siddyp
Tough times never last, but tough people do.
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What's up BTF! Wanted to post a full review of the competition from FCB's perspective. Haven't seen a true review like this in a while, so I hope this sparks some more! The weekend... It was great, interesting, stressful, and wild...
Before the comp:
The lead up to the show was just fine. Communication was never an issue. Though things weren't delivered from them on time, by all means, teams never meet deadlines either. So no biggie to me. The committee members were always very chill and willing to help us out as long as we explained what was up. Mad props for that.
The one problem I saw that was glaring was with the judging rubric. It was never clear until a few weeks before the competition how we were going to be judged. The routines were already in place at that point. So it really was just us seeing if we were designing the routine and practicing in a way that would match what we "interpreted." I will say, that the committee provided us with contact information with the judges and allowed us to freely contact them to get explanations.
There was a section on the choreography rubric called "concept/theme" and it was worth 15 pts. This was the big section in question and here's why: The rubric has nothing below each section title to describe the title. Normally we see that rubrics would have Execution as a title, and a short description or bullet points right after to help describe "execution" (did the team finish steps? were there are lot of mistakes? etc.)
We called the main point of contact and asked if they as a committee were telling the judges how this should be judged, and we were told that we need to talk to the judges to see how they will interpret the rubric since no section had any short description or bullet points. Which is fine, but then I and my fellow captains took the time out to set up meetings with the judges and found out that the judges WERE told how to interpret this specific section...
The problem that I had was that it was labeled theme/concept but we didn't have to have a theme. It was just worded that way. Which is mad confusing. But they were supposed to take what we created from a set perspective and judge how well put together it was. I just don't get how we're supposed to understand that without any short description or bullet points. I get that we could reach out to judges and find out. I get that the committee wanted to give judges more freedom to interpret dif sections of the rubric such as "spirit of bhangra." But this was a bit of a blunder.
So after the teams as a whole asking for a meeting with judges, the committee got one together and we appreciate that. It did give us all the opportunity to find out what each judge was looking for. I just wish that the committee did that from the start instead of having us set up our own individual meetings. It would have taken away a lot of confusion and unnecessary stress.
This was the only thing that was a problem leading up to the show. Everything else was fine.
Friday of Comp Weekend:
There was no official team hotel for the weekend. And thus, no formal transportation provided. But they are going to help us out with uber receipts.
The mixer was at this club/lounge. It was kinda cool. But it was BUMPING. Not really what I expected from a mixer but it was different. But this caused the captains meeting to be real inefficient with music blasting and people everywhere. The way of choosing the lineup was CRAZY:
They had 8 reps, 1 from each team. They played musical cards (chairs) around 8 cards that were on the ground that were ace through 8. When the music stopped, you had to pick up your card. In that order (ace through 8) you had to go pick a box. In the box it had a number, (1-8) and in that order you went and picked up an envelope which had a number (1-8) on the side we couldn't see. Then the committee had 8 members standing on a bench. According to the number on the envelopes, the reps had to go choose a committee member and stand in front of them. The committee members were holding a banner. And the reps hadn't opened the envelopes yet. So on the count of 3, the reps had to open the envelope and hold up a sheet of paper with a team name on it. And behind them, the committee member had to open up the banner and it had a show order spot. So the team name got that show order spot. It was wild. It was thrilling. We were told triple blind. But it was like quintuple. It's nuts that JJ still got first. But committees should create crazy games like this to make the show order as random as possible.
That night, the committee gave us rooms at GW that were 30x20, but our stage was 42x28. So we didn't take the room. Instead, a committee member, Saira (you were too clutch all weekend!
), showed us some spots on campus in public areas where we could practice. We were given bhiriyani for dinner. It was real good!
