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Nachde Punjabi @ University of Houston

Messages
921
very late post btw :D
Houston Texas Vasakhi Mela at University of Houston... please menu maff karna for the Hans Raj Hans boli in after the intro video ... that was my first time singing in front of a giant group of people .. i was tripping out ...also my first time to be on a bhangra team ;D umm we are a modern team... and this team is alot better then it used to be in the start ..

dancers are

girls:
loveen bains
aniqa shahbaz
michelle naik
melissa paz
sherya aggarwal
amy bhagat
guys:
asad abbas
deep sihra
jesse khera
justin phillip
chintan patolia
errol dezousa

mix was made by klasikhz

hope yall enjoy and comments are always appreciated :D
bads and goods please !
University of Houston Nach de Punjabi @ Vaisakhi 2010
 

vaibhav

Active Member
Messages
704
Klasikhz always has great mixes! But about the performance.. You guys need to work on your execution of the moves, creativity, energy, and excitement. Since bhangra is involving and getiing competitive, something new is needed in the performance to make it stand out or even to please a crowd sometimes. I don't think the modern-style is helping you guys since it hinders the team from reaching the next level (however this is just an opinion) and maybe jodi colors would be good too. If i'm not mistaken this is a pretty new team, so well done! Obviously you guys will get better and have that potential to get better! :)
 

footballforlife

Don't let the name fool you.
Messages
526
Yea, I agree, but I thought you guys pulled off 11 dancers pretty well. You had some formations that you allowed you to do that, so good job on that, its really tough to pull off odd number of dancers. Basically work on your basic footwork and you guys will definitely get better. Keep at it!
 

yraparla

SwizzeeMusic.com
Messages
2,072
Hey man, it takes a lot of balls to get in front of people and sing. I think it's more nerveracking personally than dancing just because it's so isolated and your voice is so personal and raw so major props. Just keep working on pronunciation and singing and it'll get there no worries

Since my album with 2NyCe dropped I've had some extra time so I'm gonna go song through song and just point out what i see. Feel free to PM me if there are any questions:

Intro- solid, I love stuff like this with coed teams. Nice way to start the dance.

Sapps/Mishri- They saying goes, "it's not how you start, it's how you finish". But those people never did bhhangra. You cannot start with people messing up on beat 1, because automatically it'll prime the audience and judges. The leans in the beginning going left right are synced well, but someone starts a little early. Little mistakes like that are easy to fix but make a world of difference in a performance!

Like others have said, execution is really important here. The way you actually use the sapps and katos is kinda restrained. Nobody is really opening the sapps to full length, everyones elbows are close to the body etc. Watch some great teams and see how much they use speed and power with the sapps. It'll take a lot of practice but it's worth it. The girls need to make sure they hold the kato towards the bottom (some do some don't). this adds length to the prop and makes it more distinct from the body (and more noticeable in this case is good).

Actually as i'm watching again, even more than execution, you need much much more variance in steps. You do this thing where you hold the saaps open in front of you. This happens for almost half the entire segment. You use the sapps in a fast manner pretty much only during the circle part. Make sure to vary steps a bunch too and especially try not to just hold them for too long. Only a small portion of the dance has these instruments, use them in as many creative and fun ways as you can (i.e. the sapps toss and pull back catch thing. IF you're gonna be modern go balls to the wall and do cool stuff).

I liked the formations for the segment


Jhummar-
Ok so since you're a more modern team, I'm not gonna say too much about execution of the jhummar from a step standpoint except that you guys definitely need to synchronize a lot more (but that'll come with practice) and be less 1-2-3-4. Try to add a little more softness to the steps and not be so robotic with the hand bounces in the simple jhummar. Again watch some other teams, see if theres some style things you might want to implement.

sync. sync. sync. Not everyone jumps at the same time (or jumps at all!) and especialyl since jhummar is slower it looks like a complete mess at 4:52-4:58 since not everyone's arms are together and people are startin steps early. Formations again are very very nice. You really make good use of the space and the number you have. Really good job on that. Good interaction with each other and crowd (I like the guy in the middle looking at girls on either side. People do notice stuff like that and it works).

