Kartik
Member
- Messages
- 319
Note to Mods: If you would think this should be merged into the UBC Results page please do so. This is however more of a review of the competition than the actual performances, thus I made a separate thread.
I want to preface my comments with the fact that our entire experience is ours alone. I'm not commenting on how other teams were treated, how they felt the show was run, etc. These comments are mine alone, on behalf of Cornell Bhangra.
Alright so! Just got back from UBC, and unfortunately it's safe to say that this was by far the single worst bhangra experience for me as well as our entire team. In my time as a dancer I've been lucky to perform at many competitions, some better than others, but I never expected my experience at a competition to be as terrible as it was this weekend.
To be honest there were so many issues this past weekend that I can't even list them all, as one poor action by the UBC committee led to another. We were treated poorly the entire day of the show, by almost every single committee member that we interacted with. The extreme lack of personal care, and more importantly, the specific disregard for any of our team's needs left me shocked and maybe confused at times.
Some specifics:
1) Our runthrough time was supposed to be at 12pm. When we finally got on stage at the venue for our tech time, it was 2:45.
We were told that we would have 15 minutes of tech-time on stage with music, lights etc. As the competition was running 3 hours behind schedule, music was not set up, mics were not ready and the competition organizers told us that we would get to do our stage runthrough with a boombox while they set up music for later on. I denied that option as we needed a mic for our sher and proper music to run saap segment etc.
Ultimately, our stage time started and I told the performers to inform me when there were 9 minutes left on the clock. We ran through formations for 5.5 minutes and I kept asking how much time is left. When I was informed that we had 9 minutes left, I told the organizers to start the music and lights and give me the mic that I had requested. They did not have the music or mic ready and took 3 minutes to set up the mic. The time was stopped after 2 minutes of our stage time had already been wasted. Then, I asked them again to start the music and lights, and this time they were unable to start both at the same time. They kept the time running through as they stopped and restarted the lights and music for 2 minutes. I again asked them to start our music and lights as my entire team waited for the organizers.
Throughout the entire tech time, as the speakers weren't set up properly, music was off, loud screeching sounds kept blasting through, monitors were playing different speeds than auditorium speakers, and overall it was impossible for us to try and actually dance through the technical difficulties they kept experiencing every 30 seconds.
If all of this was not enough, the organizers then had the audacity to cut off our mix with 1:30 left. We had our liason taping the runthrough right next to where the organizers were standing and they say "Cut the mix, STOP IT! CUT IT RIGHT NOW!" to the DJ. We were deprived of a stage runthrough because of the organizers' inability to make the proper arrangements that we had requested much in advance.
2) One of our dancers at UBC suffered from a throat virus. Upon arriving to the venue an hour behind schedule, I realized that he was starting to feel nauseous. We requested for a bottle of sprite/tonic/carbonated beverage to make him feel better. We asked for it again 10 minutes late, and repeatedly for the next 1.5 hours. None of our team was allowed to leave to get it as we were told repeatedly that our "tech time would start in 10-20 minutes". When the bottle of sprite arrived 90 minutes later, my dancer had already vomited 3 times in the bathroom.
I was given no help by any of the organizers in bringing the police over to contact the EMS. Our team dealt with all of the medical staff alone while we were also being held on standby to start our rehearsal. Our dancer eventually was taken off into an ambulance to a hospital with a 103 degree fever. I do not blame the committee for his fever. I blame the committee for turning a blind eye to the very obvious medical circumstances that were taking place in the lobby of the venue. We later found out that there was a vending machine in the level below us with Sprite for $1.50.
3) After we opened the night at the competition, we were carrying our props off stage to take them back to the dressing room in an orderly manner. We did not want to throw the props all over the dressing room as 2 other teams were sharing it with us. We also had a backdrop to dismantle and put into the dressing room, which often takes more the 30 seconds.
At this point, a female committee member (I do not know her name) came and started yelling at us to go upstairs. One of our dancers was seated suffering from pangs on the side of her body. I quote "what is with all these fucking teams, go fucking upstairs! get out from backstage and fucking go upstairs!!"