Day of Show:
It was nice not having early tech times. It allowed us to relax/chill at night and sleep for a good period of time. Breakfast was delivered (bagels) and we were given a room in a building across the street from Lisner. We had an issue with our big prop and the committee was super accommodating with allowing us to re-construct it after tech time. The biggest problem I saw was with the lead up to our tech time. There was minimal space at Lisner which is fine. But we had to be on a schedule on when to leave our room across the street. A committee member was goign to come get us. And that was all delayed. Then we got to Lisner with all of our stuff, and we were in very tight quarters with like 3 other teams in there too. With that, we had a BIG prop and had to figure out how to fit that into this room too. It ruined any kind of rhythm and flow for our team, and it didn't help that there was little to no space to stretch out and get ready for our tech time. It was a zoo. This could have been easily fixed by forcing the teams to go directly to their dressing rooms after their tech time instead of hanging around.
We also had one of our saaps taken in this whole fiasco. If any team finds it, would be so kind to let us know, that would be awesome. It says "Sahil" on one of the handles. Hence how we know it's missing.
Tech time was fine. I didn't really like the fact that someone was yelling how much time was left in the middle of our run through.. We purposely started our mix with over 10 minutes left. It was just distracting to hear "5 MINUTES LEFT! 5 MINUTES!!!" while we were trying to recreate what our performance should look and feel like.
All through the day, the committee was super chill, allowing us to get ready on our own terms, as long as we were ready to go an hour before our spot. +1.
But I wasn't a fan of how the whole "being on deck" thing went down. We had a dressing room up about 4 flights of steps. Fauj's was 2 below ours. So we had to come down in the middle of their performance. But then were forced back into the stairwell until they went back up to their dressing room. This was just a pain. This wasn't allowing us to have a rhythm, or pump up speeches, or extra stretching/warming up. Plus on top of that, the wrong mix was played for Fauj. And it delayed them getting off stage and up the steps. Not hating on them at all cause that SUCKS, they were angry, and rightfully so. It just sucked for us being in that hallway until 2 minutes into DCBC's performance. We had to collect ourselves, set up props to get onto stage, re stretch/warmup, etc. I don't know for sure, but it could have been a situation where teams 1, 3, 5, and 7 had a dressing room in one wing, and 2,4,6 and 8 in another to avoid this traffic situation. Logistics not so on point here, but maybe it was out of there hands...
First Class Bhangra's Performance:
Oh baby. We were AMPED. We set up, the mix started, we were ready, we got going and we had momentum. And then in the beginning of our 2nd segment, the mix just stopped. I'll say for me personally, I was so hyped and was in the moment that I didn't truly realize the mix stopped until about 12 beats later. But one of our co-captains, Rohan, yelled "keep going" so we did. Ram V (dholi ram) kept the beat going, and we went for it. The committee did try to get us to stop by turning off the lights right after our jhoomer, but we didn't stop dancing, dholi ram didn't stop playing, and our side stage supporters freaked out and had them turn the lights back on and have us finish. [SIZE=small]The crowd ate it up. Some thought it was just a gimmick. But most realized what had happened and encouraged us all the way to the end. Same with all the teams. Major shoutout to everyone throughout the audience[/SIZE][SIZE=small], and the teams that came to the front of stage and side stage to cheer us on. It was amazing to see the standing O at the end. And everyone congratulating us. We appreciate all the love![/SIZE]
After the performance, the committee gave us the option to do it again and the judges would do everything to judge fresh. The team as a whole opted to not do that as we had very little turn around time and we would not be ready/re-amped/rested to do it again at the same level. (we went 7th in the show of 8 teams)The committee took us to the judges and gave us a few minutes to ask any questions before they started deliberating. They allowed us and FAUJ to do this since the technical errors were out of our hands. It was nice. But ultimately, the judges have to judge based on what they watched. It's unfortunate what had happened. But it is what it is.
The judges gave us very good feedback. They handled the situation the best they could and that's all we can ask for.
