NACHDA PUNJAB 2013 FEEDBACK

[Nachda Punjab Committee]

Hello all!


Firstly we want to congratulate all the teams that took time out of their weekend to entertain the Bay Area crowd with spectacular performances. Every team brought the heat and deserves to be called a winner.


We also congratulate the four placing teams for their hard work and dedication to our artform.


1st Place Music: Cal Bhangra
2nd Place Music: Nachde Shokeen Gabroo

1st Place Live: Gabroo Punjabis
2nd Place Live: Virse De Heeray


Huge thanks to E3UK, E3NA, Hari-B, Gurpreet, and whole E3 crew for bringing Saini Surinder and Gupsy Aujla out to the Bay Area for the first time. The feedback we received for them was phenomenal.


Thank you to all the Liaisons for handling all the teams with the utmost care.


Special Shoutout to Harjot Hundal of GTV for yet again coming through to film the show. We can't wait for everyone to see the videos!


Special Shoutout to INDTV for being a media sponsor. The show will be broadcast on their network this week so look out for that! [url=http://www.indtvusa.com/]http://www.indtvusa.com/[/url]


Special Shoutout to Emma and Sean to make sure the lighting and sound was dialed in to perfection as well as the Stage managers who worked tirelessly to keep the show running smooth.


A Huge thank you to all of our lovely sponsors who made the show happen to the degree that it did!


Each year since its revival, the show has been bigger and better. Carrying this model through, we can't wait for teams to come back next season and take part in Nachda Punjab.


For 2013, we would love it if teams could drop some feedback and reviews about the show so that any issues can be discussed and sorted out for next year.


--
Nachda Punjab Committee

 

[Gopi D]

I don't want to sound harsh and just want to make this more of positive criticism rather than disrespecting your competition in any way so I apologize beforehand if it comes off like that.

Committee- Some of the committee who was more experienced with the scene were being really helpful and trying to figure things out but I felt many of you guys were standing around. I know a lot of teams were complaining about how they didn't even see there liasons all weekend and had to run around and get stuff for themselves. With other committees, the liason usually stays in touch with the team the entire weekend and helps them with anything needed or questions answered, but this was not the case.

Mixer- I wasn't competing at this competition but I was attending it and honestly the whole "win game to pick order in lineup" concept was a fail for me personally. Many teams have a lot more to worry about then having to also add winning games on top of that. Usually a game is used as an ice-breaker for teams to mingle and then show order is picked at complete random from a hat or in other forms. Doing this might be typical and boring but teams who want to practice after are able to do so when the mixer doesn't last all night. I know several teams who just wanted to find out there show order so they can leave and practice and it sucks when you have an earlier time slot for tech time and then are stuck at a mixer for so long and have to stay up longer at night to also squeeze in there practice. On the other hand, Raja Sweets was a great place to throw the mixer.

Tech time- From what I saw, everything seemed to run smoothly (yeah it was late a little but every comp has late tech time). What I didn't like was that the TV screen was on backstage where other teams could watch your tech time. I know when Bar-B went on, they asked for the screen to be shut off and thank you for cooperating with that. Breakfast was served to the teams and so was lunch. I liked that you guys gave extra 5minutes for teams to set up there props and get comfortable with the stage before each teams tech time.

Show/ Judges- Ran smoothly from what I saw and on time. I didn't understand why music judges were placed in the front row? Music teams who work hard on there formations and cleaning them up seemed to have wasted there time doing that when they could have just practiced more on there facials and energy levels. As for who judges are, correct me if I'm wrong, but teams weren't notified about who the judges were and this can usually cause problems even though I think it didn't in your guys' case. It's always better to notify the teams of your judging panel due to team affiliations or sometimes teams don't feel comfortable with the people who will be judging them when they may have some past history with them. ALSO, Saini Surinder was sick ! Great way to end the show

Afterparty- Great location and I got there during the last hour or two but it seemed really fun and everyone had a good time.

