Fusion Royale - New York - October 18

[fusionroyale]

haha faizan...that was pretty much the point of my story...but since everyone had wished fusion royale all the best and had expressed their confidence in the apt leadership of gotham productions (sarcasm)...i guess i felt bad about bursting their bubble. i also wanted to know whether the winners of fusion royale had been decided yet...haha but i held back on that. look i understand that it was a first year comp, etc etc. but so was bhangra in the burgh and it was run beautifully. ill be convinced (along with alot of other teams) when you guys say that you vow to emulate burgh and avap.

and i see that you guys have emphasized hiring security for your comp this year. although that was the biggest problem with royale last year...it was not the only problem. you guys should also work on things as simple as HAVING WATER FOR TEAMS AT REHEARSAL. shrugging your shoulders when teams ask if you have water shows extremely poor sense and frankly idiotic planning. charging teams to get into afterparties? i could go on and on...but ill give it a rest now.

in short...i agree with faizan.

Sapan, you raise some good points. Keeping in mind all of what you are saying, this has already been accounted for our Fusion Royale planning:

1) The identity of judges will not be revealed till the day of the show to avoid any teams to contact the judges and allow for any rigging.

2) Every team is being even assigned a staff member to help them fill out the application.

3) Water will be provided to each and every team member (LOL)

4) The show will start on time.

5) Enough safety is being provided to curb fights.

 

[Pooja]

"faizan, I am sorry that AEG did not place at BHANGRA ROYALE.. because one of your dancers tripped on stage"

So that's what the judges told you? Weird...people fall/mess-up and win all the time...

...odd comment...it seems like you're getting personal here...

I mean I commend all people for trying to have competitions and make them run successfully, but there were many flaws with this one and you will have to get used to the criticism...and just show them a damn good show to redeem yourselves.

 

[fusionroyale]

BTF is one of the places where a person can have an intelligent conversation so I am going to raise some points and I would love to hear some input on it.

Lets look at the history of competitions in New York City (I am excluding any competitions in upstate new york). There is not one bhangra competition organized by a COLLEGE or a UNIVERSITY in New York. Now seeing that pattern, individual business entrepreneurs and other people make an effort to have some bhangra competitions.

THE PROBLEM LIES IN THE FACT THAT THEY ARE FIRST TIME COMPETITIONS AND RUN ON LITTLE PRIOR EXPERIENCE. Most of the bhangra competitions in New York run for one year and then disappear... and the reason is that they have too much criticism to handle and the fact that they are run by individuals (not by entire college staff... which is the case with Bhangra Blowout, AVAP and all such competitions).

Gotham Productions did their first event in New York. It was Bhangra Royale... we made an attempt. We agree that certain blunders were committed. BUT THE KEY IS THAT gotham productions didn't go ahead and change its name and give up like everyone else.

And for people who are unaware of the facts,

GOTHAM PRODUCTIONS only organized BHANGRA ROYALE ... We did NOT organize Gotham City Bhangra.

WE INVESTED TWICE THE AMOUNT OF MONEY TO IMPROVE OUR ORGANIZATION. We hired more staff members, assigned numerous new roles. We have learned a lot from the prior dance competition and we are building upon it.

Please note that according to our budget for Fusion Royale... we are barely breaking even. Making profit is not the key, its keeping up a tradition. Tribeca is one of the most venues in the city (and an expensive investment... and so is hiring NYPD).

THE BIGGEST THING THAT WE LEARNED WAS THAT... THIS IS NOT ABOUT MONEY... ITS ABOUT KEEPING OUR CULTURE ALIVE... SPREADING THE WORD TO EVERY DESI IN UNITED STATES... TO BE ABLE TO STAND IN MIDDLE OF A STREET AND START BUSTING OUT BHANGRA MOVES... AND WATCH OTHER PEOPLE JOIN IN.

 

[faizan]

are you kidding me?

It is not about placing. I could care less about that...the fact that your response was to get at my team, well that shows A. that ur organization is unprofessional and B. how dumb you are.

The simple matter is...your competition was probably one of the worst, if not the worst competition I have ever been involved in...this is not just my opinion, ask anyone who competed or attended...you will not pull the wool over my eyes, or the eyes of anyone on this site...if you want to finagle anyone, take that shit to pol...this is the most informed group of dancers ever assembled. Do not mock our intelligence.

you should should be ashamed of yourselves. No amount of security will get me or any of my friends to ever come to this competition...not because of how bad it was, but because of the way you carried yourselves as organizers...please do not give us the crap about how much you love dancing and promoting our culture...you make me sick.

 

[Danny]

THE BIGGEST THING THAT WE LEARNED WAS THAT... THIS IS NOT ABOUT MONEY... ITS ABOUT KEEPING OUR CULTURE ALIVE... SPREADING THE WORD TO EVERY DESI IN UNITED STATES... TO BE ABLE TO STAND IN MIDDLE OF A STREET AND START BUSTING OUT BHANGRA MOVES... AND WATCH OTHER PEOPLE JOIN IN.