We were given this explanation on Sunday morning by the committee about why our music stopped:
In the Lisner Auditorium, the sound booth is in the audience in between the main level and the seats that scale up to the back. Supposedly someone was walking through the walkway in the middle of our performance and bumped the guy running sound. That caused the auxiliary cable to be yanked from the laptop from which the mix was being played. The mix was being played from iTunes, and the mix was then paused because the aux cable was pulled. So we were beats ahead of where the mix COULD have continued. But they didn't plug it back in, and just let us go. (Thankful for that haha) They apologized for trying to get us to stop by turning off the lights but realized we weren't gonna stop and didn't want that to cause us to bump in formation or injure us or anything.
We appreciate the committee coming to us on Sunday morning and speaking to us about it, and explaining the situation. They said it best: "We messed up on the most basic things we had to do: give you a stage, and play your mix. We can't be more sorry and feel any worse than we do."
Afterparty:
First, the committee does need to provide teams with more food if they can. Plenty of guys on my team didn't eat including myself prior to the after party. And the after party, from my view, ran way smoother than any other DC after party I've been to. It started off not so packed, but got packed. But that is no reason to complain. I had a great time with the team and everyone else that was there. It sucks that no clubs in the immediate area could accommodate so many people. And because of hotel situation, there was no transportation provided. But it worked out just fine. Teams only line was CLUTCH.
Overall:
Can't say it was my best bhangra experience. But it was far from my worst. Committee was always very very chill and accommodating.
Shout outs to Sidra, Saira, Simi and everyone else that helped us out all weekend. Even though some things didn't run so smoothly, you guys did great.
Shout out to JJ! Routine and performance was awesome! Congrats and thank you for your support!
Shout out to all teams who brought awesome performances throughout the night! Bhangra is alive.
Special shout out to BrinDiesel for being an awesome Liaison and hanging with us all weekend!!
Shoutout to all the teams and those who gave us love and support during and after our performance.
Shoutout to our MVP: Dholi Ram. Held it down and gave us the taals to finish the performance.
Shoutout to Tejas for always coming to our practices when he could and playing Dhol along side. We would def not have been ready without you.
Shoutout to all our FCB Family and CMU Bhangra family that came and supported and hung out/partied with us.
Shoutout to my team for being the best group I could ever ask for.
Things don't always work out in a perfect way. Actually, they never do. Just make the most of what you got and don't quit.
Much love btf! Good night.
Before the comp:
The lead up to the show was just fine. Communication was never an issue. Though things weren't delivered from them on time, by all means, teams never meet deadlines either. So no biggie to me. The committee members were always very chill and willing to help us out as long as we explained what was up. Mad props for that.
The one problem I saw that was glaring was with the judging rubric. It was never clear until a few weeks before the competition how we were going to be judged. The routines were already in place at that point. So it really was just us seeing if we were designing the routine and practicing in a way that would match what we "interpreted." I will say, that the committee provided us with contact information with the judges and allowed us to freely contact them to get explanations.
There was a section on the choreography rubric called "concept/theme" and it was worth 15 pts. This was the big section in question and here's why: The rubric has nothing below each section title to describe the title. Normally we see that rubrics would have Execution as a title, and a short description or bullet points right after to help describe "execution" (did the team finish steps? were there are lot of mistakes? etc.)
We called the main point of contact and asked if they as a committee were telling the judges how this should be judged, and we were told that we need to talk to the judges to see how they will interpret the rubric since no section had any short description or bullet points. Which is fine, but then I and my fellow captains took the time out to set up meetings with the judges and found out that the judges WERE told how to interpret this specific section...
The problem that I had was that it was labeled theme/concept but we didn't have to have a theme. It was just worded that way. Which is mad confusing. But they were supposed to take what we created from a set perspective and judge how well put together it was. I just don't get how we're supposed to understand that without any short description or bullet points. I get that we could reach out to judges and find out. I get that the committee wanted to give judges more freedom to interpret dif sections of the rubric such as "spirit of bhangra." But this was a bit of a blunder.
So after the teams as a whole asking for a meeting with judges, the committee got one together and we appreciate that. It did give us all the opportunity to find out what each judge was looking for. I just wish that the committee did that from the start instead of having us set up our own individual meetings. It would have taken away a lot of confusion and unnecessary stress.
