Tashan Competition 2015 PLACINGS and Feedback!

[TU Tashan Competition]

Hello BTF!


On behalf of everyone who was involved with Tashan this past weekend, we would like to thank both the competing teams as well as everyone who attended both the show and after-party for making this one of the most memorable dance weekends in Philly! Multiple show attendees came up to the staff running the show and said it was one of the most fun experiences they had getting to watch so many amazing teams bring something special to Philadelphia. The final placings were:


Bhangra: UNC Bhangra Elite (1st) and UVA Di Shaan (2nd)
Fusion: Nova Nassa (1st) and OSU Genesis (2nd)

Throwing a competition in it's first year is never easy. Every experience is a learning experience and every roadblock seems mountainous. However, we would still like to deem the weekend successful in many regards. Of course, all teams will be sent feedback forms, but if anybody who attended the show or any part of the event this weekend would like to leave feedback, we are more than willing to acknowledge any and all of it! We fully plan on putting on this show next year, and want it to be even better than it was. Again, congratulations to the placing teams, every team who danced on stage, and everyone involved with this weekend in general. We LOVED having you there!

 

[sahab]

Congrats to all the placing teams!


Tashan was a well a very well run first year comp. I've been to comps that have been around for 4 to 5 years that have not run as smoothly. I have made a list of things I liked and didnt like about the comp.


Things I liked:
-Judges Meeting: That judges meeting was the most useful judges meeting I have ever been to. Props to the committee for picking good judges and obviously, thank you to the judges, Dilbagh, Ankur, and Bharathi, for being so helpful.
-After Party: it was really fun.
-Tech time scheduling: It wasn't too early, and that made a huge difference. Some comps like to run tech times early, which can be tedious and detrimental to performances. The early tech times can also be unnecessary, and I will find myself sitting there for 2 hours in the middle of day after tech time saying "why was that so early". That was not the case here.


Things that need improvement:
-Clarity between venue, comp committee, and teams- we were not the only team experience confusion in regards to our lighting cues and mix. Lighting cues during tech time were completely wrong, and it created a stress for us because we had to redo the lighting cues day of comp. We were not able to see the redone lighting cues till we were on stage performing. Other teams were unable to do gimmicks because they were not told ahead of time that a banner was a fire hazard, which didn't make too much sense. Also, the manager of the venue was a gigantic jerk (this is an understatement). Overall, lines of communication between the three groups have to be improved because if they are not it creates unnecessary stresses day of the comp.
-Stage had no curtains- I think it should be a requirement for comps to send a pic of the inside of the venue to the teams. We did not know there were no curtains, and for bollywood teams and us, it was an annoyance.
-Mixer: Ran out of food at the mixer. I had to go to chipotle. I dont mind going to chipotle, but I also wanted indian food.
-Get a comp hotel next time so teams don't have to spend their time figuring out lodging logistics.
-Teams: All the teams were really fun and chill.


This comp has potential to be one that is reoccurring, which is something the circuit is lacking these days. Keep up the good work!


-Sahab


P.S. please ignore any grammatical errors, my apologies.

 

[Yesh]

I was very impressed with how well Tashan was run for a first year comp! It definitely has the potential to be an amazing comp with great lineups in the future!

Pro's:

Judges: Like Sahab said, the judges were extremely useful in feedback, there was no fluff in their comments, just straight to the point as to what needs to be improved upon in order to succeed in future comps! Thank you to Dilbagh, Ankur, and Bharathi for the feedback

Mixer: Venue was nice and big, and the DJ was fire (Srimix )Venue for performance: The venue was interesting. What I did like about it was that the stage was very intimate with the audience!

Tech Time: Having a late tech time was pretty nice actually, we got to sleep in a little and rest upLiaisons: We had two amazing liaisons (Ami and Almas) that were very helpful and tried to get every one of our request accepted by the committee

Sound System: I really like the speaker set-up during the performance, very loud clear sound with no echo from the venue!