I hate the step from 5:05-5:11 int he jhummar. it's a really hype step and I think you would do better to have a more jhummar-y step to finish it out.

5:40ish with the phumania type thing I think it would have been awesome if you all spun instead of just moving your arms. I'm guessing you didn't do that because it was syncing but definitely try cause that wouldve been nice to see.


I think you get my poitns. if you have specific questions on a segment lemme know I'll comment. I really like the formation in tera pyar at 6:56-7:02. Really it comes down to synchronizing as a team and maintaining energy throughout.

This team is much better the the all guy video that was here a while ago? Also, did I make a mix for you at some point because this song selection sounds so familiar, I swear I made a mix with 'houston we have a problem' that had like 2/3 these songs haha. Great work, I was pretty impressed the choreo is not that bad (though needs more diversity) and the dancers are getting to a good level. I can see some success for this team soon
 
Messages
921
:D wow nice breakdown haha ill pass it on to everyone else on the team. and as far as mix goes i donno if you have made a mix for us ummm first year this team was made i think it was made by a person on the team? and then second year i think the same ? and then one of the girl captains whos not on the team anymore =( is a good friend with iqwak soo thats was nice of him to make us a really legit mix. um saaps i know every one on team really doesnt know how to use them except 1 person ... asad is only one who knows how to do it properly ... i now know ho to use them properly :D kantos ill make sure they know that needs to be fixed. all these details are good and i thank you for pointing this out. glad you enjoyed the perfromance. also we had 11 cause the chimta guy had a head injury soo we didnt want him to be dancing soo playing tha chimta on the side = no movement much cept arms .. soo thats why we had 11 again thanks and keep comments comingthis is nice :D
 

Basim

♥ BTF ♥
Staff member
Messages
1,459
Swi said:
This team is much better the the all guy video that was here a while ago? Also, did I make a mix for you at some point because this song selection sounds so familiar, I swear I made a mix with 'houston we have a problem' that had like 2/3 these songs haha. Great work, I was pretty impressed the choreo is not that bad (though needs more diversity) and the dancers are getting to a good level. I can see some success for this team soon

Thanks for the detailed feedback Swi. Some members of that all guys team actually were members of Nach De Punjabi (NDP) from the beginning, but decided to branch off for personal reasons (too much drama in Bhangra. lol) and tried to do something better (their own way). So your first sentence is always nice to hear ;)


Btw, I'm sure you recognize the mix because I am the one who asked if you could help us make it (before our captain got in touch with Klasikhz).


This team started 2 years ago and I was part of the team last year (couldn't participate this year due to other priorities in life). I've seen consistent improvement with the team and I generally agree with your comments. I stressed to the team about being in-sync and executing moves the same way (even if they might not the "proper" way) after I attended some of their later practices.


I have confidence NDP will continue to improve and be one of the strongest teams out of Texas. Hopefully they'll get some more exposure to regional/national competitions as they progress as well.


Thanks again for all the comments everyone. As Deepi said, keep them coming!


~ Basim :)
 

Saab

Today is a gift
Messages
991
Not bad singing bro...Not bad


Saap Segment:

Watch the angles you clap saaps, where you hold them in respect to your body when your clapping them.
Make sure everyone opens them to a good length, and opens them wide. Guy on the left at 3:38-ish is barely keeping it open.
Same with the angles with girls for the katons, especially when the guys and girls do the spins in place.
The two lines you form seem to be offcenter shaded to the left of the stage.
THe two saap claps going down into your bethke seems a little superflous(might want to the thinkin of something else).
I would try to moderate your breaking out phase in the routine , some guysare facing the stage at different angles.r
Girls Also, but not as much, have a similar issue.
Liked the formation idea, and liked you kept high energy and exectution when you formed that horizontal line.
Has to stay throughout, even when your doing the rotating circles idea.

Jhoomer:

For the jhoomer, I really like the choreo to the flow of the beat. Like the bethke going down.

