Just got back and need to post before I forget everything!
This was my fourth year in a row going to Blowout, the past 3 years I competed with Columbia and this was my first year as an audience member (resigned to alum status). I'm not sure why I'm writing a review on the organization itself, since the past few years have proved that the Blowout committee refuses to listen to or change anything according to constructive advice, but here goes...
One of the biggest issues with Blowout has always been the order of the show. It's significantly harder for teams in the first half to place, since all competing teams are coed collegiate, making it much harder to stick out. The team mixer the night before is always tense around order picking time, yet somehow the Blowout committee manages to make the entire process 10 times more complicated than it needs to be. According to people on teams, the committee wrote the numbers on popsicle sticks and stuck them in cupcakes. Each team picked a popsicle stick, and that order is the order in which the teams CHOSE their spots. Apparently some of the numbers got smudged because, you know, they were in CUPCAKES, causing a ton of confusion. They ended up re-picking the entire thing, obviously pissing teams off, and rightly so. Somehow there's always some sort of confusion about this process and I just don't understand why it's necessary to make things so complicated. Seriously just write numbers 1-8 on a piece of paper and stick them in a hat. The other smaller issue I have is giving teams the option to pick their spot in the show. It's a minor detail, but it does allow teams to strategically place themselves around teams that have already selected. It's a big deal when you have to go right after the favorite or the team with the most crowd support. It just seems like the fairest (and easiest) way is to just randomly pick the order.
So the show itself...I enjoyed about one hour of the show (the 8 team performances), while the rest of it was pretty painful. I don't understand why having Juggy D there was necessary at all. He inserted about 45 minutes of crap, which split the first and second half performances that much farther apart. Every year Blowout sticks some not as important artist in the middle of the show, which again perpetuates the problems I talked about above with the order of the show. The team performances just seem like a side thought. The emcee was much better than previous years, mostly because she kept her act short. I'll let the fact that she couldn't pronounce "Baljit" slide, since she's from the UK and all. I also thought the mobile voting worked out well, it was easy to vote and it seemed like there were enough votes for it to actually be important to people.
Team reviews:
1) Northwestern - This team is the perfect example of getting shafted by the order. The auditorium was half empty when they went on stage, but it didn't seem to get to them at all. I was pleasantly surprised by this team. They were one of the most creative teams of the night and I loved their routine. It was a great example of keeping things traditional yet exciting...without copying a VCU or India routine. There are too many coed teams out there that take the easy way out with a traditional routine, and don't even attempt to be creative. The guys were great dancers, especially the main guy in purple/yellow. Some of the girls were lacking in technique but the two main girls were awesome. They maintained ridiculous energy throughout the routine, despite the lack of audience. I LOVED the formation where they rotated and dropped off/picked up pairs, that was excellent. I didn't like the Queen section, I didn't think it was executed well. I'm all for throwing in a unique segment to English music (see: SMD and Metallica), but it really has to be exciting. It was a little too long and the first 16 beats or so were just boring. Plus, I'm pretty sure "We Will Rock You" has been done in the past. Anyway, other than that I loved this team and I'm sorry that going first affected you so much.
2) Drexel - I had pretty high expectations for Drexel, mainly because of the post-AVAP hype surrounding them. I liked the ideas that they had, but I didn't think it was executed well enough to bring those ideas out. There were parts of the routine that I could tell would look awesome, but it just didn't hit it for me. I can tell that they're all great dancers, but they didn't seem to be dancing as a team. They weren't as coordinated as a lot of the other teams, and there was a lot of energy disparity between the dancers. With the graceful choreo they have, that kind of coordination is absolutely necessary in execution. I actually liked their Blowout performance last year a lot better. This one just didn't stand out to me among the other routines, and that was the vibe I got from other audience members as well. I do want to see their AVAP video, since I heard that performance was great and placing-worthy.
