Re: "Golden Age" of Bhangra?

[Hans]

South Beach Bhangra 2005...in its 2nd year...also had 2 other competitions the same weekend, Fusion and Blowout

Sher, KJ, Soormay, Rutgers, UBC, Columbia, Cornell, and some others...

Ah, that was the golden age if you ask me. The more I think about it there are actually a bunch of comps that had killer 2nd years. VIBC 2005 was another big one. The placings were UBC, VIBE (on their last performance), and People's when they did the crazy conductor gimmick I think.

 

[Vijay]

[/quote]

Ah, that was the golden age if you ask me. The more I think about it there are actually a bunch of comps that had killer 2nd years. VIBC 2005 was another big one. The placings were UBC, VIBE (on their last performance), and People's when they did the crazy conductor gimmick I think.
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agree completely with the golden age. i remember watching the 05 sbb dvd and loving pretty much every routine. but, im pretty sure KJ got 1st at vibc 05, and umich got robbed of a placing somewhere in there.

 

[Basim]

Ah, that was the golden age if you ask me. The more I think about it there are actually a bunch of comps that had killer 2nd years. VIBC 2005 was another big one. The placings were UBC, VIBE (on their last performance), and People's when they did the crazy conductor gimmick I think.

agree completely with the golden age. i remember watching the 05 sbb dvd and loving pretty much every routine. but, im pretty sure KJ got 1st at vibc 05, and umich got robbed of a placing somewhere in there.

Dang, you are guys are brining back some great memories... ahhhh, some of the older times.. loved each & every moment! SO much less drama back then.

~ Basim

P.S. People's jack-in-the box & conductor was off the chain! lol. very creative. VIBE's dances also bring back great times. +1 for you all <3

 

[ambarishraja]

Kinnell,
Thats a rookie mistake to not BCC the teams who got denied...but i'm guessing it was just a careless error. UNC got in, but we have a couple shows back to back so we decided not to accept the invitation b/c three weeks of hardcore practice in a row will kill the grades and the bank account.

 

[Jeeti]

Ah, that was the golden age if you ask me. The more I think about it there are actually a bunch of comps that had killer 2nd years. VIBC 2005 was another big one. The placings were UBC, VIBE (on their last performance), and People's when they did the crazy conductor gimmick I think.

agree completely with the golden age. i remember watching the 05 sbb dvd and loving pretty much every routine. but, im pretty sure KJ got 1st at vibc 05, and umich got robbed of a placing somewhere in there.
[/quote]

Dang, you are guys are brining back some great memories... ahhhh, some of the older times.. loved each & every moment! SO much less drama back then.

~ Basim

P.S. People's jack-in-the box & conductor was off the chain! lol. very creative. VIBE's dances also bring back great times. +1 for you all <3
[/quote]

Man Basim...."so much less drama back then"..right on point...the goood ole days...when bhangra was just bhangra...it was what it was....

we all sound like a buncha old dudes...

LIKE BACK IN MY DAYY....

although BTF/POL is/was an excellent way to keep in touch and share information...its a bit of a double edged sword...because it tends to become a rallying point (OCCASIONALLY) for drama like that...i remember POL back in the day....every thread was...KJ KJ KJ KJ KJ KJ...hahahh...rather drama free back then.

p.s. sorry, but its hard not to stroll down memory lane with all this talk of it.

 

[Meistro]

also, back in the day, teams like Kj, VIBE, UBC, MTB etc, were like celebrity teams. Like "OH DAMN ITS KJ".........I feel like nowadays everyone is equal. Nobody gets special treatment for their success. And it definitely shouldnt be that way. I believe that was the case back in the day because bhangra was still developing and these "celebrity teams" were way ahead of the game.

 

[ambarishraja]

also, back in the day, teams like Kj, VIBE, UBC, MTB etc, were like celebrity teams. Like "OH DAMN ITS KJ".........I feel like nowadays everyone is equal. Nobody gets special treatment for their success. And it definitely shouldnt be that way. I believe that was the case back in the day because bhangra was still developing and these "celebrity teams" were way ahead of the game.

why should there be celebrity teams? why should teams be given special treatment?

