-=Episode 5 of Bhangra Pulse - Judging with Saleem Malkana=-

[sulmoney]

With this episode, the controversial and challenging topic of judging in the North American bhangra scene is tackled. The evolution of the random sponsor to recent graduates of dancing as judges is discussed with Saleem Malkana.


iTunes: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/bhangra-pulse/id474702692

 

[faizan]

"If you have a sibling or a girlfriend on a team, you should not judge."

It's sad that this occurs (and has occurred even this season), and it is completely unacceptable. I urge all teams to agressively route out these types of biases through the following steps:

1. Once accepted and judges are known, file a formal objection with the organizers to that judge's participation.
2. If the competition refuses to remove the judge, make a formal public objection to put the circuit on notice of the conflict of interest.
3. Dance the set under protest.
4. Renew the objection after the competition.

 

[dheerja]

"If you have a sibling or a girlfriend on a team, you should not judge."

It's sad that this occurs (and has occurred even this season), and it is completely unacceptable. I urge all teams to agressively route out these types of biases through the following steps:

1. Once accepted and judges are known, file a formal objection with the organizers to that judge's participation.
2. If the competition refuses to remove the judge, make a formal public objection to put the circuit on notice of the conflict of interest.
3. Dance the set under protest.
4. Renew the objection after the competition.

As awesome as this approach would be, the problem is that all teams care about at the end of the day is whether or not they're going to place at a competition. And doing the above (even including #1 since some organizers may not keep complaints anonymous), could easily jeopardize your chances at placing, especially since you're already dealing with a biased judge. I'm pretty sure that's why a few of the situations that happened last year slid by without any public outing. As a result, judging in the scene is only going to get more incestuous since no one (competitions, teams, judges) is really making an effort to take a stand against situations like this.

 

[Saleem]

Thanks again to Sulman and Dheerja for having me on the podcast! It was an awesome experience. Judging is an interesting topic, and I think Dheerja brought up the good point that what I was saying is the right ideal standard to hold yourself to, but not all judges do. We could probably talk about it for hours (I think we have lol)

 

[faizan]

As awesome as this approach would be, the problem is that all teams care about at the end of the day is whether or not they're going to place at a competition. And doing the above (even including #1 since some organizers may not keep complaints anonymous), could easily jeopardize your chances at placing, especially since you're already dealing with a biased judge. I'm pretty sure that's why a few of the situations that happened last year slid by without any public outing. As a result, judging in the scene is only going to get more incestuous since no one (competitions, teams, judges) is really making an effort to take a stand against situations like this.

If a competition's judges/organizers react to a complaint of bias by jeopardizing a team's chance of placing, then that competition should be boycotted, and the judge kicked off of the circuit. Plain and simple. I would never be afraid of bringing up bias to an organizer...because if the above scenario actually ever happened, I would burn that competition's reputation to the ground.


What teams fail to realize is that the leverage actually has, and always will be with the teams. If we were united in one voice, we could change a lot of things on this circuit. Including weeding out phony judges (of which there are way too many these days) and phony organizers

 

[Ashveer]

Shits crazy, I think there are still judges who dock points for girls being on stage are still allowed to judge. I encourage teams (I think AMPD was one) to blast judges on this, but esp if you're not a team w presence and clout, its hard to want to scream and shout.

 

[Ajay.H]

What teams fail to realize is that the leverage actually has, and always will be with the teams. If we were united in one voice, we could change a lot of things on this circuit. Including weeding out phony judges (of which there are way too many these days) and phony organizers

Agreed. That unification is hard when our community is so informally based. We're not a labor union, ya know; our support network basically lies in informal relationships. The bigger the team you're on, the higher the chance you know more important people in the community and probably the more secure you feel in sticking your head out there. You know whos got your back. But I think a big part of coming together as one voice is in making the smaller teams feel like they have similar support behind them....which may just be on them to work hard on get their name out there, or maybe it's something we can work on as a community.

 

[faizan]

Then let's become a union. Elect our representative. And take back the circuit. We are the 99%.


Less talk, more action. It's 2011, it's time to do this shit right.

 

[KingGeorge]

We are the 99%.

you're gonna get pepper sprayed by the judges

 

[dheerja]

The 99% in the bhangra community doesn't have the balls to stand up and say something potentially controversial. It's all a massive ass-kissing political game, to get into competitions, to place at competitions, and to make everyone like you.

 

[dheerja]

Point being - I'll form that union with you Faizan but I bet we'll be the only ones.

 

[faizan]

us dancers can't go out like that...

 

[Mans]

Shits crazy, I think there are still judges who dock points for girls being on stage are still allowed to judge. I encourage teams (I think AMPD was one) to blast judges on this, but esp if you're not a team w presence and clout, its hard to want to scream and shout.

yeah I agree AMPD should have placed in some competitions (hopefully that will change at DDA) but I felt that PANJ girls got robbed at Nachda Punjab.

 

[streetvelocity25]

The 99% in the bhangra community doesn't have the balls to stand up and say something potentially controversial. It's all a massive ass-kissing political game, to get into competitions, to place at competitions, and to make everyone like you.

+1

 

[dheerja]

us dancers can't go out like that...

I'm with you Faizan, and I think something needs to be done. But I think we need a concrete plan that will start with competition organizersand judges. Unless you think there's a way to motivate dancers to unionize at the grassroots level?

 

[faizan]

Dheerja, a grass roots independent movement is the only way. Collaborating with compeititions and judges is not going to go anywhere. The key is to get major teams on board, and the rest will follow. We'll have this up and running soon enough. Prior attempts at a union like this were a failure, but this time, the process will be more direct and less formal at the forefront.

 

[dheerja]

Shits crazy, I think there are still judges who dock points for girls being on stage are still allowed to judge. I encourage teams (I think AMPD was one) to blast judges on this, but esp if you're not a team w presence and clout, its hard to want to scream and shout.

I really applaud AMPD for stepping up and taking a stand against judges that are clearly not qualified to judge North American bhangra. We've tried to do the same on the east coast with judges like Teginder Dhanoa, who is extremely knowledgeable when it comes to the history of bhangra, but has overt biases against North American bhangra and females.

However I think it's even harder to stand up against judges that are our peers, that are people who have danced within the past 5 years and are influential in the bhangra scene. That's the problem we need to solve for the future.

 

[dheerja]

Dheerja, a grass roots independent movement is the only way. Collaborating with compeititions and judges is not going to go anywhere. The key is to get major teams on board, and the rest will follow. We'll have this up and running soon enough. Prior attempts at a union like this were a failure, but this time, the process will be more direct and less formal at the forefront.

Awesome, glad you're taking a stand here. Let me know if you need help, you know how strongly I feel about this stuff