After Party: The after party was amazing. The venue was hugeeeee and the DJ was again fire (Srimix again ) I wish I had gotten my team and I there earlier haha

Cons: (I don't mean these to be harsh, just areas of improvement if possible)

-Mixer: There was no food when I arrived (about an hour late), then they ordered pizza, and that was gone before I could eat, so at some point i just gave up on eating. Try and get enough food from the get go

-Practice Spots/Times: After the mixer, we had 30 minutes allotted to practice space. The room was nice, however when our time started, we didnt have speakers or any way to play music. The room was next to the mixer room so the DJ's music was drowning out our sound in the practice spot. (However, the volume was reduced at our request so thank you, and we were given an extra few minute cause of the speaker flaw)

-Hotel: Like Sahab said, I wish there was an official team hotel.-Tech Time: I know this was not the actual Tashan committees fault, but tech time was not good. We had 15 minutes on stage, the first two minutes of which we werent allowed to play our mix because the venue staff had to pull up our mix, then once the mix began, we werent allowed to stop the music (THIS WAS THE WORST PART), lighting cues were completely wrong and we had to fix them after tech time and never got to see the correct ones until the performance, we werent allowed to plug anything in (even though I believe we had received permission earlier)

-Lunch: I just wish we got more than a quarter of a jimmy john sub (it was delicious, just more please). We ended up buying our dancers some more subs from subway

-Show: We were told right before getting on stage that one of our props couldnt have cloth due to a fire hazard, this needed to be communicated to us way beforehand.Stage was different in that there were no front or side curtains, I like Sahab's idea of getting a picture of the stage! I wish teams in the first half of the show could watch the other teams as soon as they were done rather than having to wait till intermission to go to seats.

Overall, I had a blast at the comp, I understand many issues were not the committees fault, but a venue issue. There was a great line-up and I had so much fun hanging out with the other teams (especially the ones that stayed together at the Ramada) This competition is going to thrive in the future!

 

[smehta313]

Tashan was a well a very well run first year comp. I've been to comps that have been around for 4 to 5 years that have not run as smoothly. I have made a list of things I liked and didnt like about the comp.


Things that need improvement:
-Clarity between venue, comp committee, and teams- we were not the only team experience confusion in regards to our lighting cues and mix. Lighting cues during tech time were completely wrong, and it created a stress for us because we had to redo the lighting cues day of comp. We were not able to see the redone lighting cues till we were on stage performing.
Also, the manager of the venue was a gigantic jerk (this is an understatement). Overall, lines of communication between the three groups have to be improved because if they are not it creates unnecessary stresses day of the comp.
-Stage had no curtains- I think it should be a requirement for comps to send a pic of the inside of the venue to the teams. We did not know there were no curtains, and for bollywood teams and us, it was an annoyance.
-Mixer: Ran out of food at the mixer. I had to go to chipotle. I dont mind going to chipotle, but I also wanted indian food.
-Get a comp hotel next time so teams don't have to spend their time figuring out lodging logistics.
-Teams: All the teams were really fun and chill.


This comp has potential to be one that is reoccurring, which is something the circuit is lacking these days. Keep up the good work!

Liaison(s)- one of ours, Pranav from Penn Dhamaka, was great. Anytime we needed something, he dropped what he was doing to help us out. However, I don't think our other liaison even spoke to the team. I thought at first she was just some random girl sitting at our table for the mixer. Not a big deal by any means, but this could have been very problematic had Pranav not been there. So good job with assigning 2 liaisons, maybe improve the selection process for who actually gets to be one (I know this is pretty exciting for college students).


Mixer - I'm not sure why it was so long.
6 - 10 PM is a large time frame and although the games were fun and we were well fed (good job with ordering pizza, ice cream, gulab jamun when the Indian food ran out), teams could have had a few more hours to practice or rest.


Selecting the lineup before the competition weekend was genius - gets out all those pre-show jitters and then we don't have to play pointless games that have nothing to do with bhangra to determine our order in the show.


Transportation - I get it, philly's expensive. but teams are already depleting their accounts to get to the city to put on a performance. Next time selecting a mixer venue, competition venue, competition hotel, and after party location all within each other's vicinity can save a few headaches and worries comp weekend.


Lighting ques - Not really sure what happened here. Teams do put in a lot of effort to make sure these match up perfectly with their mix and it helps teams put on that much better of a performance, but to completely dismiss it for us was completely unfair.


Stage - It had surge protectors or some random electrical outlets on it. Not sure why a stage like this would be chosen considering all the mistakes or injuries that could happen from it.


