The Michigan Bhangra Team @ Boston Bhangra 2015 and Motor City Bhangra 2016

[Howie Magz]

Hey Everyone,


I would like to first say that it has been a crazy, fun, and competitive Bhangra season for MBT this year. We have gone to over 6 competitions throughout the year and have had wonderful experiences at each and every competition. With our competitive season being over for the 2015-2016 year we are now releasing all of our videos out to the public starting with Boston Bhangra and Motor City Bhangra. We will be releasing our Buckeye Mela, Nachde Nashville, and Bhangra Blowout videos within the upcoming month. Please provide any critiques and suggestions on what we can do better moving into the future. All comments are welcome! Once again it has been an honor to have danced with MBT throughout my collegiate Bhangra career and would like to especially thank all the dancers for making this year so successful. I would also like to thank my co-captains Sahab and Pratik for an amazing year with MBT. Could not have done it without you guys.


Boston Bhangra 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L40e6nT6fqk

Dancers
Red: Sahab Grover and Jasleen Randhawa
Blue: Eshann Toteja and Akshaya Rajkumar
Pink: Pratik Lakhani and Piumi Jayatilake
Ferozi: Howie Magaro and Navkiran Munday
Black: Adi Gill and Aditi Katti
Purple: Rahul Bapna and Alisha Luthra




Motor City Bhangra 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Xe8Ca3obDY&nohtml5=False


Red: Sahab Grover and Megha Ramappan
Green: Howie Magaro and Shebani Rao
Blue: Pratik Lakhani and Piumi Jayatilake
Ferozi: Eshann Toteja and Akshaya Rajkumar
Purple: Rahul Bapna and Navkiran Munday
Pink: Aditi Katti and Yash Sathe
Chimpta: Shawn Matharu

 

[Singh46]

Watched the MCB Video and found two things to be very distracting - I don't think this is specific to MBT but was hoping you can respond to this Howie -


1. Stage Markers - in my opinion, they just create a messy look on stage. I have heard rumblings in the past that some judges/competitions may deduct points for this. Is this happening? I thought you guys went way overboard with them as well... I can see maybe one to mark the center but way too distracting.


2. What is the chimta player adding to your routine? You cannot hear him playing the instrument but rather is just jumping around on the side, is distracting and creates a messier look. Again, not specific to MBT because I know other teams do it as well but hoping to understand why teams do this.


Congrats on a successful year.

 

[Howie Magz]

I have not gone to a competition that has deducted points for stage markers yet. We use them because they help my dancers have a reference point as to where to go at times. The whole controversy over markers is still out there, but why would you not use something that benefits only your team. I agree that they do get a bit distracting because of how bright and orange they are, but a lot of the times people don't really pay too much attention to them.


The chimta player was added to add to the folk aspect of the performance especially at MCB. I understand that a lot of people do not how to properly play chimta (neither do I), but sometimes it is just aesthetically pleasing for certain rubrics or judges. We learned after MCB that having a chimta player who is just there and not necessarily adding anything to the routine can be distracting. However, the person we have playing chimta was important to our mela at MCB because of how damn fast he spins the khunde haha.

 

[Yesh]

All right, first and foremost, I am incredibly impressed by the journey this team has taken. I am so glad they finally got the appreciation that they deserved. They have worked hard all year long. This team is full of incredibly strong, mature dancers and it shows 100% on stage.

I have been to quite a few comps with MBT this year and they just kept getting better and better. Sahab, Howie, and Pratik, you all have done a phenomenal job with this team. I except them to continue this trend into next school year (season?). I can't wait to see what MBT does next year.

Congrats to Howie and any other graduating members of the squad! Yall went out with a bang at Blowout!!

On to the set critiques!
Its sort of hard to critique just on this video as the most recent performance for y'all I saw was at Blowout so im going to talk about overall dancing/set.