 

[Vijay]

p.s. sorry, but its hard not to stroll down memory lane with all this talk of it.
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man o man, all this is making me feel nostalgic haha. i'm sure some of u guys remember this site:

http://ajayarora.com/bhangra/index.htm

he had a lot of vids posted before youtube blew up. if u scroll thru the tabs on top u can go over to one with vibc 05 clips, the first long vid has people's conductor gimmick, i went wild when i first saw it haha. u can see the the transition to the tradtionality movement in the vibc vids, most of the teams here are just mad entertaining (not that teams aren't now)

but yea ur dead on basim with the drama factor. the level of competition has gone up so much in the past few years that a lot of teams are on the same level , back then there were powerhouses like kj, ubc, rutgers, umich, soormay etc, where if they placed at a comp there wasn't much craziness over placings. now with the number of teams up as well as overall competitiveness, theres always discrepancies after judging.

 

[kinnell]

also, back in the day, teams like Kj, VIBE, UBC, MTB etc, were like celebrity teams. Like "OH DAMN ITS KJ".........I feel like nowadays everyone is equal. Nobody gets special treatment for their success. And it definitely shouldnt be that way. I believe that was the case back in the day because bhangra was still developing and these "celebrity teams" were way ahead of the game.

why should there be celebrity teams? why should teams be given special treatment?

Celebrity teams are teams that work harder in choreography and practice than other teams. I think it takes a year or two to figure out who the celebrity teams were in the years before. I, personally, consider SGPD a baller "celeb" team, because they hit the circuit HARD this last year and with a traditional choreo. I don't think I have to talk about their accomplishments since everyone knows that they go crazy with formations, ideas..etc.

But I agree, Meistro, that there were more celeb teams back in the day because back then, there were more distinct styles of bhangra. These days, it seems like there are varying styles of traditional bhangra which means there is less to differentiate teams on. But in regards to special treatment, the treatment they receive is directly proportional to how well they perform in compared to the rest of the competitions. If they work hard and are amazing compared to the rest of the circuit, they will have fans like no other screaming their names in the competitions and on the forums. We don't pick a team and say "you're celeb team 2", it's simply natural.

 

[Meistro]

i think you guys are missing my point. There are no celebrity teams anymore. Sure, there are definitely teams that we all admire, but we are all performing on a level playing field. Bhangra has evolved so much that everyone is basically at the same level now. Remember back in the day when we used to have threads on POL about "THE BEST DANCER"? How many times do you see a thread like that now? NEVER. Because everyone is at the same skill level as far as dancing goes. Now if you want to talk about choreography, the successful teams are going to be the ones dedicating more time and effort into their set. But there are NO celebrity teams anymore. We are all equal.

 

[Vijay]

you guys are totally missing my point. There are no celebrity teams anymore. We are all performing on a level playing field. Bhangra had evolved so much that everyone is basically at the same level. Remember back in the day when we used to have threads on POL about "THE BEST DANCER"? How many times do you see a thread like that now? NEVER. Because everyone is at the same skill level as far as dancing goes. Now if you want to talk about choreography, the successful teams are going to be the ones dedicating more time and effort into their set. But there are NO celebrity teams anymore. We are all equal.

i agree with meistro on this one. celebrity teams are teams of the past. sure, there are a couple powerhouse teams like sgpd, but even they don't get the type of 'treatment' or "street cred" that teams like KJ or VIBE used to get. one of my friends in 04 went to fusion, SOLELY to see KJ, no one else really. how many ppl can say that nowadays? all u have to do is look at lineups lately, there's no clear cut winner like there used to be. meistro, i wouldn't go as far to say "we are all equal" because there are plenty of small university teams in the states that don't compete outside of their school, and to be honest wouldn't really have a chance to compete in big comps because the competition itself is so high.

 

[Meistro]

what I meant by we are all equal, was that when we're all around each other at competitions and what not, no one team is the center of attention. Lets take SGPD for example; im sure at comps they're not just chilling with teams that they feel are as good as them. Im sure they make an effort to interact with smaller, newer, unestablished teams. We are all peers. Its like school. The best students arent gonna be like "eww that guy has a lower grade than me, im not talking to him".

