Illini Bhangra @ Nachde Nashville 2017 [1st Place]

[Amundeep]

Hey everyone! Here is our performance from Nachde Nashville this year:


Hope you all enjoy, and we'd love to hear any feedback/critiques that will help us grow for the future. Thanks to everyone that helped make that weekend run smoothly for us!

Dancers:
Red - Mitul Patel & Kanika Manchanda
Ferozi - Jinesh Shah & Arvind Sandhu
Orange - Amundeep Singh & Alif Laila Tisha
Purple - Akash Khurana & Palack Mahajan
Blue - Jaskirat Vig & Jenitha Jomi
Yellow - Jai Kattaura & Nikita Thomas
Pink - Darsh Kurani & Simi Srivastava
Green - Amrit Singh & Manasi Baheti

 

[Mr. Mankiran]

If you guys improve your form - especially footwork (work on consistency as a unit and maintaining proper posture and angles) - you can be competitive at a high level next year.

This was a dope set. Energy was great. Few things: if you're going to do something that similar to the SPD khunda drop, it needs to be just as clean, even if yours was more intricate. Also, saap segment wasn't especially memorable and once again the shaky form on the Mohr chaal destroyed all the built up momentum - same could go for various segments (if you want me to go more in depth PM me)

Overall, a lot of the segments would hit harder if form was better but I didn't find myself bored at any point watching this set. Good luck moving forwards.

 

[Nimit]

Forreal you guys should've come to blowout. This was a really entertaining set and I watched you guys on the ADZ stream I thought you guys were nasty. Couple quick things for next year for you guys:

1) Don't settle for decent ideas. I think you showcased segments where you had great dancing, formations, choreo, and a huge drop (aka khunde) and then you had other segments that were alright in a lot of those categories. As an audience member I shouldn't know what your best segment is and if you guys can push yourselves to start coming up with bigger ideas for EVERY drop in your set, you guys would be one of the scariest collegiate teams going into next year.

2) We are all inspired by certain segments, but you guys need to be careful about how you use ideas/songs you see in other vids. The hard jhummar was very, very DRP-esque and although I doubt the intention was to rip it from them, an audience member or judge could easily come to that conclusion. Make sure your choreo and song selection is unique enough that those types of comparisons aren't made (also Cornell did the slapping thing but I thought your guys' was funnier lol).

3) A big mistake that we used to make (and honestly continue to make) is that the drop of each segment needs to be as creative as the buildup. We've all seen 8000 teams do moor chaal with saaps at the drop. We've all seen 1000 general segments or phumaniya segments end in 4 betkhe. How are you going to make the drop something people always remember? Really try and push yourselves to break the mold!

4) Last thing, apply to big comps! It made me sad that you guys didn't and I heard it is because you thought you might not get in. Only way you will ever find out is by applying and competing against great teams will make you guys all the better. Excellent job in this video you guys have improved a lot. Feel free to reach out if you have any question

 

[IrfanHashimie18]

Congrats on the W! The only thing I would say is that all your chadrey were tied too high. Specifically the red and blue guys. Make sure that the levels are the same on both ankles and the same level in the back as well. The front pleat should be grazing the ground when you hit jugni. Other than that, great energy throughout the set. Keep up the good work!

 

[Howie Magz]

This is a huge improvement from the previous years and the best I have seen Illini Bhangra. However, there still is a lot that can be said about the set and the form of the dancers

1. The form of the dancers needs to be improved upon (back straight, lifting legs, and dancing low to the ground). The consistency of the form across all your dancers is missing and needs to be set. One individual should be setting form on the team whether its your best dancer or captain. Everyone should mirror him/her. This way all of your dancers look more so as a unit.

2. I was not the hugest fan of this set. Although this was a little better than some of the co ed sets that have come out these days. The excitement was missing for me. The set felt very safe and reminded me of the MBT set we had for Nashville in 2015 when we won. However, the judges told us back then the set was too safe and that if we wanted to become more of a threat, we needed to take more risks. The choreo needs to be amped up and executed on a higher level next year.

3. Make your own identity as a team can be very difficult. Find something that makes you guys you. You know you are able to create that if someone mentions your team name and you can think of "ohhh they are the team with lots of energy." Or "they are the super folk team." Find what you are good at and run with it. You will be placing in no time.

4. I believe you guys should start applying to bigger comps next year. Make a brand new set and make sure its bad ass and try to apply to comps. You will be surprised who lets you in and who doesn't. Hope the dancer retention is there bc with collegiate teams, that is the most difficult. If there isnt good dancer retention from this year, maybe wait til the spring to compete again. You want to be at your best

Good job once again Illini! Really hope to see y'all rip it soon. Can't wait to see what you bring. Two first places and one second place is pretty impressive after coming back out of no where. Congrats on a successful 2017 dancing semester.