We took the time to try and keep the dressing room area clean for other teams and we got cussed out and yelled at for the n'th time that day.
Honestly, I can keep going on and on, as I promise you there are multiple more instances in which the organizers totally screwed us over, some worse than those listed above. I have no desire to write any more as I am already exhausted from this terrible weekend.
We're a co-ed college team that is not known for starting "drama" or issues at any competition. We host Pao Bhangra annually and work hard to make sure that teams have a great time. We spent $1000 of our money renting cars, booking hotels, etc. so that we could come and entertain UBC's crowd and have a good time overall. We're not a team that ever complains about placings, lineups, order, or anything else. I held my cool even at UBC after we were consistently screwed. I finally snapped after we were treated like shit at the rehearsal.
We will definitely never apply to UBC again and encourage other teams to do the same. I'm sure some teams had an amazing time and loved the competition, and they are entitled to their opinion just was we are to ours. I know a bunch of other teams that had issues with the competition but will not speak on their behalf.
Sorry UBC committee, you really fucked us.
A few bright notes:
We would like to thank Manjeet for being the only committee member who seemed to care at all about what was going on with our situation. After two other committee members that I don't want to publicly malign ruined our tech-time, she came and tried to find out what happened. I unfortunately had to take out all of our concerns with her, and we appreciate that she was the only person willing to help us.
Sumanth Kaja, our alumni and now a dancer for PDAP, that came out of nowhere to learn our entire routine in 2 hours. It was amazing how he was able to learn as much as possible in such limited time and allow us to still put on a performance at UBC.
The other teams that sympathized with us and offered their help as we got screwed over and over and over again by the committee. Thanks to all of you.
By the time we were about to step on stage for the performance, all of us were exhausted, worried about our dancer at the hospital, and extremely upset with the people in the yellow shirts that apparently could not stop yelling at us. Mad props to my team members, new and old, who pulled through despite everything.
Congrats to DCBC, NYPD, and Wolverine, you were all great to watch!
I want to preface my comments with the fact that our entire experience is ours alone. I'm not commenting on how other teams were treated, how they felt the show was run, etc. These comments are mine alone, on behalf of Cornell Bhangra.
Alright so! Just got back from UBC, and unfortunately it's safe to say that this was by far the single worst bhangra experience for me as well as our entire team. In my time as a dancer I've been lucky to perform at many competitions, some better than others, but I never expected my experience at a competition to be as terrible as it was this weekend.
To be honest there were so many issues this past weekend that I can't even list them all, as one poor action by the UBC committee led to another. We were treated poorly the entire day of the show, by almost every single committee member that we interacted with. The extreme lack of personal care, and more importantly, the specific disregard for any of our team's needs left me shocked and maybe confused at times.
Some specifics:
1) Our runthrough time was supposed to be at 12pm. When we finally got on stage at the venue for our tech time, it was 2:45.
We were told that we would have 15 minutes of tech-time on stage with music, lights etc. As the competition was running 3 hours behind schedule, music was not set up, mics were not ready and the competition organizers told us that we would get to do our stage runthrough with a boombox while they set up music for later on. I denied that option as we needed a mic for our sher and proper music to run saap segment etc.
Ultimately, our stage time started and I told the performers to inform me when there were 9 minutes left on the clock. We ran through formations for 5.5 minutes and I kept asking how much time is left. When I was informed that we had 9 minutes left, I told the organizers to start the music and lights and give me the mic that I had requested. They did not have the music or mic ready and took 3 minutes to set up the mic. The time was stopped after 2 minutes of our stage time had already been wasted. Then, I asked them again to start the music and lights, and this time they were unable to start both at the same time. They kept the time running through as they stopped and restarted the lights and music for 2 minutes. I again asked them to start our music and lights as my entire team waited for the organizers.
