UNC Bhangra Elite @ BIB 5

[campy614]

ridiculous amounts of sick non-punjabi bhangra dancers that are all across the circuit.

We should take a picture at Boston

Anyone know a way we could find and drag Clint to Boston?

 

[metalgearpaneer]

Btw if you all are trying to follow us on twitter.... @UNCBhangraElite

 

[priyab]

Priya ftw! Anything that I would have said, she said for me (thank you for that).

no problem homie. i gotchu. and thank YOU.

 

[ahmad]

On a side note: at one point I was watching the non Indian and nonpakistAni dancers on your team who I assume have no prior experience of bhangra before college and even their form was on point....a true testament your guys' hardwork to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Ok, I didn't watch the video yet-because there's no volume on my work computer, and playing it under these conditions wouldn't do the performance any justice.

But I just wanted to comment on this. I don't know about Alan, Jordan (VCU/KGPD/various other teams), Scott and Joey (Rochester/AEG and TBT/HNG/AEG respectively), Danny (Northeastern/FAUJ), or many of the other amazing non desi dancers in the circuit-but being a white, beginning dancer never meant that I was any weaker than the other beginners who started with me. We all did the same amount of work, and put in the same amount of practice hours. We all started on the same page, learned together, and in our video (which even if I could find, it I wouldn't post it!) we all looked alike.

One of my teammates was Matt, who was also white. When it came to cultural background knowledge-compared to everyone else, we were lost (moreso me, because Matt was a genius). But that's a different subject completely. Also, it's not like we were given a pop quiz on stage about bhangra and Punjabi culture. We were dancing on stage... and that was really it. Oh yeah, and Matt was the top of a tower! The rest we learned on the way.

I think it's easier to spot us on stage, because no matter what color we're wearing-we stick out like sore thumbs. But truth of the matter is a great bhangra dancer is a great bhangra dancer-whether he/she is Punjabi, black, white, Chinese, or half filipino/half guatemalan.

Just wanted to clear up what I meant about this in my comment....

First, Joe....you KNOW i know that non-pakistani people can dance, I ahve seen you dance several times and scott was on my team for 2 years... so its not like im ignorant of the fact that non-desi people can dance. its IRRESPECTIVE of race OBVIOUSLY.

What I said, and I knew right when I said it that the wrong message might be conveyed, was an ASSUMPTION by myself. I apologize if you are offended about my assumption that most non-desi people prior to college have not danced bhangra, my intent was not to insult anyone...It was just an assumption that I still believe is true. Not many non-desi people who join a collegic are exposed to bhangra prior to college...again if you don't agree with it it wasn't meant to offend.

Having said that, based on my assumption I simply wanted to say that all dancers seem to be on a similar level with their performance. I was on Rochester Bhangra for 4 years, quite possibly the MOST diverse collegic team in the country! My comment was only a pride to see non-desi dancers to be dancing on that level because as a captain and a team member I have seen first hand how many people who never have heard of bhangra have become some pretty solid dancers.

Again it was never meant to offend, it was simply meant to compliment. In no way was my intent to bring race into the conversation

 

[sumeetj]

just like to mention that i am punjabi, was born in india, and visit family in jalandhar/panchkula frequently, and was not exposed to traditional bhangra until college at all. north carolina itself has a ton of amazing non-desi dancers (would like to throw out the name jose hamilton, blasianjh on btf, just caus he hasnt been mentioned among alan and jordan and he dances with ecu and kpgd).

back to the main point of this thread:

i got to see unc at akd the week before burgh, and about 10 seconds into the set, jsut seeing their intro, i knew that burgh was theirs for sure. when it comes to collegiate teams, i dont think anyone (currently) can match up to their cleanliness and synchronization as a team. they standardize their dancers almost perfectly i think, better than anyone right now. they worked hard and killed it, and i dont think anyone can stop them this year. i also love the ending pose

 

[campy614]

On a side note: at one point I was watching the non Indian and nonpakistAni dancers on your team who I assume have no prior experience of bhangra before college and even their form was on point....a true testament your guys' hardwork to make sure everyone is on the same page.

