GroundShaker Review...

[Havish]

Overall the competition went really well and from our team, we had a great time.

Mixer was good, nice place and good food. Announced the judges to everyone and gave their backgrounds and had them talk to the teams about what they are looking for in the performances. Only thing I wasn't a fan of was the fact they were talking in Punjabi the whole time, even when NJ was going over the details for the next day and just general info, it was all in Punjabi, which I wasn't a fan of because not everyone that performs bhangra is Punjabi. That is just my personal opinion. Picking the teams we played musical chairs... creative, but eh, I rather just pick number's out of a hat.

Rehearsal's ran late as usual, but the show started pretty much on time which was good. The venue was great, nice stage, enough dress rooms and space. Nice of NJ to provide food through out the day. The competition ran very smoothly once started. The show went on for a long time because there were 8 teams with 8-10 mins sets, plus like the 3 NJ teams doing exhibitions, along with performers. On top of that the judges giving their critiques right after teams which went for like 10 mins per team.

I really like the idea of the judges giving feedback to all the teams, I just didn't like how it was done right after the performance in front of everyone. To me it should be one of those things done just to each team individually. Also some of the judges called out individual on stage and I thought that was uncalled for, in talking to a team in front of the whole audience, they should address the whole team not pointing out people. And again I wasn't a fan of the judges talking in Punjabi to the performers because personally I didn't understand what they were saying, and had to ask a team member after to translate it for me. I would have love to hear it for myself.

The actual judges/results were straight. I'm just not much of a fan of going to a competition were 6 of the 8 teams place, its almost like the judges didn't want to make decisions therefore they just tied and place as many as they could. But that's their decision as judges.

The best part of the weekend besides performing was just hanging out with everyone, either at Boston Pizza, Hotel, Parking Lot, Venue was just a great time.

Congrats to NJ for throwing a successfully competition and once again to all the teams.

 

[karan923]

Man, I wish I went. They called individual people out of the teams and talked to them in front of the audience? That's not cool, the critiquing buy the judges should def be private. That was unnecessary. Yea, I agree with you on the speaking in Punjabi the whole time. Not all performers can understand Punjabi, including the audience as well. English would've been much better.

Thanks for the review Havish, I hope to see some vids of Groundshaker up soon.

 

[HarmanSingh]

I feel you on the too many teams placing thing Havish. It is a competition and their will be winners and losers, so I think the judges need to decide on that. It is almost a cop out to place everyone, because then it is just an exhibition. Also, the couple teams that didnt place have to feel bad about it too.

But what really makes me angry is when the live category begins at 5 or 6 and ends up with 3 teams. It is sooo weak to compete against 2 other teams. I wish competitions would just merge modern and live into one category in those circumstances instead of having 3 teams fight it out for 1 spot.

 

[mafzal]

I only caught like 50% of what the judges were saying... If they wanna do it in Punjabi, okay (maybe the judges were much more comfortable in Punjabi), but the host or someone should at least summarize and re-cap everything into English in the end.

I also didn't like calling out individual dancers - saying either good things or bad things. And I was okay with critiquing the team performance in front of the audience, but maybe they should just say 2 good things about it and 1 thing to work on, then later at a round table or appointment the judges could go into detail with teams privately.

 

[Rohit]

I get what you guys are saying about the problem with critiquing ppl right on stage and calling individuals out but honestly that can also be taken in as a motivation, if I was called out I'd work my arse off to make sure that doesn't happen again. Also a lot of the times judges do critique teams after the performances in private but in these circumstances judges will sometimes forget some key points and some of the stuff they say may not be taken into full face value by the team therefore discrediting the judges on their opinions. I don't wanna say teams are wrong or judges are wrong in this situation it's just another thing that we as the bhangra community need to find a proper solution too and I'd commend Vaca and NJ for trying a diff approach here. Onli wished I could have seen it for myself.

 

[reggie]

the critiqing on stage right after the performance was whack
especially that judge in the blue pugg, he straight baisteed some ppl infront of the whole audience
but...Sick comp.!

