- Messages
- 143
yes indeed. Spartan Bhangra is still waiting for prize money from Bhangra on the rocks ?
-
Bhangra discussion is still going strong. Join us in our Facebook group!
New user registration has been closed (as it was entirely spam). We encourage you to post in our Facebook group, even if it's a followup to an existing thread. BTF will continue to be archived and hosted here - Saleem
Vice City Competition Review
- Thread starter UmerQureshi96
- Start date
Lally
Active Member
- Messages
- 332
He hosted a beauty pageant and decided that he'd be good at hosting Bhangra competitions? So in other words, this guy has no idea of what Bhangra is... not surprised that this comp was a bust. I wouldn't wanna compete on a school gym floor either. I can just imagine the speaker and lighting set up... ?
“The trick is to stop thinking of it as ‘your’ money"
Raghavtrip
Active Member
- Messages
- 123
He stopped responding to any of our emails/messages/texts right after the comp until we gave up ever getting the money. Pretty tough on a college team, especially considering budgets we have to submit to the school prior to the end of the year which consider the prize money. Both Sunset and BOTR had tons of minor issues (e.g. no practice space at Sunset so we found parking garages downtown, venue in the suburbs of BOTR while we were all downtown and the "promised" transportation never arrived on time, many last minute changes for both, etc.), but ultimately ended up being pretty fun owing largely to the fact that the locations for those two comps worked out and the judges were experienced and fair. At BOTR, our team was also hit with a massive fee from the hotel for a room that wasn't ours because we were the last to check out and the organizer was unreachable, so we just split it amongst ourselves out of pocket. Having been to those two comps though, it seems obvious in retrospect that everything was hanging by a thread and eventually it would all fall apart.
Anecdotally, our liasons for both comps were pretty much in the same boat as us--after BOTR as we hopelessly tried to get in touch to get our prize money, they also told us he fell off the grid for them and wasn't responding to anything about prize money, reimbursements, logistics, etc.
We also went to Sunset Bhangra, and I think something similar happened to Virsa:
Bhangra on the Rocks Competition in Mile High City Denver, CO *REGISTRATION OPEN
On behalf of the Bhangra on the Rocks, we would like to invite all active teams to apply to the very 1st Annual Bhangra on the Rocks Competition held in the Mile High City, Denver, Colorado. The competition will take place on April 15th, 2016! We encourage all teams to apply. More information...
bhangrateamsforum.com
- Messages
- 1,459
Not sure if this of any help to the teams struggling with Bhangra on the Rocks/Rahul Prakash, but I found this: http://naureensingh.blogspot.com/2017/03/bhangra-on-rocks-competition.html
Possibly trying to contact Naureen Singh, Colorado Sikhs, or Norvan Entertainment to see if they are of help? I know it's been almost two years, but just wanted to throw it out there.
~ Basim
Possibly trying to contact Naureen Singh, Colorado Sikhs, or Norvan Entertainment to see if they are of help? I know it's been almost two years, but just wanted to throw it out there.
~ Basim
BradRosenblum
Member
- Messages
- 11
Yeah Virginia Tech got second at Sunset and never saw any prize money
Singhdp0512
New Member
- Messages
- 6
We should have a resource that has the info on all these comps so that dancers in the future know not to do comps hosted by his agency. We had never heard of him or Bhangra on the Rocks/ Sunset, but if we had we would not have applied.
Lally
Active Member
- Messages
- 332
As long as we start up competition reviews again, we can easily hold committees, judges and teams accountable.
Robby Benipal
Member
- Messages
- 38
This competition seemed sketchy from the beginning since they were not posting it anywhere public for a very long time. I had to find out through other teams that this was even happening. The same people are hosting another competition in New York called "Bhangra in the City" on April 13, so teams beware...
pshizzle97
New Member
- Messages
- 2
It’s quite evident that looking at Hi-Fi Marketing’s trajectory, they do not seem to be fit to run bhangra competitions and I think BTF is a great place to warn future teams who apply for competitions run by them to be cautious.
Our team also recently competed at Vice and had a similar experience as others did. One thing I want to point out is that things did not start going downhill that weekend. They were disorganized from the start. Upon receiving our acceptance, we reached out to Rahul about details on exact location and hotel rates so that we could submit funding requests to our undergraduate student government. He was initially quite responsive but dropped the ball a couple weeks after. He released the registration packet 3 weeks past the date stated which put us in a tough position, funding wise. He also said he was going to release the lineup on New Year’s Day but ended up posting it a week later which, though minor, only proves my point. Essentially, Rahul failed to meet us halfway from the start.
Another major issue was the lack of communication between Rahul and the liaisons. Teams depend on the liaisons for up to date information on the events of the weekend as well as helping us get supplies and getting around town, especially teams like us who flew in and don’t have a car. However, our liaisons were kept as much in the dark about the weekend as we were, which is no fault of their own. Some were also assigned to more than one team which made it difficult for them to be accessible to us. It’s unfortunate that transparency was an issue because I’m sure more of us would be more sympathetic towards Rahul if he was open about the reality of the situation and kept us updated.