 

[Vick]

KJ got the respect they did because they were light years ahead of everyone else... Kinda like the Niners of the 80's... Now you don't have as much domination even though SGPD has been running the show lately... But they dont have nearly the same kinda swagger that KJ did back in the day... SGPD talks a lot, KJ did all their talking with their dancing ability... There are no real powerhouse teams in around anymore... The bhangra scene is kinda bland these days...

 

[faizan]

celebrity teams still exist...gs, nj, siac, sher...i still nut when i see them, i ain't lied.

 

[SunnyS]

SGPD talks a lot..? Vick what is that suppose to mean?

 

[Vick]

SGPD talks a lot..? Vick what is that suppose to mean?

It means that you guys tend to vent your frustrations more publicly compared to the KJ boys... Not just frustrations, but achievements too... Cocky but not really that cocky... I dont have the right words to describe your team yet... haha...

 

[mafzal]

Meistro & Co. I think you're talkin about 2 different ideas here:

1 - No more celebrity teams
2 - We can't look at a lineup and predict winners anymore; judging is very vary-ing and unpredictable

On Point 1 I partially disagree. I think there are definitely celeb teams out there like SGPD, VCU, Sher Foundation, DRP, Empire. These are teams that people love to see, "omg DRP is up next they're gonna be hype". They have fans who have never met them and have no affiliation, but cheer for them and talk about them. They are teams that newbies in bhangra, people not "in the circuit" and non-dancers know of. Basically, they have fans from the non-BTF crowd!!

However, the are just way more teams, and yeah they aren't treated that much differently and they don't act too different like maybe KJ back in the day. Celeb status just doesn't mean as much anymore? Like I do see what you were saying about they're not the center of attention anymore. I can see this as a good thing and a bad thing. Good for new and developing teams and good to keep bhangra field fair, keep everyone else motivated. but bad in that they should get status for what they do I mean these teams have talent and they worked HARD for their achievements - they should be rewarded and respected as so. They do deserve a swagger and somewhat of an ego. Bad at wording all this... but hope i make some sense!

On Point 2, I agree about judging but I think it's also partially that teams (esp college) you never know what they're gonna bring. Teams change, develop, evolve. An average team can come out with one amazing routine. And all it takes is 8 hot minutes to win...

Lets take SGPD for example; im sure at comps they're not just chilling with teams that they feel are as good as them. Im sure they make an effort to interact with smaller, newer, unestablished teams. We are all peers. Its like school.

That is exactly how it is. I was just at Groundshaker, on a baby new unestablished team, and we were treated as equal... which was weird in a way b/c we're thinkin heyy we're just newbies.. we came to experience it and perform. These other guys came to compete and win - but SGPD, PANJ, PPA, Shan-E these veteran teams w. veteran dancers (and organizers) made effort to talk to us, treated us just like everyone else... It was sort of like school! Haha

If I wasn't so in awe of being backstage around these guys (yeah, I was in awe :-[ ) then I would have felt my team was just the same as every other team- though my team isn't. Again partially this is good and partially this is a bad thing.

 

[mafzal]

SGPD talks a lot, KJ did all their talking with their dancing ability...

We may wanna keep in mind how the times have changed, not just bhangra circuit. Back 3 or 4 years ago (even 2 yrs!) we didn't all use so much Facebook, BTF, YouTube... That has influenced things a LOT- More than you probably think about how much more visibility any team can get, how much you feel they "talk", etc etc I can't get into all the psychology lol

 

[Havish]

but we are all performing on a level playing field. Bhangra has evolved so much that everyone is basically at the same level now. Remember back in the day when we used to have threads on POL about "THE BEST DANCER"? How many times do you see a thread like that now? NEVER. Because everyone is at the same skill level as far as dancing goes.

I have the biggest disagreement with this statement. Everyone doesn't perform at the same level and there clearly dancers who are better than others. And the teams who have these dancers are some of the better teams out there. If you look at the "top teams" out there, one thing you find in common is there performance level is higher than all the other teams and their dancers are better too.

I feel like there is been a big bias about performance level through watching videos. Videos are great but they don't give the performance level of teams. If you want to see how a team really performs on stage, you have watch them live. And when you watch a competition, you can clearly see which teams have that performance level and which ones don't.

 

[Havish]

As far as celebrity teams are considered, there will always be "celebrity teams" maybe not to the level that KJ was at because there were the first.