Hotel- Okay here's where the problem comes in. I thought the hotel was a great choice and the lobby was great for teams to hang out in BUT, every single team affiliated with Nachda was locked out of there rooms after returning to the hotel after the after party! From what I saw and after talking to the hotel employee during this time, it was due to ONE team misbehaving. So because of ONE team, everyone who wanted to just sleep or wanted to get there stuff from the rooms and leave was forced to be stuck in the lobby without any way of getting into there rooms. At this point, there was no committee to be found which was ridiculous. I only saw one girl there who was somewhat trying to help and sort things out but every one else was standing around and chatting it up or just not able to be found. Cops were brought to the hotel and weren't able to do anything and FINALLY after hours of waiting, I went up to the front desk and calmly explained and heard out the hotel employee and got him to open everyones doors. The girl on the committee and myself both went around the entire hotel kicking out people they didn't want there and getting everyone else into there rooms. I thank ALL the teams for cooperating when it came to that and listening to when they had to leave. AGAIN, still no committee to be found. I understand how difficult it is to handle teams but from what I saw this time around, all teams there were cooperating and willing to do anything to get back into there rooms.

Overall, the show itself ran smoothly, but the committee was not on there A game. It seemed like the teams were doing everything for themselves and I don't believe that this comp was organized in a successful way. I know this competition has just started back up, but its been the same thing for the past 3 years now so I do help you guys take all these things into consideration and hopefully change things up next year. This comp has a lot going for it so as a committee, step it up and get it more organized..Sorry for the long review and again I apologize if anything I said came off the wrong way.

 

[Ajay.H]

I had a pretty solid weekend, overall. Most things were taken care of and our liaison was very nice. She picked us up early, hung out with us, took us to the mall, she was great. Unfortunately, though, the committee seemed a little confused at times and I didn't feel like they were always aware of what was going on, which is what possibly lead to my main hiccup for the weekend.

Ministry of Bhangra was 9th in the show order - Intermission was after #7 (virse de heeray) and then v-dub juniors (#8 - exhibition). We got ready pretty early so we could enjoy the show and decided to meet up again right before intermission, giving us at least 30-40 minutes to warm-up and zone in. We were not told until the end of the 6th act (NSG) that there would not be an intermission and that the exhibition act was moved until later (due to the show running late), giving us one act to get our entire team together and ready to be on stage.

That time before you go on stage is pretty important for a number of reasons, including warming up (especially if you have injuries on the team), talking to your team, mentally getting ready to perform, and generally just getting your stuff together. Luckily, our team wasn't very far (except me/my jodi - we sprinted from the audience to backstage), but by the time you get everyone together and get ready, just a few minutes of pre-stage prep basically sucks. Things happen, and we understand, but please do not make last minute decisions like that and if you are considering it, let us know ahead of time. Nobody wants to go on stage feeling unprepared.

Also, I wouldn't have an exhibition act be a team that consists of any of your liaisons. I definitely think you could recruit any of the HFD/Fusion teams out there to perform, and you'd just have one less stress on your staff.

Besides that, though, everything was mostly good. Mixer was fun - good location. The choreo-your-own-dance game is used a lot but I still enjoy it, especially when you have every single person playing the game. Please read over the "Show Order" thread for peoples thoughts on what should go into show order. Our tech time went smoothly and the subway lunch was good.

After party venue was good but the bartending staff seemed to really, really hate us being there and getting drinks was difficult.

Sick teams, great people, and a fun weekend.

 

[Rajbir]

I really have to echo what Gopi said about the placement of judges.


I didn't understand at all why the music judges were placed right in front of the stage. I think next time, that music judges should be placed at a spot where they can fully understand team formations. I know why live judges sit close to the stage, but just as you created two categories, you should also have two judging panels/seating. Music and live are two completely different formats, and i personally believe that sitting music judges that close takes away from half the performance. Teams spend months trying to perfect formations and how they will be perceived by the audience, and i think the judges need to be able to see those intricacies as well. Just my two cents though.

 

[mrchicity]

It's one thing for the competition to know about where to put judges, but if they're judges shouldn't they know that they shouldn't be seated in the front? I'm sure they were more than qualified, but couldn't they have asked to be seated in a balcony instead?

 

[Yankee Saini]

Why would you have someone from Empire judge a bhangra comp? just curious :




@Nachda Punjab Committee - it's NACHDE SHOKEEN GABROO