Jimmy John's at the venue during tech time was great, especially considering how much was allotted to us.


like Sahab said, this competition has the potential to be reoccurring and prevalent for years to come. Just needs a few fixes and for a first year competition, the issues weren't awful.

Shoutout to Binoy, Chinmay, and Pathik for beign super helpful with everything as well.
Congrats UNC & UVA on placing

 

[meghak1]

Temple Tashan was an extremely well organized first-year competition. Yeshel and Sahab have already mentioned a lot of these things but here's our review on the whole competition:


Hotel: I had to spend a lot of time finding a hotel that worked for our team as well as others. We were able to get a large group discount so I wish the board had spent a little more time doing that and arranged for an official hotel, it would've saved us a lot of time.


Transportation: this sorta goes hand in hand with the hotel situation, but Philadelphia has awful traffic and a shuttle or bus service (especially for the after party!) would've been really helpful.


Mixer: Was a lot of fun! The DJ (Srimix and Ruckiss) were great. The games were really interactive and our team, especially the freshmen, had a great time. The venue was nice and big and I really got a chance to meet so many other people from other teams. Food was the only issue, our team got there about an hour late and the food was all gone. But the committee was very responsive and immediately ordered more food for everyone else and made sure we were fed. We were given a 30 minute practice time in a room at the same venue right after but I think we would've rather had a little longer to practice in that room and had a little shorter mixer (it was 4 hours!!).


Lineup reveal: this wasn't the committee's fault but there was a venue issue so we knew our lineup before we got to the competition. This eliminated some of our stress from mixer and it was fairly selected so our team didn't really mind this.


Liaison: one of our liaisons, Tanay Hardikar, was AMAZING! Easily one of the best we've ever had. He was super helpful in finding us a practice space at a nearby university on saturday and was really helpful all weekend. Some of the teams however had liaisons that weren't even from Temple university which caused some issues. I think liaisons should definitely be from the university so they can find their way around better.


Lunch: I wish we had a little more than a small piece of a Jimmy John's sub. A lot of our dancers went and got food from nearby vendors, however, there was PLENTY of water provided


Tech Time: All the tech time's started later in the day and we loved that because we got to sleep in a little and get some practice in before. The lighting cues were slightly off and we had to communicate this to the board after tech time but, again, they were very responsive and had it fixed immediately. The committee stayed on schedule for the most part which was really impressive for a first-year comp!


Dressing room: there was no official dressing room, instead just one large room for all the teams. This was a little daunting because we were scared of mixing up our vardiyaan or losing anything. There were also no outlets, mirrors, seating, or additional lighting in the room so it made getting ready a little difficult.


Show: not having a curtain was really weird, especially during prop setup. I can only imagine how odd it was for the fusion teams who have costume changes. I think this should've been communicated to the teams a little earlier. Lighting issues from tech time were fixed during the performances, the music was nice and loud and there was minimal echo in the venue. A lot of teams still had issues with their intro videos during their performances and I imagine this was especially annoying for the fusion teams.


Judges and Judges Meeting: we got lots of great feedback from the judges. we wish the judges meeting was a little longer but it was really efficient and on schedule. They were nice to work with and really helpful!


After Party: The after party was soooooo much fun! The Venue was huge and the music was great (thank you Srimix, Ruckiss and Jai Matt)! Like Yeshel said, I wish we had gotten there sooner but we had a great time nonetheless!


Congrats to UVA and UNC on placing!! We had a great time meeting all the other teams (especially the ones that stayed at the Ramada) and look forward to seeing you all in the near future again! Temple was an amazing competition with great potential and we're looking forward to it in the future!

 

[kman58]

Thank you guys for your feedback so far! We appreciate all of the comments both positive and negative. Just to address a few points that were made so far:

Hotel: because we've seen "official" hotel situations go sour in the past with many comps (teams getting kicked out of rooms, trashing the place, etc), we decided to opt out of requiring all teams to stay at a certain hotel. However, we did get a great deal with Holiday Inn Center City which all teams were made aware of many weeks before the show and most (I think 8/12?) teams stayed at by using our provided discount code. Again if your team was not made aware of this deal via email or through your liaisons then my apologies both as director and on behalf of the board.

