Fire Missing From the Circuit

[desi99]

I haven't read any of the other responses yet but...Theres nothing wrong with the circuit, there is so much creativity and fire out there you have not even seen yet. Its just that some teams,academies, college are breeding terrible dancers who lack execution, confidence, energy, grace and the overall magic that Bhangra is suppose to exhibit. Learn how to f*in dance and the Fire will be ignited...If teams did all those things I stated, then no one be crying about Why a A folk/Simple/Traditional/Boring/simple/ whatever u want to call it team, always always wins over the creative/"out side the box" /Modern/Gimmicky Team. No one would be crying over folkvsmodern, blaming judges, rubric changes. You don't DO Bhangra (its not forced), Bhangra phenda ahh.!
If you have something amazing as Bhangra to showcase then do it with passion, grace, EXECUTION (especially if you are super creative), Energy, and Josh, etc.
Simple.

 

[faizan]

You all do realize that someone posts on this topic every season, and every season nothing changes. This is 3 straight seasons now.


North American Bhangra is dead.


UK and AUS are ALIVE.


This is just how it all ended up.


fin.

 

[disharma1317]

Bottom line is this: if you wanna make it big in this circuit and do some shit, you're gonna have to work for it -- no shortcuts. Don't worry so much about placing -- worry more about being as badass as you possibly can given your goals and constraints and never settle for anything less. Do things YOUR way, and don't stop pushing yourself to be better each day, whether its as a mixer, choreographer, or a dancer. And if hating every other team is what it takes for you to push harder, than so be it. Placings will come when you stop pandering to what you think judges want and just challenge yourself to be great.

+1


If you are a collegiate captain, and you are sleeping more than 4-5 hours a night on average, you don't have fire.

LOL. dawg. not sleeping enough isn't the answer I promise. We do a high intensity dance. One that puts a lot of stress on the body. Sleep is the time when our body heals and recovers. If you want your body to feel better, your knees to heal faster, your ankles, whatever. Get a couple more hours of sleep and you have a better shot at being less in pain.


Instead of sleeping less, be more effiecient with your time. I promise you can get everything done w a 16-18 hour window. Less sleep doesn't = less fire. More productivity and drive to get shit done = more fire

OH MY LORD. Please tell me that not sleeping enough is not actually a "sign of fire". That's some major BS. We don't need another generation of washed up bhangra dancers who spent all their time and brain cells in college jacking off to old SGPD videos. That is absolutely not true.


I 100% agree with Sid. It comes down to whether or not as an adequate captain you can manage your time, get the choreo and formations and shit done before the season begins and spend time teaching newcomers the traditional elements of dance and getting them up to par without wasting time turning 3 hour scheduled practices into 8 hour ones. There are so many successful teams that practice a couple of times a week, so bhangra is definitely something that SHOULD NOT be taking over your life. There's a difference between passionate and obsessed. Bhangra is high intensity and massively screws up your joints, as I'm sure almost any veteran dancer on this thread can attest to. Sleep is key, and something I honestly wish I had more of. If anyone read that and took it seriously...don't.


Aditya, also agree wholeheartedly. The problem isn't that teams don't want to come to competitions and place. Be better, push yourself to be better, and again, take risks. That's how the circuit evolves.

I think the number one problem in the collegiate scene is the pussification of people growing up in America today. Collegiate dancers do bhangra to "make friends," "just to have a good time," "learn something new," "build a family," or whatever other dumb fuck reason they can think of. They can join the knitting club if they want to do all those things. What's lacking in the collegiate scene is mentality to fight, struggle, overcome-adversity, and build something greater than just friendships. College students today are too pussy to be criticized harshly, and too pussy to do deal with failure. I've dealt with many dancers who didn't want to dance for me anymore because they rather dance for a team where everything is already done for them. This is the overall mentality and shit that is holding the collegiate circuit down. People don't care to be original, nor do they care to fight to be the next big thing. They rather just feel comfortable in their little bubbles, and try to warm their own little hearts by doing washed up shit like "a cutsie jhummar," "putting lights on our saaps," "throwing a khunda across stage," mostly because it makes them "happy" and "feel good about themselves." The average college dancer today worries more about what they are going to wear at the after party and mixer, than knowing how to dance properly. I've had dancers at practice make the same mistakes over and over, not doing anything to fix them after being told repeatedly, and then eventually cry because they couldn't handle the pressure of being "called out." If these dancers can't even handle the pressure during practices, how will they have the "fire" to compete in the greater circuit.