....as he publicly disses AEG ...a team spreading the culture.... :-\

 

[Jeeti]

I stopped reading after the personal attack on AEG, Faizan didn't even say anything about the placings..are you kidding? Is this really a spokesperson for the competition?

 

[fusionroyale]

Frankly, we have looked through the posts at POL... but it lacks any constructive criticism comments

We would like to hear about things that people would like to see being incorporated at Fusion Royale

 

[Saleem]

Was there a personal attack on a team? If so that's not too professional and not appreciated (as *personal* attacks on a competition wouldnt be, either). But maybe someone edited their post b/c I dont see it??

 

[Vivek]

Yea Royale deleted their reply to Faizan's comments...which makes my comment look retarded, but they basically said something which had no relevance to what anyone was saying:

"faizan, I am sorry that AEG did not place at BHANGRA ROYALE.. because one of your dancers tripped on stage"

Why would you bring that up?

 

[Waleed]

Since Bhangra Royale, Gotham Productions has received a lot of negative feedback from teams (which one may argue is justified or unjustified). But, regardless they have received their fair share of attacks openly from team members. They have the right to respond however they like as long they keep it clean and the same goes to the teams as well. The point of this forum is to learn from our mistakes and provide helpful feedback which will hopefull translate into an overall improvement to all aspects of the bhangra circuit.

On a side note, Gotham Productions responding with "faizan, I am sorry that AEG did not place at BHANGRA ROYALE.. because one of your dancers tripped on stage". Personally, I feel that this isn't a professional response that you would expect from the organizers. I could never see anyone from Bruin or AVAP responding to a post in that fashion, but if thats the way Gotham chooses to respond - well, thats their choice and reflects their organization.

I performed at Bhangra Royale and personally it was one of the most poorly organized competitions I have attended. However, I welcome and encourage their (Gotham Productions) efforts to reorganize and improve themselves, if they do their homework this time, they might be able to win back the respect of the teams that attended Bhangra Royale.

 

[fusionroyale]

Was there a personal attack on a team? If so that's not too professional and not appreciated (as *personal* attacks on a competition wouldnt be, either). But maybe someone edited their post b/c I dont see it??

Thank you Saleem... I appreciate that someone agrees that personal attacks on competitions without any positive criticism are not helping that competition improve as well

Personal attacks made by Faizan are being overlooked while one statement made by Fusion Royale is being blown out of proportion

As you all must be aware, this is what faizan wrote about Royale in another post at BTF:

"Royale was the worst competition ever, and I am sure the douche bags who ran it won't be trying that one again"

I see NOT one person object to such tone.

 

[fusionroyale]

We have searched through plethora of posts on POL and on BTF. All posts resemble the format of denouncing Royale... however, no one comes forth to suggest some ideas or things that they would like to see being put into action

Every chip of idea or positive criticism that we did spot has been included into the plan for FUSION ROYALE, which has allowed us to provide for a better plan of action.

AT FUSION ROYALE, the organizers are even contemplating about getting catering services (if it fits in our budget). The security has been increased. New staff members have been assigned numerous tasks to provide a smooth transition for the show.

 

[Saleem]

OK. Personal suggestion here is let's move forward. I think between the month after Bhangra Royale and Faizan's warning at the start of this thread, everyone knows what happened at Royale. There were definitely criticisms of Gotham's organizational skills and that's fine. At this point, if someone wants to heed Faizan's warning and not apply, that's completely fine. For those who want to see if Round 2 will be better, that's good too.

Let's discuss what can be improved or what is needed from Fusion Royale to be successful. We can even discuss the criticisms of Bhangra Royale.

Let's please not call anyone d-bags, obviously (that whole 'respect' thing). But Fusion Royale, you have to understand that as much respect as we ask our users to have, competition organizers are held to an even higher standard, as they are the official spokesperson for an organization.

 

[fusionroyale]

Now that's a good start

First off, the old organizers of Bhangra Royale would like to publicly apologize to all participating teams for the events that occurred at Bhangra Royale.

We are making a renewed attempt to bring Fusion Royale in the list of top dance competitions in New York City.

 

[faizan]

1) The identity of judges will not be revealed till the day of the show to avoid any teams to contact the judges and allow for any rigging.

Here's a suggestion...release the names of the judges asap...and keep those judges for the show...

there are seasoned judges out there, don't get local uncles and aunties, and don't use sponsors...your judges from last year were pretty bad...

as far as being constructive, i honestly think, that if you do not know what it takes to throw a competition already (as illustrated by bhangra royale, and also your obvious stagnant knowledge currently), you probably shouldn't be throwing one...that isn't an insult, it's the truth...take a hard look at yourselves, and say "do i really know what i am doing"? Do not put yourself in another bad situation.