This was the only thing that was a problem leading up to the show. Everything else was fine.
Friday of Comp Weekend:
There was no official team hotel for the weekend. And thus, no formal transportation provided. But they are going to help us out with uber receipts.
The mixer was at this club/lounge. It was kinda cool. But it was BUMPING. Not really what I expected from a mixer but it was different. But this caused the captains meeting to be real inefficient with music blasting and people everywhere. The way of choosing the lineup was CRAZY:
They had 8 reps, 1 from each team. They played musical cards (chairs) around 8 cards that were on the ground that were ace through 8. When the music stopped, you had to pick up your card. In that order (ace through 8) you had to go pick a box. In the box it had a number, (1-8) and in that order you went and picked up an envelope which had a number (1-8) on the side we couldn't see. Then the committee had 8 members standing on a bench. According to the number on the envelopes, the reps had to go choose a committee member and stand in front of them. The committee members were holding a banner. And the reps hadn't opened the envelopes yet. So on the count of 3, the reps had to open the envelope and hold up a sheet of paper with a team name on it. And behind them, the committee member had to open up the banner and it had a show order spot. So the team name got that show order spot. It was wild. It was thrilling. We were told triple blind. But it was like quintuple. It's nuts that JJ still got first. But committees should create crazy games like this to make the show order as random as possible.
That night, the committee gave us rooms at GW that were 30x20, but our stage was 42x28. So we didn't take the room. Instead, a committee member, Saira (you were too clutch all weekend!
), showed us some spots on campus in public areas where we could practice. We were given bhiriyani for dinner. It was real good!Day of Show:
It was nice not having early tech times. It allowed us to relax/chill at night and sleep for a good period of time. Breakfast was delivered (bagels) and we were given a room in a building across the street from Lisner. We had an issue with our big prop and the committee was super accommodating with allowing us to re-construct it after tech time. The biggest problem I saw was with the lead up to our tech time. There was minimal space at Lisner which is fine. But we had to be on a schedule on when to leave our room across the street. A committee member was goign to come get us. And that was all delayed. Then we got to Lisner with all of our stuff, and we were in very tight quarters with like 3 other teams in there too. With that, we had a BIG prop and had to figure out how to fit that into this room too. It ruined any kind of rhythm and flow for our team, and it didn't help that there was little to no space to stretch out and get ready for our tech time. It was a zoo. This could have been easily fixed by forcing the teams to go directly to their dressing rooms after their tech time instead of hanging around.
We also had one of our saaps taken in this whole fiasco. If any team finds it, would be so kind to let us know, that would be awesome. It says "Sahil" on one of the handles. Hence how we know it's missing.
Tech time was fine. I didn't really like the fact that someone was yelling how much time was left in the middle of our run through.. We purposely started our mix with over 10 minutes left. It was just distracting to hear "5 MINUTES LEFT! 5 MINUTES!!!" while we were trying to recreate what our performance should look and feel like.
All through the day, the committee was super chill, allowing us to get ready on our own terms, as long as we were ready to go an hour before our spot. +1.
But I wasn't a fan of how the whole "being on deck" thing went down. We had a dressing room up about 4 flights of steps. Fauj's was 2 below ours. So we had to come down in the middle of their performance. But then were forced back into the stairwell until they went back up to their dressing room. This was just a pain. This wasn't allowing us to have a rhythm, or pump up speeches, or extra stretching/warming up. Plus on top of that, the wrong mix was played for Fauj. And it delayed them getting off stage and up the steps. Not hating on them at all cause that SUCKS, they were angry, and rightfully so. It just sucked for us being in that hallway until 2 minutes into DCBC's performance. We had to collect ourselves, set up props to get onto stage, re stretch/warmup, etc. I don't know for sure, but it could have been a situation where teams 1, 3, 5, and 7 had a dressing room in one wing, and 2,4,6 and 8 in another to avoid this traffic situation. Logistics not so on point here, but maybe it was out of there hands...