^^^...I don't even know what to say to this. Collegiate teams are formed as a college club. Please keep that in mind. That's how I started out, and that's how many of us started out. I agree that the lack of fight to be the "next big thing" isn't apparent in collegiate teams, but the rest of it is kind of bullshit. If a dancer is making the same mistakes repeatedly, then there's something wrong with the way it's being taught. I don't know if you're a captain or not, but that goes into investing in your dancers to make them confident and stage-ready and throwing someone else on stage if they're not up to it. That environment sounds hostile and unproductive for everyone involved if you've got dancers quitting on you for pushing too much. At the end of the day, it's really not about competitions. It's about passion for the dance and a genuine interest in the culture and traditions. Maybe you ought to grab a few more hours of ZzZzs, buddy, you seem cranky.

 

[Howie Magz]

Having captained a coed team and dancing for an all male team I will say this. The best thing with all male teams there is a more focus on winning. They put in more energy in trying to make the best set possible and trying to win. Coed teams need to start focusing on that. I get this sense with co-ed or college teams that it is a blessing to be at this comp. That mentality needs to change. You are at this comp because they deemed you good enough to compete. Now you should be there to win or at least place. It's not about the after party that's going to be great afterwards or how much fun its going to be to meet this person or that person. I personally think that you should focus more on winning and worry about all those "fun" things after the placings are announced. Yea its memories you get from a comp, but all of the hours put into practice and the money spent on gas or flights as a student with no trophy sucks. Also stop being safe with your set. Bring something better than what people expect. Because these days I see the same routine especially from collegiate teams. Very few out there truly impress me.

 

[UmerQureshi96]

I think the number one problem in the collegiate scene is the pussification of people growing up in America today.

Sorry but there is no difference between college students today than there were three years ago. There wasn't some monumental social shift between us and your generation. We can deal with failure just fine, just not when everything we do goes to waste due to a lack of leadership.

I've dealt with many dancers who didn't want to dance for me anymore because they rather dance for a team where everything is already done for them.

Dancers don't leave because they want everything done for them. Dancers leave because of inefficiency at practice. Dancers leave because there's a lack of respect from their captain. Dancers leave because their captain is incapable of giving them constructive feedback. Dancers leave because while their captain yells at them for not pushing hard enough they see their captain is unable to pick up their legs for dhammal half way through their set. Dancers leave because their captain is incapable of leading by example and meeting the expectations they set for their dancers.

I've had dancers at practice make the same mistakes over and over, not doing anything to fix them after being told repeatedly, and then eventually cry because they couldn't handle the pressure of being "called out." If these dancers can't even handle the pressure during practices, how will they have the "fire" to compete in the greater circuit.

If a dancer is not confident of their dancing ability, you should work with the dancer in order to build them up, not tear them down by embarrassing them at practice. A dancer will never be able to bring the "fire" on stage if they don't have the fire themselves. A dancer that is constantly put down by their captain will have their fire extinguished before it was even lit.

You want your dancers to bring the fire to the circuit, help them light it.




PS check out the last team I was on

 

[AnkurK]

Bottom line is this: if you wanna make it big in this circuit and do some shit, you're gonna have to work for it -- no shortcuts. Don't worry so much about placing -- worry more about being as badass as you possibly can given your goals and constraints and never settle for anything less. Do things YOUR way, and don't stop pushing yourself to be better each day, whether its as a mixer, choreographer, or a dancer. And if hating every other team is what it takes for you to push harder, than so be it. Placings will come when you stop pandering to what you think judges want and just challenge yourself to be great.

+1


If you are a collegiate captain, and you are sleeping more than 4-5 hours a night on average, you don't have fire.