3) NYU - This was my favorite NYU performance in years. They finally adapted their style to something less choppy/poppy and more graceful. Both the choreo and dancing style reflected this, but they still had the same crazy NYU energy. I really really like this change, and I definitely think they're headed in the right direction. I think the next step is to develop more intricate choreo. The majority of the choreo was the basic steps you see in any routine, and now that you've developed a more graceful style, you can get more creative on the actual steps. Always love the girls segments, but I think the giddha bolis need to be a little crazier with the acting and energy. Nice work overall, and I'm SMD-biased of course but Divya was awesome on stage, smallest girl at the competition but stood out no matter where she was.
4) VCU - Not sure I need to say anything. I knew what to expect after watching videos this year, but I was still mesmerized. I love watching this team. It's definitely changed since last year's set, but as opposed to some of the comments on the video, I think in a good way. Every single dancer on VCU is incredible to watch individually, and I think the slower and simpler style really showcases that. Obviously the VCU guys are a force (ha Star Wars shoutout), they each have their own style yet still dance perfectly as a team. I also want to mention how great the VCU girls are. They've come a long long way from formations that hid girls, and they execute everything perfectly. They don't just "keep up" with the guys, they are on par with them on all levels.
5) DRP - I've seen DRP perform live twice in the past and they became my favorite bhangra team the instant they stepped on stage that first time. I've always loved DRP's creativity, flawless execution, and insane energy. There have been a lot of haters on their modern style, but I always had them at the top of the bhangra circuit. This performance wasn't like the previous performances I've seen, live or video. I definitely feel like something on the team has changed. I used to love their creative more intricate choreo, and this year's choreo just seems basic. They still have the formations and cleanliness, but the choreo itself is lacking. Obviously the domino jumps were awesome, but that was the only thing that stuck out in the routine. In previous years I could pick out segments that I enjoyed after watching it once. I also felt like the dancing caliber wasn't up to the usual DRP standards, I'm not sure if not having a home crowd or opening the second half had anything to do with it. Overall it was definitely a solid performance and in the top half of the night, but it wasn't the same DRP for me.
6) Cornell - Best Cornell (coed) routine I've seen since Blowout 2006. Basically it seems like you guys worked harder this year to put together a creative Blowout routine and focused on your coed team. In the past it always seemed like the focus was on the mundey and kuriyan teams, putting you at a coed disadvantage when you're competing against teams that have danced together since September. This routine was very very creative, I loved all the ideas. Cornell also had the best audience reaction of the night, which says a lot considering they probably had minimal numbers in an audience filled with VCU, NYU, and Drexel fans. The crowd went crazy for the gimmick. I honestly thought something like that would never work on stage, but it was awesome. I really liked the routine, but the execution was very sloppy. At a competition like Blowout where every team there is collegiate and practices together multiple times a week throughout the year, you have to be perfect. So, while Cornell was the most creative team, it was also the sloppiest. At times arms were kind of all over the place and compared to the other teams it just wasn't executed to the caliber it needed to be.
7) Columbia - I'm not going to say a lot since I'm obviously biased to my old team, and I know their routine well. I think their routine was executed almost perfectly, they were very clean with formations and moves, and maintained energy throughout. I'm proud of them for not only executing so well, but also maintaining the modern Columbia style while still adapting to the changing bhangra scene. I think the issue is bringing a routine this modern to any competition, since there's no way of knowing how judges will react. The style is unique and it's a crowd pleaser, but a lot of judges will have their own opinions on the larger traditional picture.
8 ) UNC - Nothing really stuck out for me in this routine, while in previous years I've always remembered UNC routines well. They need to get more creative instead of focusing on fitting the mold of a coed traditional team. I also wasn't a fan of the costumes, they were a little too much and not eye-pleasing. Going last in a long show is also tough because the audience is tired, especially an audience filled with uncles/aunties.
When they announced the placings only the team captain was allowed to go on stage and accept the trophy, which really took away from the excitement of placings in the past. It's always awesome to watch the teams rush down and onto the stage, celebrating/taking pictures. I'm sure there's a reason why, probably venue concerns, but it made the whole thing kind of anti-climactic.
Here are my placings
1) VCU
2) Northwestern
3) Cornell/DRP/Columbia