Transportation: as a first year competition, we wanted to hold back on some expenses which we thought may not have been as necessary, transportation being one of them. With lyft/uber in the city and a great metro/subway system we figured to play it safe fiscally and not make that investment. However after having the success we've had and reviewing some feedback we will certainly look into transportation as an option next year.

Mixer and Day Of food: our bad on the mixer, that was definitely a learning experience on our part to order waaaayyyy more food. But we hoped to make up for it by ordering nearly 50 extra pizzas and ice cream for everyone. For day of, a little more food may have helped, another thing we can make happen next year, along with considering a dinner option.

Tech time: probably one of the roughest parts of the day logistically, but we're happy that teams appreciated our efforts to start late in the day and stay pretty close to schedule. The venue manager isn't the nicest guy to deal with, and lighting was off for many teams, again, this is an issue that with experience comes the ability to fix. We know that there were some props that weren't permitted on stage that teams weren't made aware of until their tech time started and we would like to apologize again for that, big miscommunication on the venue's part (but again, now we know). We will certainly be sending photos of the venue next time this show happens and it is definitely a great idea for all comps to do this in the future as well.

Show: we're pleased that teams appreciated how close to schedule the show ran (and actually finished early). Some team intro videos didn't work which was a bummer but it was due to some faulty wiring in the video system after tech time (only one fusion team had an issue with this which we ended up resolving with the judges). As a staff we're very happy with the response from teams about judges meetings, and we're glad to see that every team benefitted from the meeting in a very productive way.

After-party: not going to lie, exceeded all of our expectations. We're thrilled with the response from this and will certainly make the same effort to host just as good of one next year! Huge shoutout to Srimix all weekend and Ruckiss for their help with everything.

Again thank you for the feedback so far, and if anyone has any more please keep it coming!

--Keshav Mantha, Tashan Director

 

[SahilG]

Our team had a great time at Tashan! Was very well run for a first year competition. Here is our review of the comp:


Mixer: Overall the mixer was great and our team enjoyed all the games and DJ. We arrived on time so food wasn’t a problem for us. The only thing I would recommend is that you keep it shorter than 4 hours next time.


Transportation: Using the subway/Uber built up quite a bill for our team this weekend. Just flying to the competition costed enough. Transportation from the airport to the hotel and from the hotel to the mixer/comp would have been nice.


Liaison: Both of our liaison’s(Radhika and Celena) were really helpful throughout the weekend! They both were there whenever we needed and helped us get whatever we needed.


Tech Time: Loved the late tech time. Our team really utilized and appreciated that extra time to sleep.


Lighting Cues: During tech time one of the biggest problems was we had flashing lights playing during our whole minute long ending when we had only requested it for a certain part of it. We put in the request to fix it but it still wasn’t fixed when we were on stage. This took away and became a huge distractor during the whole ending of our set. I understand that we were informed that this might happen but next time please try to get it right the first time as we had put in work to match up our lighting cues with our mix.


Judges Meeting: As a new team trying to make it’s way into the circuit we are open to all types of criticism that can make us better. With that being said the judges were very blunt and to the point. Overall, I wish we could have gotten more constructive criticism.


Lunch: Wish there was more variety than just the jimmy johns but nonetheless appreciate the food.


Show: Didn’t get to watch the other teams but seemed like it was running smoothly. Everything was running well on time and we knew exactly where we needed to be. When we hit the stage out intro video didn’t play just like many teams which wasn’t too big of a deal for us. Wish the stage didn’t have the random metal plates in the middle of it as dancers could have been injured.


After Party: Best after party our team has been to. Everyone loved everything about it.


Overall we hade a great time this weekend and have high hopes for what this competition can become in the future. Congrats to UNC and UVA on placing!

 

[amancheema]

Just wanna drop a line about my boys Dilbagh Nagi and Ankur Khanna who made their judging debuts at this competition.

As any team from Tashan can confirm, these boys are the real deal when it comes to providing value judging/feedback. They may be brutally honest and intensely critical of detail, but thats because they give each and every performance brought in front of them their undivided attention. If you Captain a team that strives to move forward, these two are the judges you want to talk to after you step off a stage. As someone who has danced with both these clowns for years, I know that they can and will make any team significantly better if you allow them to.


I hope more competition committees invite them out to utilize their expertise.