LOL. dawg. not sleeping enough isn't the answer I promise. We do a high intensity dance. One that puts a lot of stress on the body. Sleep is the time when our body heals and recovers. If you want your body to feel better, your knees to heal faster, your ankles, whatever. Get a couple more hours of sleep and you have a better shot at being less in pain.


Instead of sleeping less, be more effiecient with your time. I promise you can get everything done w a 16-18 hour window. Less sleep doesn't = less fire. More productivity and drive to get shit done = more fire

OH MY LORD. Please tell me that not sleeping enough is not actually a "sign of fire". That's some major BS. We don't need another generation of washed up bhangra dancers who spent all their time and brain cells in college jacking off to old SGPD videos. That is absolutely not true.


I 100% agree with Sid. It comes down to whether or not as an adequate captain you can manage your time, get the choreo and formations and shit done before the season begins and spend time teaching newcomers the traditional elements of dance and getting them up to par without wasting time turning 3 hour scheduled practices into 8 hour ones. There are so many successful teams that practice a couple of times a week, so bhangra is definitely something that SHOULD NOT be taking over your life. There's a difference between passionate and obsessed. Bhangra is high intensity and massively screws up your joints, as I'm sure almost any veteran dancer on this thread can attest to. Sleep is key, and something I honestly wish I had more of. If anyone read that and took it seriously...don't.


Aditya, also agree wholeheartedly. The problem isn't that teams don't want to come to competitions and place. Be better, push yourself to be better, and again, take risks. That's how the circuit evolves.

I think the number one problem in the collegiate scene is the pussification of people growing up in America today. Collegiate dancers do bhangra to "make friends," "just to have a good time," "learn something new," "build a family," or whatever other dumb fuck reason they can think of. They can join the knitting club if they want to do all those things. What's lacking in the collegiate scene is mentality to fight, struggle, overcome-adversity, and build something greater than just friendships. College students today are too pussy to be criticized harshly, and too pussy to do deal with failure. I've dealt with many dancers who didn't want to dance for me anymore because they rather dance for a team where everything is already done for them. This is the overall mentality and shit that is holding the collegiate circuit down. People don't care to be original, nor do they care to fight to be the next big thing. They rather just feel comfortable in their little bubbles, and try to warm their own little hearts by doing washed up shit like "a cutsie jhummar," "putting lights on our saaps," "throwing a khunda across stage," mostly because it makes them "happy" and "feel good about themselves." The average college dancer today worries more about what they are going to wear at the after party and mixer, than knowing how to dance properly. I've had dancers at practice make the same mistakes over and over, not doing anything to fix them after being told repeatedly, and then eventually cry because they couldn't handle the pressure of being "called out." If these dancers can't even handle the pressure during practices, how will they have the "fire" to compete in the greater circuit.

^^^...I don't even know what to say to this. Collegiate teams are formed as a college club. Please keep that in mind. That's how I started out, and that's how many of us started out. I agree that the lack of fight to be the "next big thing" isn't apparent in collegiate teams, but the rest of it is kind of bullshit. If a dancer is making the same mistakes repeatedly, then there's something wrong with the way it's being taught. I don't know if you're a captain or not, but that goes into investing in your dancers to make them confident and stage-ready and throwing someone else on stage if they're not up to it. That environment sounds hostile and unproductive for everyone involved if you've got dancers quitting on you for pushing too much. At the end of the day, it's really not about competitions. It's about passion for the dance and a genuine interest in the culture and traditions. Maybe you ought to grab a few more hours of ZzZzs, buddy, you seem cranky.

lol you're cute. Thanks I'll keep this in mind next time I'm using tasers and pepper spray at practice. I'm glad you're concerned. You have great intel on what happens at my practices, I wonder how :O


PS: None of my dancers think we have a hostile environment at practice

I'm going get off topic here because something in your posts isn't sitting well with me.

"My dancers" "my dancers" "my dancers" "my dancers" "my dancers" "my dancers"

You're a dance team captain... thats it. They are your teammates not your dancers.

If you win - it's not solely because of you - it's because everyone did their part.
If you lose - it's because your team as a whole didn't bring it on comp night.

Teammates not "my dancers"

Respect your team and they'll respect you back.

Going off of Umer's team list it looks like he was a member of your team - Unfortunate that your relationship got to the point where he needed to respond to your post in such a way.


