Duke Dhamaka @ Sin City Bhangra 2013

[dhamakagabroo13]

Duke Dhamaka's performance from Sin City Bhangra 2013! Big shout out to Aman Atwal for doing a great job organizing the competition - a longer competition review will follow. Congrats to NSG, Bruin, and Regiment for their placings!


Please comment or PM me with any feedback you have about our performance!

Jodis

Purple: Ashvin Kapur & Deepika Potarazu
Yellow: Aman Kansal & Sanjana Marpadga
Pink: Kurren Mehta & Priya Balagopal
Blue: Pranava Raparla & Rebecca Pham
Green: Aditya Palepu & Kiran Bhai
Orange: Ravi Mahadevan & Aarti Asrani


Duke Dhamaka @ Sin City Bhangra 2013

 

[Bballer]

Never knew Duke had a bhangra team but man you guys were impressive. Dancers had very good form (especially the purple) and you guys had some really creative ideas like the jumping over the khunde and tossing them back. Can't wait to see more of you guys in the future. Btw I hope Duke destroys Michigan St on Friday

 

[Deepi253]

Saaps and khunde were fun and dam yall got better !! Keep it up

 

[kanwarsingh575]

Damn ya'll have made so many improvements since i last saw you guys perform. Love the new outfits! It was about time you guys changed those up haha


The dance overall kept me entertained throughout the performance You guys had a good amount of ideas, Especially during props. The props and jugni were my favorite segments! The mix was pretty sick too! Only thing i'd say that held you guys back was cleanliness and i know that's like the major thing holding teams back nowadays haha but specifically for you guys, It was clear which dancers had been dancing bhangra longer and was more comfortable with the dance. I thought everyone had the same style of dance but just needed a little more practice before killing it at ya'll full potential . It was really clear towards the ending and during transitions some kids almost stop dancing before starting the next segment as well as some kids getting really exhausted at the end and it took away from the performance in my opinion :/ those are little things that you guys can fix easy and will let you go murk your next comp! lot's of potential in these dancers jsut get them up to par with the level of dance this set required

 

[mrchicity]

Now I miss UVA's old black outfits. Good luck with those, black kurte are a little polarizing among judges.

 

[dhamakagabroo13]

Now I miss UVA's old black outfits. Good luck with those, black kurte are a little polarizing among judges.

Yeah we were actually going for more of a gold shine black outfit with the brocket material but the order did not come through correctly. We're looking forward to getting this cleared up and getting a different style of black kurte which pop more on stage for the future.

 

[Psant]

You guys have been steadily improving since Romeen busted out that Klasikhz mix a couple of years ago. I was entertained by this set, and liked the song choices a lot. Here's my rambling random list of reactions after watching the video once:

- Loving the new vardi/paggs. My one concern is that they look really similar to UVa's like 2009-2011. But, I mean, only a few people remember that anyway.

- Blue jodi had SICK nakhre. I found myself watching him more than anyone.

- There was definitely a distinct difference in dancer experience, but with practice I think that gap could be filled easily. On that note, props to Priya for flying out with you guys and pulling it off.

- My least favorite part of the routine was jhummar. It was choppy and there was little-to-no transition between moves.

- I always think putting ramaals at the end of khundey makes it look better, but just personal preference.

That's all I have, but good stuff! I'm excited for where this team is heading.

 

[Aditya]

- I noticed that there are a TON of betkas in this routine and I think this really plays a huge role in the team looking tired and exhausted towards the end. Judges aren't going to give you extra points for doing over 50 betkas and audience members aren't going to appreciate how much stamina it takes to get through a routine like that so you're better off just trying to use other moves unless betkas are necessary because it does wear on the dancers as the routine goes on. Same goes for some of the jumps, in particular your transition out of the khunda segment. Just ask yourself whether it’s worth doing these betkas/jumps for how much physically harder it will make the rest of the set (most importantly, how it will affect your weaker/more inexperienced dancers).

- The Katal Kare and Dole Te Naa segments are extremely similar and make each other redundant. Both songs build up to you guys doing (poppy? probably not the best word) moves on the off-beat and they're pretty close to one another. I'd recommend having only one segment with this kind of vibe or at least spacing them further apart from one another.

- While bouncing your shoulders is important, there were definitely moments where cleanliness and proper form were sacrificed because it was over the top (Beginning of Dole Te Naa segment comes to mind). I think you guys should work on maintaining control and form even when you're bouncing and/or maybe pick your spots more carefully.

- Cutting down on some move repetition would also be helpful in terms of keeping things engaging and having variety (ex. think you guys did 2 or 3 different variations on faslan during different segments).

Shout out to Pranava and Aman for solid performances and Priya for learning the routine in a pinch and somehow managing to pull it off on stage. Looking forward to seeing what you guys do next!

 

[dhamakagabroo13]

@Aditya:
Thanks for the critique! In terms of our selection of making an extremely trying routine with a lot of betkas, we actually have in the past been recognized by judges for doing so. At OSU Srujan last Spring and at Chicago PCS this past Fall, judges commented that it was one of the more important parts of making our set entertaining and challenging. I think there is a balance that needs to be met where you keep the choreo challenging and tiresome but you have to be able to hit it with full energy throughout for the full effect. That's something we can definitely work on - we either need to cut some of them or be sure to get our stamina to the point where energy doesn't drop off.


I appreciate your constructive and specific criticism - I'm going to go back and look at our phummniya and jodiyaan segments as well.




@Prasant
Thanks for always watching our videos and helping us along the process of getting to where we want to be. In terms of vardiyaan, the vardiyaan we ordered actually were supposed to look significantly different than what we wore in Vegas. The order confusion was the only reason why we looked extremely like the UVA teams of old. Working on dancer experience is something we will constantly have to be working on as a college team, but the encouragement always helps! Super thankful for Priya to be able to make the trek on such short notice.