Honestly, I loved the song selection and mix, cant really say anything about it. (for blowout, i thought the Nimbooda song went on for way to long)

Your dancers really own the stage when they dance, so much energy and presence. Its something that really mature dancers have which is great for your team. The only place I can see work that is needed is in jhummar. The jhummar segments I've seen with MBT are usually on the fast side and lack the grace that I believe a jhummar should have. Its the one part of a bhangra routine where you can show judges/audience/dancers that you have grace and precise control so I would use it wisely!

Other than that, MBT had an amazing year and I can't wait to see what they bring next year!

P.S. I know your one true goal was to beat CMU all year long, but even though it didnt really happen, yall brought one hell of a routine this year and made competitions really exciting so thank you for that.

 

[sahab]

P.S. I know your one true goal was to beat CMU all year long, but even though it didnt really happen, yall brought one hell of a routine this year and made competitions really exciting so thank you for that.

The fire is back. I can't wait to see what these next generations of our teams is gonna bring. They are motivated and ready.

 

[Yesh]

P.S. I know your one true goal was to beat CMU all year long, but even though it didnt really happen, yall brought one hell of a routine this year and made competitions really exciting so thank you for that.

The fire is back. I can't wait to see what these next generations of our teams is gonna bring. They are motivated and ready.

It shows, I can tell each of your dancers want to do well soo badly

 

[Nimit]

Dope mix. Great set. I think the furteelay gimmick was a little weird since everyone left stage but great dancing. I think you guys could've had some better ideas for jugni and a few of your general segments. Saab murked it in the front but definitely people dogging it in the back. Choreo creativity was good and you guys always have great energy


As for the year overall, this was definitely the hardest working iteration of MBT that I've seen. Great to compete with you guys and look forward to doing so in the future. Love you Pratik <3.


I know you have a lot of people graduating but I am certain you guys will be back again next year. If you want an actual in depth critique hmu

 

[Shastri]

Sick sets, incorporated a ton of different, new ideas. I think the main difference between last year and this year is that instead of just being really clean and keeping the energy high the entire time, the creativity went through the roof and these sets are ten times more fun to watch.

Critiques(from BBC): Because you guys generally have consistently high energy, its easy to see a few people who stick out who don't carry as much energy through the set/are kinda chilling at points, mainly in the back. I also thought that the difficulty of the choreo was awesome, and the hype parts of the set were awesome, but it also took away from the cleanliness of the team I think because they were tired and because the set was so consistently fast-paced. I think some of the dancers had a really strong presence on stage, but I think the biggest area for improvement as a team would be nakhra. When you're watching the set, you can't really see any other expression besides smiling for most of the dancers except for a few. Maybe they're doing it, but it isn't exaggerated enough that its really noticeable. In addition, while its awesome to be synchronized and have the same jodi interactions at the same points, it'll add that much more flair between jodis and people dancing near each other and will enhance the performance that much more. The only way the audience is really gonna feel it is if they can see the energy in your expressions, and that's what really leaves a lasting impression. Also thought the Furteelay gimmick was dirty but didn't think the team should've gotten off stage for the end.

The captains have done an amazing job and have developed a team that can easily be a dynasty if the team's amount of determination to win and be the best persists. Unreal year for the team, and definitely many more to come. We'll see you guys next year Also let me know if you want something more detailed.

Also love you Howie <333

 

[Guppi]

I have never seen this team perform EVER in person or in videos until today and my god you guys truly killed it!!! The captains have done an amazing job in having the dancers match each other and the energy level was just tremendous throughout the routine! I agree with the comment above that song selections was very good.


As a judge, one of my pet peeves are when legs are shown. I think in your guys routine you have a lot of spins and obviously the risk of legs showing are greater. Its an easy fix but just work on tying the chadre a little better. Other than that keep it up!!!!


p.s. Howie amazing job on keeping the pagh on during the Motor City competition. I was so scared that it was gonna fall off but you managed to keep it on and still go all out! great job!! lol

 

[Mr. Mankiran]

Howie great job man, really like watching you dance.