However, please standardized where you want arms and legs to go when doing the moves.

4:50 guy on the left does his own thing when coming up, which while looking cool, takes away from everyone else.
Most people will tell you executing properly and doing great things WITHIN the choreo is what makes a sick dancer,
but you gotta cut out the doing there own thing.

Some guy right after jumped a step, but the choreo was simple, there was good movement, and it played to your strengths.
Work on the fluidity of the jhoomer, but what you have really goes well with the mix.


Luddi Segment:

If you going to do it for that long, I would think there would be some partner interaction. Also some dancers in the back use the
step to take a break -- I CAN SEE YOU GUYS!!

Get rid of the step at 5:20. It doesnt go with the fluidity of the before, and both guys and girls dont do it the same.
Either whip the proper execution and timing, or get rid of it. Right after when the lines switch, guys need to keep there legs up
but the girls have that down.

Liked the partner step and tintara at the back. Folk.

When you do the saamiyan around 5:47, watch peoples arms when they do the pull down step to the body.
Also at 5:51 people have to get way more in going down with the arms and hips when going back.

Dont like the footwork at 5:56. To small and choppy. Lengthen the strides and dont jump up would look better.


Jatt di Chartan

6:07 one girl towards the center leaned the wrong way on the left.

nice explosive intro into the song and formation change!!

6:12 looks like what you did at the luddin segment and onwards for a little bit. I would suggest go with choreo
more like your intro.

Like the formation changes throughout...HOWEVER when doing the jugni keep your arms up and sit a little lower.
Im seeing lackdaisal effort from guys and girls alike.


Good segment.



6:45 on

@ 6:45 Watch the dhamaka arms. Too straight up and down, and some girls pick their legs up higher. Guys you too, though
not to that extent

Legs are starting to die hard guys. Doing faslan arms at 6:57, make them a little more flowy. Looks a little raasy.
If your going to do a step with hands on hips and pick up feet, make sure the feet look HELLA good.

Guys off center at 7:12

7:24 onwards legs are Dying. Girls when your doing the partner step facing one way, pick up the legs. Guys and girls,
when doing the slide at 7:30 get more into it. Spins were good, except one guy was late.

7:44 was sloppy. Gotta have mad cleaning.

Energy low hurt, you guys are better with energy high.

Ending bhangra

8:04 ending to the phummania was a little to abrupt, but I liked that it was different!

Girls work on the spins around 8:12. Short girl there was losing some steam.

8:37 I would make the choreo a little more complex.

The entire ending of the dance looks like three rivers from z. The beginning to mukadama hype on acid. No lie.

Might want to distance yourself from that, also move away from the circles at the end. I wouldnt go down on the knees
again either. It fit more in the last song.

High energy with kicks and jumps which is a plus. nice.

Mela was folk haha.


Great job. Clean it up, keep the energy up like I see you can, and youll get places. You have a slow integration of folk which is good.
I see a lot of teams influences that I would shrug off, as your more than capable of putting together your own
sick choreo and formations.

~ram
 

xchub5x

New Member
Messages
1
I love the critiques everyone!!! This will definitely help our team grow :D
Thankksssss
 
Messages
921
i find that when other critique other teams its beyond any help in the world... cause like other teams might be doing same thing ya know? sooo keep the help coming cause your not helping just us but you are helping everyone else :D
 

abbas1440

New Member
Messages
8
Thank you everyone for the constructive comments, especially to Saab and Swi. We are open to all criticisms and are only striving to be better.

The majority of the dancers on the team do not have bhangra background, and being out here in Texas, even though it can be desi central, surprisingly not that many people turn out for auditions either. Regardless, we have a dedicated group of people who do this for fun and being a (fairly) new team, we have a good group dynamic going. We're just struggling to find our own style (a good mix of traditional without being formulaic and modern and exciting and still being appealing to those who have never seen a bhangra routine before) I guess every new team kinda struggles with that at most times.

If anyone else has any specific comments about our video/ song choice/ dance style, please feel free to comment.
 
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