 

[dheerja]

Critiquing individual dancers on stage is unacceptable and it creates unnecessary drama within a team. It's the captain's job to apply criticism to individual dancers in order to improve the team as a whole.

Any performance reviews Havish? I haven't seen any constructive reviews of the show yet.

 

[Shahrukh]

ok so i just saw some videos from groundshaker andddd

SGPD -really creative, but execution could have been better, sick jumps, really enjoyed the jugni formation, there are other things i could say about their set BUT if they didnt want the vid out im sure they wouldnt want someone to tell what they did on btf eitherrrr so you guys will have to wait til idols OR come down to vcu and watch it with me (front dude in yellow CRUSHED it)
(vic didnt dance?)

Shaan e- a very clean set, the cleanest of the three videos i saw, the crowd was defntly like a new york crowd during a virsa performance

PPA- goodjob guys sooooo proud of that set
cool formations, clean, and high energy, nice new vardiyaan too!

 

[mafzal]

For the record: Meeting people from BTF in real life is not awkward! It's awesome 8) And if you talk to someone you thought was from BTF but they're not, you just recruit them to go join lol

 

[Vic]

No Shahrukh i didnt dance.

And mariam is right. no awkwardness at all.

 

[ranjit singh]

from a audience member's point of view, i thought the critiquing done by the judges was mad cool, maybe next time there should be some set guidelines like not calling individual people out, etc. but overall it was really fun and interesting to see what the judges had to say, it's fine when "america's best dance crew" or "so you think you can dance does it"---which are all dance competitions---i don't see why a bhangra dance competition can't implement the same concept?

 

[Havish]

Yes that is tru but those tv shows are weekly and therefore the people on those shows get to perform each week. If they have a bad performance and don't get cut, they have the chance to come back and put on a better performance. With bhangra, once the competition is over, its done, no next week to come back, sometimes you might not even perform until the next semester or something depending on the situation.

Teams in general know who their stronger and weaker dancers are and should be working on the weaker dancers are practice as is, I don't feel like calling them out in front of a audience is nessecary, maybe behind the scenes, if the teams get to talk to the judges one-on-one then thats fine with me, if the judges were like "this dancer needs work" but in front of the audience just doesn't seem right to me.

 

[Waleed]

Im curious to know what type of comments did the judges make? Give us some examples.

I agree that individual feedback should be given backstage and not infront of the audience, that is pretty intense! However, just the initiative to have judges give feedback is a positive step. I hope more competitions adopt this mentality.

 

[dheerja]

from a audience member's point of view, i thought the critiquing done by the judges was mad cool, maybe next time there should be some set guidelines like not calling individual people out, etc. but overall it was really fun and interesting to see what the judges had to say, it's fine when "america's best dance crew" or "so you think you can dance does it"---which are all dance competitions---i don't see why a bhangra dance competition can't implement the same concept?

The main difference is that the results of those shows are based on viewer votes. Since the audience is ultimately deciding who is eliminated from the competition, the judges need to voice their opinions in order to help viewers make educated decisions. Bhangra competition results come directly from the judges, so their critiques aren't necessary to the viewing experience.

I wasn't at Groundshaker but I can imagine how this must detract from the flow of the show. Hearing criticism between each act can't be good for the overall vibe onstage and in the audience.

 

[Kaur]

The judges gave mnay different types of comments umm

- told teams that legs shouldnt show, tie chadre properly
- one jori was told that they wre bringing down their whole team
- a guy was put down cause he winked at the judges or something
- teams music selection was put down
- another team was told that they had a great dholi and singer, but the dancers were not able to take advantage of that
- another one was told that their routine was too short

 

[zagreus]

those comments are pretty harsh.
especially the one where the jori is bringing down the team...and the one about the guy winking. i hope no one cried on stage

 

[dheerja]

- a guy was put down cause he winked at the judges or something

Haha oh boy, I would have gotten killed.

