]

Sorry if this came off as oversensitive, I'm honestly not trying to be. We've taken a lot of shit from a lot of people, and so I just thought Psant, who seems to be an understanding guy, would appreciate my perspective. All love.

Regardless of you doing something good or something bad, there will always be someone breathing down your neck. This applies to all aspects of life. Enable your firewall and block those packets.

I will say this; it's been an absolute honor bonding with not only you, but the remainder of the Cornell team. I've seen you guys quite a few times this year, and it's safe to say you're a positive bunch. Never have I once seen any negativity from your team, always smiles and positive vibes. While Psant's viewpoints may be aggressive, he is entitled to his opinion and we must let him express that. Do know this though, you guys are role models for the coming generations of Bhangra, I absolutely love and support you guys. I'm pretty sure these words will trump anything Psant has to say about Cornell. Brush them shoulders off.

That's all she wrote
Gabroo Out
-hh

 

[Psant]

I'm going to go against the tide here, and give my honest opinion - I was not a fan of this set at all. These are all very clearly personal preferences, so please take that into account.

Starting off, the hyperextended khundey spinning thing. This is what the thought process that I envision. "Hmmm, so last year and in the past we had one guy spazz on stage while we all took a breather and did simple moves in the background...but not he's graduated. How can we recreate that effect?" I think the spinning lasted too long and didn't add anything at all to the set. Before and after that, most of your dancers don't have high knees and wide legs during the saaps segment. The only person who is focusing on that is the purple guy (Armaan?). Then at the end, you guys essentially recreate the BK machine gun sequence from WBBC last year sans projector.

At 1:55, BEST DECISION EVER to put Armaan in front for the college sequence. That was the best part of the entire set by far from a dancing perspective. Next, jhummar was a tad on the boring side. There was little flow between moves, and it all seemed very robotic and cookie cutter.

At 3:37, I don't understand what the point of that gimmick was other than to take a break. Maybe it's the asshole in me, but it looks like an emphatic jerkoff on stage?

Now for the khundey segment - predicted it based on what you guys did last year. Take an old Cornell gimmick, then increase the scale. I know you guys are great at purchasing magic tricks in bulk. That's all I see from that whole segment. The actual choreography was pretty basic.

Infinite bethkes segment - I think you guys did a much better of a job with this segment than in the past! I like the drop at the end of the segment. It hit HARD.

End - Once again, the same ending as last year essentially. If you watch everyone that's not the popping-and-locking guy, it looks like everyone is dancing at 50%.

Overall, I think Cornell understands perfectly how to play to the WBBC rubric and I applaud you guys for that. It's a truly impressive feat to win such a highly hyped competition two years in a row. That being said, when it comes to bhangra, if everyone danced like Armaan, then I'd probably have a different opinion on this set. My concern comes from a stunt/gimmick/magic-focused set beating multiple teams with arguably better choreography.

[SIZE=small]Lol. You've made it clear over the past couple years that you're not a fan of our sets at all. Starting from Blowout 19, when you posted "How much did Cornell pay you to advocate for them?" when someone posted supporting us. Things kind of came around full circle when we all found out that Cornell placed first in points. But that's old news! Lets move forward![/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]What I love most about you is your love, no, obsession with Cornell. After every competition video, I always wait to see a Psant post bashing the set - it's like clockwork! Your consistency is admirable! [/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]But what I want you to remember is that you also said this: "...don't take away from the hard work that the placing teams put in to preparing for this competition." You may not intend to (or who knows, maybe it is in fact the asshole in you, or what's in your asshole, there are infinite possibilities with this joke), but you're doing exactly what you asked others not to. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]I appreciate your feedback (I honestly do). I appreciate the fact that you appreciate our understanding (mastery) of the WBBC rubric as well. You must truly love us to always take so much time out of your life to give us such detailed feedback, and for that, I love you too! But bro, I honestly think you can say your things in a more constructive way - you have a way of saying things that make people feel pretty shitty about their hard work (which is something you once asked others not to do). When you compare things in our set to an "emphatic jerk off," you're cumming off as an emphatic jerk off (lol, had to do it).[/SIZE]

[SIZE=small]Overall, I appreciate your feedback, I just wish that it did not feel like it was always so attacking, comp after comp after comp. Obviously don't change your ways just because I made a recommendation ("These are all very clearly personal preferences, so please take that into account."), but just consider it feedback on your feedback, you can do with it whatever you please (just like we will).[/SIZE]


~Anik


P.S - Sorry if this came off as oversensitive, I'm honestly not trying to be. We've taken a lot of shit from a lot of people, and so I just thought Psant, who seems to be an understanding guy, would appreciate my perspective. All love.

Honestly, man I'm not trying to be a dick on purpose. I understand the struggle and intricacies involved in putting together Cornell sets, and by no means am I implying that you guys work any less in comparison to other teams on the circuit. I don't have an issue with your level of passion or your dedication to advocating bhangra. In fact, I would argue that your excess of gimmicks has probably led to an increase in the total number of people watching bhangra videos and attending competitions. It's the same argument made for Bhangra Empire.


That being said, I will always express my deep concerns about the "de-emphasis" of choreography & form that I have noticed specifically in Cornell sets. If you notice my reviews of other teams, I try to offer feedback - good or bad.


I apologize if you wanted to post your video and have everyone shower you with praise and tell you that this was a flawless routine. I am truly sorry to be the one to rain on your parade, and I am sorry that my metaphors come off as aggressive. For the confetti gimmick though, I really couldn't think of a better comparison - maybe throwing up dice in the air? Regardless, once again congratulations on an illustrious career in the circuit.