Ive been waiting for you guys to post this because I love r2b2.
First of all, congratulations to Husky for placing for the 2nd year in a row and all the other teams who put up great performances.
This was my 4th year at this competition and it gets better every year. R2b2 has to be, by far, THE MOST organized competition I have even been to in my entire life. I never understand why more teams don't apply. They have a 75% collegiate rule so its a great stage for collegiate teams to showcase their talent. Also, the R2 is for raas rave so it's a raas and bhangra comp but even with 14 teams, this competitions ends on a more timely manner than some straight bhangra competitions.
PreComp:
+ The registration packet was clear and precise with all the deadline and everything that needed to be turned it.
- The roster was due on the 29th of January and the competition was exactly a month away. I guess its easier for competitions to receive all this information early but we were unable to replace our dancers after this point, no matter what. We wanted to add a Dholi a week after the 29th and we were unable to because of this rule. We were also unable to get our money back for some of our roster members that weren't coming to the show, or replace them with someone else, but I get it, I didn't stress that much.
+ There was a judges meeting on Skype that lasted
a long time and we were able to get all of our questions answered and to top it off, Myra typed up every single question and every single answer and sent it to all of the teams.
- The rubric is the same for bhangra and raas and it needs improvement. The categories are not clear, esp for bhangra but the judges were able to make some changes to it for bhangra which was cool.
+ The judges were Kinnell Shah, Gurteg Singh, and Gary Khera which I thought was a pretty good panel considering their backgrounds.
Mixer:
= It's double blind because of raas restrictions, which is fine I guess. Its pretty fair.
+ It was laid back, and it was casual so we decided to wear our onesies.
+ after the mixer we received subway
+ The baskets had a lot of bars and stuff and gatorade.
WATER:
+++ THERE WAS PLENTY OF WATER EVERYWHERE
Hotel:
+ Had complimentary breakfast
Comp Day
Tech Time:
+ So either its before or after depending on the schedule but they have a room with mirrors where teams can spend about 20 mins practicing and cleaning up for tech time and then you go to stage and spend 15 minutes on stage. Everyone gets the same amount of tech time because it was strictly watched and every minute is accounted for, literally.
- The lighting crew was playing around with our lighting as we were running some segments which caused the lights to turn off for a minute or two, but they gave us that minute back so we were okay.
= We drove ourselves to the mixer and show because the hotel was 5 mins away so we can't say much about their transportation. Shout out to our liaisons for handling us without stress because we were late to everything.
Lunch:
+ They gave us Qudoba. And like 5 or 6 extra sandwiches. the meal was big enough to eat, get full, and save some for later.
Dinner:
+ There was 3 boxes of pizza.
Show:
= I think it ran on time, I don't really remember.
+ They have this system where the teams move from one waiting room, to the next waiting room, slowing getting closer to the stage. We get to these moving rooms 2-3 acts before ours.
+ I liked that the tech guy asked us BEFORE they played our mix if we were ready or not. Last year our mix was played and we were not ready so I like the improvement a lot.
+ All the teams get to sit on the 3rd floor and watch the show. Our liaisons were with us the whole time.
Judges Meeting:
+ This has definitely improved. Our first year, there as no meeting and after listening to the teams concerns, they were able to have a legit judges meeting. I think we agreed on 7-8 minutes. Each judge went through their notes, gave us their feedback and provided constructive criticism.
After Party:
+ Loved the shuttles taking us to and from the after party
+ The venue had two rooms, one that only played bhangra music and the other that played all types of music.
+ It lasted in 4AM
Overall, there is barely any negative things about this competition. Moez did a great job organizing this and staying calm handling both raas and bhangra. It has improved a lot and I really do encourage more teams to apply next year. I guess one thing I would work on is having a professional videographer record all the performances from the 2nd balcony where the judges are. The teams aren't allowed there and iPhone videos never do justice. Shoutout to kinnell for recording us with his camera!
+++Also, they venmo out the prize money which is literally the most convenient and fast way to receive the money, besides straight cash lawlz.
Anyway, congratulations to moez, shivam and disha for an amazing competition!
- Ampal