 

[manny]

will touch on a few remarks prviosuly made
-judges were harsh. it is embarrassing and insulting when a person is being singled out from the whole team in front of the audience. that kind of "criticing" should be done in person. Maybe a general overview would be most approprate and a private session with the team or if time does not permit, providing the marking sheet with details.
-teams should be kept upto date about competition line-ups. many teams dropped this copmpetition, and even after many requests to the committe for them to update the line up they refused afraid others would drop. it was mostly local teams that dropped. wonder why?
- judges have admitted themselves that the president approached them saying that the president said that "mann izat rakho" for teams, place them all and by tieing them.even when judges said no that it is not fair, young people have put alot of time and effort they are not here to waste time or entertain, he persisited that they declare a tie just like the last competiiton. they were afriad they will loose the outside support. How fair is that. what about the time and effort that teams put into preparing and it all goes to waste becsaue the committee feels that they should be favoured. this tie business is not fair.
- they have lost most of the support from local teams and the community the crowd was mostly shane-punjab supporters. max audience of 500.
-overall organized but disappointed groundshaker is not what it use to be.
-apperantly there is a special facbook group for NJ and PVACA real deal. it gives some ineteresting information and facts. it explains alot.

Hard to believe...

 

[Pooja]

yea...The eye wink thing, The blue pagg uncle said it was "vulgar" and that you should never do those kinds of things in bhangra...okaaaay...

I strongly disliked the individual comments...it was immature in my opinion and ridiculous. This is not American Idol. This is competitive bhangra...and maybe a little TOO competitive in Canada...what happened to having fun?

And I mentioned in another post, the tying issue was a cop out. No, sorry, not everyone can win and live their lives happily ever after....they should have picked clear winners. The end.

Also, is it just me who thought it was insanely long? Maybe that's how these competitions are...but the judging comments added to the lengthiness....if it weren't for my solid BTF Live responsibilities I would have left long before they started the saga of performers....hahaha.

otherwise, the routines were AWESOME!

 

[JSahota]

will touch on a few remarks prviosuly made
-judges were harsh. it is embarrassing and insulting when a person is being singled out from the whole team in front of the audience. that kind of "criticing" should be done in person. Maybe a general overview would be most approprate and a private session with the team or if time does not permit, providing the marking sheet with details.
-teams should be kept upto date about competition line-ups. many teams dropped this copmpetition, and even after many requests to the committe for them to update the line up they refused afraid others would drop. it was mostly local teams that dropped. wonder why?
- judges have admitted themselves that the president approached them saying that the president said that "mann izat rakho" for teams, place them all and by tieing them.even when judges said no that it is not fair, young people have put alot of time and effort they are not here to waste time or entertain, he persisited that they declare a tie just like the last competiiton. they were afriad they will loose the outside support. How fair is that. what about the time and effort that teams put into preparing and it all goes to waste becsaue the committee feels that they should be favoured. this tie business is not fair.
- they have lost most of the support from local teams and the community the crowd was mostly shane-punjab supporters. max audience of 500.
-overall organized but disappointed groundshaker is not what it use to be.
-apperantly there is a special facbook group for NJ and PVACA real deal. it gives some ineteresting information and facts. it explains alot.

Hard to believe...

Firstly, we had no idea of what the judges were going to say, all we told them was give their feedback on the performance. Secondly, 2 local teams had dropped out, Rhythm Boyz and GTA, Rhythm Boyz dropped out because they did not have 8 dancers for their set which is true, GTA dropped out for another reason aswell. When judges were making their decisions they were in a locked room, where not even our members were allowed in, we had all found out the results when the judges announced them. You also state that judges had admitted they were approached and told to fix the results, one of the judges has been staying with one of our team members since he arrived from India, so who would he possibly admit to that the results were fixed, another judge went to dinner with our organization right after the competition and the next day we dropped him off at the airport for his flight back to India, Sarbjit Cheema also left the next morning, so I would like to know who the judges admitted this to? There were several Shan-e-Punjab supporters there because they bought several tickets, just like SGPD bought several tickets. Manny if you want, you are welcomed at our academy anytime and we can discuss any other misconceptions you may have about our team and our organization.