Also, please release the names of the organizers, and the names of the people who are no longer on the organization committee...these are simple requests...we are waiting...

 

[sulmoney]

to add on to what was added by faizan, yes, release the names of the judges and their background as well. looking through your registration packet, and especially since this is a fusion/bhangra competition, are there going to be separate scoring sheets for bhangra and fusion? because right now it looks like there will not be. also, will there be separate judges for bhangra and fusion? because right now, it looks like one set of judges. these are two things that popped up immediately, along with the bad experiences at bhangra royale, that made me say, stay away (hey, that rhymes, i'm gonna become a poet)

 

[KaraN]

im totally backin ma boi faiz on this one man honestly i could have seen the people that threw Gotham city remix doing another competition but the bhangra royale aka gotham productions doing another one?...and they got the nerve to attack my team like that...no matter how great this competiton will be and no matter how much security they try to get...it doesn't take away from the fact that u guys have no clue about ANYTHING...and i personally danced randomly in the middle of the street a billion times....so we don't need ur competition to help people to recognize our culture...there are a billion Desi events throughout the year and i noe for a fact that those events do a billion times better job of spreading the culture than all of this crap u guyz are trying to pull....u guys want input on how to make ur competition better? how about thinking bout wat u say b4 u speak and having some respect for people...thas wat got u in this mess in the first place...and as faizan said we are waiting

 

[Harman]

lol i luv u my team...... ;D ;D ;D

suggestions:
team liasons - once teams are chosen, assign liasons as soon as possible and instruct them to stay with their assigned team. Help their team as much as they possibly can and be informed. Make sure the liasons also keep the teams informed about information such as rehearsal time, show time, and when they are about to be on stage. Also choose hard working people and not your friends who eventually start to slack off. Exchange numbers so if any questions arrise its not a hassle to contact you

Food- water and pizza! plain and simple

Have all staff members and liasons made easy to distinguish between everyone else. i.e. at pao bhangra all staff memebers had a yellow shirt on so it was easy to tell who can help you and who cant.

Make judges information availible and also allow teams to meet with judges before and after the show. Have copies of judges sheets availible asap as well. My team or any other team has yet to recieve copies of their judging sheets. Ive spoken with organizers for 2 weeks post the event and still my teams have not recieved it score sheets.

Make judging rubrics Easy to understand. Make sure every team is 100% clear on what they are being judged on and what they are not. This eliminates suprises for teams and your not hearing ?"o i didnt know we couldnt do that"

Make all rules and regulations easy to understand as well.

security well you already know the deal on that.

you say uve hired 15 new people but can the handle the pressure and work efficiently. Again dont choose your friends, choose people who work hard.

And to act childishly and personally attack someone does bring this organization to an all time low. Yes faizan did make claims about your organization but he has many ppl willing to support his claim. Not only team members but members from other teams and some audience members as well.

those were just my suggestion for the comp and its organizations

My suggestions for any teams thinkng about applying:
i wouldnt expect much form this organization or this comp. If you want an excuse to chill in the city then i suggest you go for it. O and i meant forget the afta party and actually hit up the city lol. THe organizers did horribly last time and i feel as if they did make changes but are only appealing to our senses at the moment. Claiming you have 15 more staff members and the nypd there does sound good but what about all the other mistakes made.

 

[fusionroyale]

Thank you all for your input


We would like to take this opportunity to provide our course of action:

Our website was launched on June 23 (which is approximately 4 months before the event). This should provide teams with ample time to get all the materials ready.

We also realize the fact that many teams are affiliated with colleges, therefore, we have made the deadlines at the end of september (so teams have enough time to meet and decide over the reg packs).

All our team liaisons have been posted on the website. The liaisons have been chosen due to their past experiences as college club presidents/vice presidents and other important positions they have held. The liaisons are from many different areas and colleges in order to reach out a bigger dance community; ranging from john jay, fordham, hunter, queens to stony brook, hicksville, brooklyn, and long island.

The judging criteria has been made available on the website. Bhangra teams will be judges by a different rubric than the fusion teams. Two separate panels of judges (3 each) will be present. Their bios will soon be posted on the website.

As you all already know, we have chosen one of the best venues in the city. It provides a better stage, and teams will be allowed up to 8 lighting cues. Backdrops will be permitted (if the team provides a certificate of flameproofing).

All teams will be provided lunch and water. Additionally, the board is currently on talks about even providing a breakfast.

All our liaisons are well aware with their responsibilities and are ready to help the teams with filing out the application forms and get them started.

No mainstream artist is being invited to this show, so that more of our energy and time is focused on our teams.

 

[- Raja -]

is there any arrangements for teams coming from like toronto or something