Khirre Phul Gulab De @ Boston Bhangra 2015 [1st Place] and Bruin Bhangra 2016

[sumeetj]

We were lucky enough to bring the Phoolz back together this season and bring out some sets that focused on one thing: entertainment. Our goal was to make the audience smile and dance with us, and I think you'll see that in our set creation.


There are tons of credits due for KPGD's performances coming together at Boston and Bruin, and without their help our team wouldn't have had the enjoyable experiences on and off stage that we did.


We'd love to hear any feedback you have on our sets and dancers!

Boston Bhangra 2015 [1st Place]
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JyqaVSDOJiQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Bruin Bhangra 2016
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qZhZquLEpCA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>




Below, I have copy-pasted the description we sent to GabrooTV for our Bruin Video - it is the most important part of all this.


Khirre Phul Gulab De came to perform at Bruin Bhangra 2016 for many reasons, but they had even more reasons not to attend this competition. In the past few months, the members of this team have dealt with many, many setbacks, but none so prominent as the loss of their teammate, dholi, DJ, and brother, Anooj Kumar Trivedi. Anooj was a member of KPGD when it first began in 2010, and had danced with many of the team members on Gajjde Gabroo and Gajjdi Jawani before that. His talents extended far from simply being an amazing dancer, dholi, and music production artist, as he was a genuinely kind-hearted soul who was always the source of entertainment and positive energy to all those around him. Khirre Phul Gulab De dedicates this performance in his memory, to a flower who didn't get the chance to fully bloom, to the person who reminds them how short and precious life is, and that we can and will push through anything and everything, for it is a privilege to be here. The tribute to Anooj Trivedi done at the end of this routine was not officially part of the routine, and KPGD asked not to be judged on it. His presence was felt with us that night and forever will each time we step onto stage.

 

[angeblah]

:')

 

[iJatt]

Why did bruin ban your kurte pajame?

 

[rbansal4494]

i love you sumeet

 

[Mr. Mankiran]

One of my favorite sets of the year, minus a few segs/moments, but should've placed IMO.

Didn't like the imaginary GF jhoomar/gimmick. Partially because the lights kind of ruined it (kinda just got dark) and also the song is awful lol. Also didn't like the kato segment, kaboothar gimmick would've hit harder IMO if everyone did it. Hrithik thing did nothing for me and one of the guys in the middle kinda froze.

Saap and khunde segments were dope and a lot of the dancing in general was hype. I appreciated the consistency with form amongst dancers while not compromising moves to make them easier.

 

[Ravi M]

Shorter purple and orange dude at bruin killed it

 

[Sue Sylvester]

A few questions I think you guys should ask yourself during set construction that I feel would go a long way in producing more impactful performances:

- Is this set too fast for us? Should we slow it down so we can actually dance fully and execute the choreography? We shouldn’t want it to seem like we’re just running around trying to hit formations and going from one gimmick to another and to be honest, great dancing is very entertaining and we should make sure our set enables us to dance well too.

- Should we try to standardize some of this choreography? Seems like people are going down on squats at different times throughout the set. Also, at high energy parts, it seems people are taking their own liberties and doing their own steps - wouldn’t it hit harder if everyone is doing the same move?

- Will <this idea/gimmick> actually hit? Will the audience seated anywhere from the front row to the back of the balcony in this 2000 person capacity theater be able to see exactly what we just took a few beats to set up and do? Can we execute it in a way where the concept is sold better and and more obviously? If there’s too many things happening at the same time and the idea isn’t showcased well, then that part won’t be as impactful. We don’t want to people to have to watch the Youtube video multiple times to catch what exactly we did.

- Is doing Bollywood more than once in the routine too much? It’s Bruin, so almost every team at this competition for the last 5 years has incorporated a Bollywood song into their set so we’re really not doing anything too game changing here to begin with. Maybe the first time we incorporate a Bollywood song or a Bollywood step, sure, there’s that nostalgic element, but if we keep doing it, it gets old fast and we’re not a Bollywood team.

- Does <this part> seem super reminiscent of something <other team> already did? Are we actually innovating at this point and showcasing something original or are we just imitating something someone already did with a small twist of our own? For example, didn’t SGPD at Elite 8 2011 also get into a formation clump during saap, have one guy do <iconic dance move> by himself before everyone else jumped in? Didn’t NJ at Elite 8 2011 start the set with half the team also and then have the second half come join the second from behind banners?..etc Maybe we should think of something different or do it in a way that doesn’t remind the audience of another team.

- Will ending the set in “Kurta Pajamas” really have the impact we want? The sentiment of the song is that we’re going more folk and wearing more traditional garb, but from the perspective/perception of the audience, wearing something that looks like black dress pants looks less folk than wearing a chaadar. (Remember, end perception > intention) Maybe if they were colored according to our vardii (especially since our vardii are super colored and have no black in the first place), they would have the right look (also make it seem less like a gimmick and more like actual color-coordinated vardii as well) we want rather than seeming like we’re half-way getting ready for the after party.

- If we’re going through the effort of putting 8 girls in vardi for a gimmick, maybe we should bring them out at the end? It’s not like we’re losing the magic of the girls appearing behind and vanishing behind the curtains because everyone knows at that point that we had girls. If we’re ending with a gimmick talking about how certain girls love our kurta pajamas, wouldn’t it be perfect to actually bring out these certain girls (who are already in the appropriate vardii) at that point to hammer that point in and have a stronger co-ed ending that many of the other all-guy teams in this line-up that we would be naturally compared to may not have?

On a concluding note, I did think that the tribute was touching and for the most part, executed well. It was tactful to keep it separate from the actual set (and thus kept outside the scope of judging. Yes, the irony of commenting on it now because of that preceding statement has dawned on me.) At the end of the day, the stage is also a platform for the team to express themselves and their identities and if part of their identity has been lost, then this could be a good way to share that with the audience and the community as long as the intention wasn’t to gain sympathy points (which it did not seem). The performance and respective video of that ending will serve to further keep memories alive of someone on and dear to this team.

 

[scaplash]

I was about halfway through my review when I saw Sue's post, and it pretty much encapsulates my thoughts.
I really enjoyed the way your dancers took the stage-they had fun clearly and all seem to be fairly strong dancers. However, as Sue alluded to, formations didn't always hit, dancers weren't completely standardized and at times the set was simply too fast for the formation/choreo you were trying to pull off.
-Sonny

 

[HdBrar]

Good stuff. Really enjoyed both sets you guys did for Boston and Bruin. Loved the Bruin intro. That sh*t was hot.

 

[sumeetj]

Thanks to everyone for taking the time to comment on the videos. In retrospect, in an attempt to saturate the Bruin set with as many wow-moments as possible, I can see how certain things good have been presented better. Other issues such as cleanliness and standardization could have/should have been taken care of with more practice time or adjusting things based on our time constraints. The lineup was extremely strong this year, and our number one goal was to not drown in the army of all-guys teams who potentially would bring very similar styled sets/wow factors/etc. Unfortunately, this compromised a couple of other aspects of our performance, which ultimately is probably what lead to us not placing.

Any comments of any shape or form are welcome still please! The majority of dancers on KPGD are still very active and involved in multiple teams, and any feedback we receive from this could impact alot of people (in a good way).