First Class Bhangra's Performance:
Oh baby. We were AMPED. We set up, the mix started, we were ready, we got going and we had momentum. And then in the beginning of our 2nd segment, the mix just stopped. I'll say for me personally, I was so hyped and was in the moment that I didn't truly realize the mix stopped until about 12 beats later. But one of our co-captains, Rohan, yelled "keep going" so we did. Ram V (dholi ram) kept the beat going, and we went for it. The committee did try to get us to stop by turning off the lights right after our jhoomer, but we didn't stop dancing, dholi ram didn't stop playing, and our side stage supporters freaked out and had them turn the lights back on and have us finish. [SIZE=small]The crowd ate it up. Some thought it was just a gimmick. But most realized what had happened and encouraged us all the way to the end. Same with all the teams. Major shoutout to everyone throughout the audience[/SIZE][SIZE=small], and the teams that came to the front of stage and side stage to cheer us on. It was amazing to see the standing O at the end. And everyone congratulating us. We appreciate all the love![/SIZE]
After the performance, the committee gave us the option to do it again and the judges would do everything to judge fresh. The team as a whole opted to not do that as we had very little turn around time and we would not be ready/re-amped/rested to do it again at the same level. (we went 7th in the show of 8 teams)The committee took us to the judges and gave us a few minutes to ask any questions before they started deliberating. They allowed us and FAUJ to do this since the technical errors were out of our hands. It was nice. But ultimately, the judges have to judge based on what they watched. It's unfortunate what had happened. But it is what it is.
The judges gave us very good feedback. They handled the situation the best they could and that's all we can ask for.
We were given this explanation on Sunday morning by the committee about why our music stopped:
In the Lisner Auditorium, the sound booth is in the audience in between the main level and the seats that scale up to the back. Supposedly someone was walking through the walkway in the middle of our performance and bumped the guy running sound. That caused the auxiliary cable to be yanked from the laptop from which the mix was being played. The mix was being played from iTunes, and the mix was then paused because the aux cable was pulled. So we were beats ahead of where the mix COULD have continued. But they didn't plug it back in, and just let us go. (Thankful for that haha) They apologized for trying to get us to stop by turning off the lights but realized we weren't gonna stop and didn't want that to cause us to bump in formation or injure us or anything.
We appreciate the committee coming to us on Sunday morning and speaking to us about it, and explaining the situation. They said it best: "We messed up on the most basic things we had to do: give you a stage, and play your mix. We can't be more sorry and feel any worse than we do."
Afterparty:
First, the committee does need to provide teams with more food if they can. Plenty of guys on my team didn't eat including myself prior to the after party. And the after party, from my view, ran way smoother than any other DC after party I've been to. It started off not so packed, but got packed. But that is no reason to complain. I had a great time with the team and everyone else that was there. It sucks that no clubs in the immediate area could accommodate so many people. And because of hotel situation, there was no transportation provided. But it worked out just fine. Teams only line was CLUTCH.
Overall:
Can't say it was my best bhangra experience. But it was far from my worst. Committee was always very very chill and accommodating.
Shout outs to Sidra, Saira, Simi and everyone else that helped us out all weekend. Even though some things didn't run so smoothly, you guys did great.
Shout out to JJ! Routine and performance was awesome! Congrats and thank you for your support!
Shout out to all teams who brought awesome performances throughout the night! Bhangra is alive.
Special shout out to BrinDiesel for being an awesome Liaison and hanging with us all weekend!!
Shoutout to all the teams and those who gave us love and support during and after our performance.
Shoutout to our MVP: Dholi Ram. Held it down and gave us the taals to finish the performance.
Shoutout to Tejas for always coming to our practices when he could and playing Dhol along side. We would def not have been ready without you.
Shoutout to all our FCB Family and CMU Bhangra family that came and supported and hung out/partied with us.
Shoutout to my team for being the best group I could ever ask for.
Things don't always work out in a perfect way. Actually, they never do. Just make the most of what you got and don't quit.
Much love btf! Good night.