Also ---- For the record I danced on an independent team and slept 10 hours a day

 

[charmingchutiyaa]

College students today are too pussy to be criticized harshly, and too pussy to do deal with failure. I've dealt with many dancers who didn't want to dance for me anymore because they rather dance for a team where everything is already done for them.

Were you intoxicated when you wrote this post? Students come into college and join extracurriculars for pure interest and the will/determination to learn new things. Are you a leader? If so, of course it is your job to criticize your members so that they can improve, but at the same time, there is a certain tone and attitude in which they should be addressed. Because they are new to a team, they may not start off with this so called fire in their hearts as you may claim to have but as their leader it is your job to instill that in them and help it grow. They joined the team for a reason. Give them even more to stay, not incentive to leave. Give them criticism in a way that they want to improve, and become better dancers. Chances are if you are calling the team members pussies for not being able to take criticism and its “many dancers” leaving, the fault is probably on the way that you direct your critiques.

Were you intoxicated when you wrote this post? Students come into college and join extracurriculars for pure interest and the will/determination to learn new things. Are you a leader? If so, of course it is your job to criticize your members so that they can improve, but at the same time, there is a certain tone and attitude in which they should be addressed. Because they are new to a team, they may not start off with this so called fire in their hearts as you may claim to have but as their leader it is your job to instill that in them and help it grow. They joined the team for a reason. Give them even more to stay, not incentive to leave. Give them criticism in a way that they want to improve, and become better dancers. Chances are if you are calling the team members pussies for not being able to take criticism and its “many dancers” leaving, the fault is probably on the way that you direct your critiques.


Also I'm not sure what dream world you're looking at, but there is no successful team out there in which everything is done for them. Every member of a well-functioning team, dancer or not, is held to certain standards and responsibilities, and it is up to them to fulfill those and not let their team down. Granted, there are extra roles that executive board needs to keep in mind and if you are on top of your shit, then losing members to other teams who know what they are doing shouldn’t be an issue for you. There is a clear difference between people leaving because of pussiness, and people leaving because they’d rather spend their time at a place with people that help their progress and actually make them feel good about the time they are spending there. If you are talking about studying others to grow and that’s clearly not working for you, then maybe you start within and study the people who left to begin with.

 

[Kartik]

Skimmed most of this thread - very interesting thoughts. I think the point Aditya made can't be stressed enough.

Cornell had gotten its shit kicked around for so long, we finally decided to do something about it. It took an incredible amount of hard work. Honestly, college could have been hard enough but at times Anik and I felt like we were triple majoring exclusively in Set Creation, Mixing, and Team Management.

Us and captains of teams we competed with were all "friendly" at competitions and we exchanged banter but at the end of the day we desperately wanted to make our mark on stage. Interestingly, we all had more in common with each other than we cared to admit.

For us, we found our reason at the Blowout 2011 judge's meeting. The feeling of hearing 4 people make excuses for dismissing you after you'd poured years of work into a performance - only another captain who's been shot down knows what that's like.

The exciting part - it only really takes a few people to start to change the game. 10 crazy people can lead 10 teams from scratch in the next 3 years to dominate the bhangra circuit and raise the bar. You just have to find your reason.

 

[SGupta7]

If you wanna change the game, stop fucking commenting about it on BTF. Watch some videos of teams you look up to, find their mistakes, take them off the pedestal you put them on, and realize that they started where you started. Then go to practice and work your fucking ass off. If people practiced as much as they typed, we probably wouldn't need this thread.

 

[mitrapatel09]

I think the number one problem in the collegiate scene is the pussification of people growing up in America today.

Sorry but there is no difference between college students today than there were three years ago. There wasn't some monumental social shift between us and your generation. We can deal with failure just fine, just not when everything we do goes to waste due to a lack of leadership.

I've dealt with many dancers who didn't want to dance for me anymore because they rather dance for a team where everything is already done for them.

Dancers don't leave because they want everything done for them. Dancers leave because of inefficiency at practice. Dancers leave because there's a lack of respect from their captain. Dancers leave because their captain is incapable of giving them constructive feedback. Dancers leave because while their captain yells at them for not pushing hard enough they see their captain is unable to pick up their legs for dhammal half way through their set. Dancers leave because their captain is incapable of leading by example and meeting the expectations they set for their dancers.