Throughout the entire tech time, as the speakers weren't set up properly, music was off, loud screeching sounds kept blasting through, monitors were playing different speeds than auditorium speakers, and overall it was impossible for us to try and actually dance through the technical difficulties they kept experiencing every 30 seconds.
If all of this was not enough, the organizers then had the audacity to cut off our mix with 1:30 left. We had our liason taping the runthrough right next to where the organizers were standing and they say "Cut the mix, STOP IT! CUT IT RIGHT NOW!" to the DJ. We were deprived of a stage runthrough because of the organizers' inability to make the proper arrangements that we had requested much in advance.
2) One of our dancers at UBC suffered from a throat virus. Upon arriving to the venue an hour behind schedule, I realized that he was starting to feel nauseous. We requested for a bottle of sprite/tonic/carbonated beverage to make him feel better. We asked for it again 10 minutes late, and repeatedly for the next 1.5 hours. None of our team was allowed to leave to get it as we were told repeatedly that our "tech time would start in 10-20 minutes". When the bottle of sprite arrived 90 minutes later, my dancer had already vomited 3 times in the bathroom.
I was given no help by any of the organizers in bringing the police over to contact the EMS. Our team dealt with all of the medical staff alone while we were also being held on standby to start our rehearsal. Our dancer eventually was taken off into an ambulance to a hospital with a 103 degree fever. I do not blame the committee for his fever. I blame the committee for turning a blind eye to the very obvious medical circumstances that were taking place in the lobby of the venue. We later found out that there was a vending machine in the level below us with Sprite for $1.50.
3) After we opened the night at the competition, we were carrying our props off stage to take them back to the dressing room in an orderly manner. We did not want to throw the props all over the dressing room as 2 other teams were sharing it with us. We also had a backdrop to dismantle and put into the dressing room, which often takes more the 30 seconds.
At this point, a female committee member (I do not know her name) came and started yelling at us to go upstairs. One of our dancers was seated suffering from pangs on the side of her body. I quote "what is with all these fucking teams, go fucking upstairs! get out from backstage and fucking go upstairs!!"
We took the time to try and keep the dressing room area clean for other teams and we got cussed out and yelled at for the n'th time that day.
Honestly, I can keep going on and on, as I promise you there are multiple more instances in which the organizers totally screwed us over, some worse than those listed above. I have no desire to write any more as I am already exhausted from this terrible weekend.
We're a co-ed college team that is not known for starting "drama" or issues at any competition. We host Pao Bhangra annually and work hard to make sure that teams have a great time. We spent $1000 of our money renting cars, booking hotels, etc. so that we could come and entertain UBC's crowd and have a good time overall. We're not a team that ever complains about placings, lineups, order, or anything else. I held my cool even at UBC after we were consistently screwed. I finally snapped after we were treated like shit at the rehearsal.
We will definitely never apply to UBC again and encourage other teams to do the same. I'm sure some teams had an amazing time and loved the competition, and they are entitled to their opinion just was we are to ours. I know a bunch of other teams that had issues with the competition but will not speak on their behalf.
Sorry UBC committee, you really fucked us.
A few bright notes:
We would like to thank Manjeet for being the only committee member who seemed to care at all about what was going on with our situation. After two other committee members that I don't want to publicly malign ruined our tech-time, she came and tried to find out what happened. I unfortunately had to take out all of our concerns with her, and we appreciate that she was the only person willing to help us.
Sumanth Kaja, our alumni and now a dancer for PDAP, that came out of nowhere to learn our entire routine in 2 hours. It was amazing how he was able to learn as much as possible in such limited time and allow us to still put on a performance at UBC.
The other teams that sympathized with us and offered their help as we got screwed over and over and over again by the committee. Thanks to all of you.
By the time we were about to step on stage for the performance, all of us were exhausted, worried about our dancer at the hospital, and extremely upset with the people in the yellow shirts that apparently could not stop yelling at us. Mad props to my team members, new and old, who pulled through despite everything.
Congrats to DCBC, NYPD, and Wolverine, you were all great to watch!