Ok, I didn't watch the video yet-because there's no volume on my work computer, and playing it under these conditions wouldn't do the performance any justice.

But I just wanted to comment on this. I don't know about Alan, Jordan (VCU/KGPD/various other teams), Scott and Joey (Rochester/AEG and TBT/HNG/AEG respectively), Danny (Northeastern/FAUJ), or many of the other amazing non desi dancers in the circuit-but being a white, beginning dancer never meant that I was any weaker than the other beginners who started with me. We all did the same amount of work, and put in the same amount of practice hours. We all started on the same page, learned together, and in our video (which even if I could find, it I wouldn't post it!) we all looked alike.

One of my teammates was Matt, who was also white. When it came to cultural background knowledge-compared to everyone else, we were lost (moreso me, because Matt was a genius). But that's a different subject completely. Also, it's not like we were given a pop quiz on stage about bhangra and Punjabi culture. We were dancing on stage... and that was really it. Oh yeah, and Matt was the top of a tower! The rest we learned on the way.

I think it's easier to spot us on stage, because no matter what color we're wearing-we stick out like sore thumbs. But truth of the matter is a great bhangra dancer is a great bhangra dancer-whether he/she is Punjabi, black, white, Chinese, or half filipino/half guatemalan.

Just wanted to clear up what I meant about this in my comment....

First, Joe....you KNOW i know that non-pakistani people can dance, I ahve seen you dance several times and scott was on my team for 2 years... so its not like im ignorant of the fact that non-desi people can dance. its IRRESPECTIVE of race OBVIOUSLY.

What I said, and I knew right when I said it that the wrong message might be conveyed, was an ASSUMPTION by myself. I apologize if you are offended about my assumption that most non-desi people prior to college have not danced bhangra, my intent was not to insult anyone...It was just an assumption that I still believe is true. Not many non-desi people who join a collegic are exposed to bhangra prior to college...again if you don't agree with it it wasn't meant to offend.

Having said that, based on my assumption I simply wanted to say that all dancers seem to be on a similar level with their performance. I was on Rochester Bhangra for 4 years, quite possibly the MOST diverse collegic team in the country! My comment was only a pride to see non-desi dancers to be dancing on that level because as a captain and a team member I have seen first hand how many people who never have heard of bhangra have become some pretty solid dancers.

Again it was never meant to offend, it was simply meant to compliment. In no way was my intent to bring race into the conversation

No worries Ahmad I know enough of your background to know what you were trying to convey.

I'm just telling you our point of view. A beginning bhangra dancer is a beginning bhangra dancer-Punjabi, white, black, Asian, etc. It's not a dancer's heritage that'll determine how far in the circuit he/she will go, or how well he/she'll do. It's a dancer's ability to feel and understand the music and dance, themselves. Even if we can't understand the lyrics, we can still read and interpret bhangra's other elements. Those elements, along with a great teacher (or youtube) are all we need.

 

[Pavan]

you guys have really set yourselves apart from the rest of the collegiate teams in terms of execution and cleanliness, and that is a huge testament to the amount of hard work im sure you guys put in. great set at burgh, I hope this really pushes other college teams to step up their game for the rest of the year. Congrats on 1st!!

 

[haleema]

great performance. clean, entertaining and energetic. keep it up guys!

 

[Anik915]

Haha a few had requested the intro video from our Burgh performance be put up....

UNC Burgh 5 Introduction

Loved this intro video. A huge change of pace from what other teams usually bring, really enjoyed it.

 

[sdadoo15]

this was such a good performance

 

[pavbhaji91]

sooo clean, unc is forreal!

 

[VoiceOfAGeneration]

The cleanliness and creativity of this team surpasses that of most other co-ed teams...watching this set live was awesome, the jugni = EPIC... gave me goosebumps, loved it, the element of surprise gave is what made it stand out most in my mind though haha keep up the good work...also that vardi is sick