I've had dancers at practice make the same mistakes over and over, not doing anything to fix them after being told repeatedly, and then eventually cry because they couldn't handle the pressure of being "called out." If these dancers can't even handle the pressure during practices, how will they have the "fire" to compete in the greater circuit.

If a dancer is not confident of their dancing ability, you should work with the dancer in order to build them up, not tear them down by embarrassing them at practice. A dancer will never be able to bring the "fire" on stage if they don't have the fire themselves. A dancer that is constantly put down by their captain will have their fire extinguished before it was even lit.

You want your dancers to bring the fire to the circuit, help them light it.




PS check out the last team I was on

;D ;D ;D


Lol maybe worry more about your dancing first. You have great new captains and a wonderful new family to help you do that. I'll see you next time you're staring at our practice

I dont think you are realizing what he was talking about. He wasnt trying to bash on your dancing nor was he worried about improving his dancing abilities from his new captains and his new family. He was simply just responding to your opinion with his own opinion, and in my opinion telling someone to mind their own business and focus on themselves might not be very respectful to the open opinions that are given on this forum. BTF is for communication to occur between people and exchanging of opinions for the betterment of the circuit and to help improve each dancer. This topic especially is about igniting the fire that you talked about as well. So when someone has an opinion on your comments, you either explain your opinion to them, not tell them to mind their own business. I dont know what the relationship is between you two but this is my personal opinion on the topic because it was mentioned earlier in this thread about how the older members of this forum that were present during the "golden age" of bhangra in the US need to be people that guide the current generation. The current generation should be guided so that their fire is ignited as well... not told to mind their own business. If your wording is not the best, than maybe not wording it all is better rather than have half of the thread bashing on you lol. Calling most collegiate students and your own team pussies does not help anyone.... so there is no need in doing it.


All the best!

 

[amancheema]

...

 

[AnkurK]

 

[siddyp]

LOL miss you bruh

 

[sahab]

Yo straight up, Howie's a bitch for posting this and making everyone hate each other. But i love him for it.


We have this conversation so many times, and I'm glad he brought this shit up on a bigger platform.


I straight see from everyone that they are at comps for fun. I miss the days when everyone kinda hated each other. The missing fire leads to teams losing their identities. I'm not saying for everyone to et into fight. But it should be an unspoken thing that I want to kick your ass. That feeling in itself has disappeared.


I'm gonna start posting more critiques/comments/etc. that are helpful fun, and honest(i don't give a shit if i piss you off). That's my promise, and what i got out of this convo.


Howie and I promise to kick your asses at the next comp we see you at


P.S. Sumeet I need my KPGD shirt


P.S.S. Is there a sparknotes for this thread?

 

[Shastri]

This thread is 3nyce

 

[singh1234]

This thread

 

[KushK]

If you wanna change the game, stop fucking commenting about it on BTF.

Sorry man but I disagree with what you just said. If you want to change the game, do everything you just said and also comment on BTF.

Talk about stupid shit and piss people off. It is fine to do it. That might just help light that fire we all have been talking about. I think the Husky Bhangra captain posted earlier and said something like "I dont really comment/post" but why don't you? I want to hear what you have to say. No offense to all the collegiate team captains but you all are just way to nice and scared to tell another team they suck haha

 

[PartyJatt]

Bring back Ventrilo and we could all talk this out

 

[siddyp]

Bring back Ventrilo and we could all talk this out

dope idea

 

[Howie Magz]

If you wanna change the game, stop fucking commenting about it on BTF.

Sorry man but I disagree with what you just said. If you want to change the game, do everything you just said and also comment on BTF.

Talk about stupid shit and piss people off. It is fine to do it. That might just help light that fire we all have been talking about. I think the Husky Bhangra captain posted earlier and said something like "I dont really comment/post" but why don't you? I want to hear what you have to say. No offense to all the collegiate team captains but you all are just way to nice and scared to tell another team they suck haha

Ankush your team sucks. Lasers ain't shit