Competitions are required to provide transportation from the hotel to: the mixer, venue, afterparty, and airport. This was not consistently provided. Our team received transportation to the mixer and the venue but had to uber to the party and airport as well as coming back from the mixer and the venue. In fact, my co-captain and I were left with no transportation back from the mixer after we had a captain’s meeting that ended late at night even though we were told we would be provided with a shuttle. We were willing to let it go because Rahul told us they would reimburse us for the money we spent on transportation, but we have yet to receive this reimbursement.
In terms of the venue, although it was disappointing to have to perform in a gymnasium, this wasn’t my main concern. Our tech time was only 10 minutes long and it was a couple hours before the show was going to start. Not only did we not have enough time to adjust to the stage after the dimensions changed three times, but we didn’t have enough time to debrief after tech time as we had to immediately start getting ready for the show. In addition, we were told that we wouldn’t have any lighting cues which we were fine with as long as there was stage light. Hence, we didn’t have any cues during tech time. Later in the day, apparently, they were able to get their system together and decided at the last minute that they were going to do lighting cues. But because some teams, like us, were unable to practice with them, our cues were completely messed up in the actual performance. Half of our performance was essentially in the dark, making it difficult to even see where we were going.
A smaller but just as relevant issue was lack of practice space. This, again, should have been provided. The hotel provided us with meeting rooms on Friday, but we could not use them past 8 pm so most teams had to resort to the parking lot which ended up being an issue with the other hotel guests. If we were given a proper space to practice, all issues would have been avoided.
The last major point I wanted to bring up was the judge’s meeting after the competition. It was a bit shocking that the judges were under the impression that we wouldn’t have a judge’s meeting after the show. The purpose of this meeting is for captains to receive useful feedback on their set in order to keep improving. Once the judges agreed to having a meeting, they only gave us five minutes per team which made it difficult for us to thoroughly discuss the set and any follow up questions from that. I understand that it was impromptu, but we also weren’t sure whether we would receive any written notes or score sheets. We depend on this feedback for future competitions and it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t spend more time discussing this with the judges. This is not meant to target any of the judges because just like the liaisons, they were kept in the dark about a lot of details and did their best to accommodate despite everything.
Not getting gear, attending a mixer in the dark 4 hours late, and many other details were only the cherry on top of quite a dysfunctional weekend. But the purpose of my post is not to shit on Rahul or Hi-Fi Marketing. Should you be wary of applying and attending comps run by them? Absolutely. But this post is meant to bring important issues to the attention of other committees that may run into similar issues in the future when holding competitions.
But above all, keep dancing! ?
P.S. Don't indulge in false advertising. Vice was advertised in Miami and Rahul even said "Welcome to Miami" at the mixer when we were an hour away, in Boca Raton...don't go down that rabbit hole.
Our team also recently competed at Vice and had a similar experience as others did. One thing I want to point out is that things did not start going downhill that weekend. They were disorganized from the start. Upon receiving our acceptance, we reached out to Rahul about details on exact location and hotel rates so that we could submit funding requests to our undergraduate student government. He was initially quite responsive but dropped the ball a couple weeks after. He released the registration packet 3 weeks past the date stated which put us in a tough position, funding wise. He also said he was going to release the lineup on New Year’s Day but ended up posting it a week later which, though minor, only proves my point. Essentially, Rahul failed to meet us halfway from the start.
Another major issue was the lack of communication between Rahul and the liaisons. Teams depend on the liaisons for up to date information on the events of the weekend as well as helping us get supplies and getting around town, especially teams like us who flew in and don’t have a car. However, our liaisons were kept as much in the dark about the weekend as we were, which is no fault of their own. Some were also assigned to more than one team which made it difficult for them to be accessible to us. It’s unfortunate that transparency was an issue because I’m sure more of us would be more sympathetic towards Rahul if he was open about the reality of the situation and kept us updated.
Competitions are required to provide transportation from the hotel to: the mixer, venue, afterparty, and airport. This was not consistently provided. Our team received transportation to the mixer and the venue but had to uber to the party and airport as well as coming back from the mixer and the venue. In fact, my co-captain and I were left with no transportation back from the mixer after we had a captain’s meeting that ended late at night even though we were told we would be provided with a shuttle. We were willing to let it go because Rahul told us they would reimburse us for the money we spent on transportation, but we have yet to receive this reimbursement.
In terms of the venue, although it was disappointing to have to perform in a gymnasium, this wasn’t my main concern. Our tech time was only 10 minutes long and it was a couple hours before the show was going to start. Not only did we not have enough time to adjust to the stage after the dimensions changed three times, but we didn’t have enough time to debrief after tech time as we had to immediately start getting ready for the show. In addition, we were told that we wouldn’t have any lighting cues which we were fine with as long as there was stage light. Hence, we didn’t have any cues during tech time. Later in the day, apparently, they were able to get their system together and decided at the last minute that they were going to do lighting cues. But because some teams, like us, were unable to practice with them, our cues were completely messed up in the actual performance. Half of our performance was essentially in the dark, making it difficult to even see where we were going.
A smaller but just as relevant issue was lack of practice space. This, again, should have been provided. The hotel provided us with meeting rooms on Friday, but we could not use them past 8 pm so most teams had to resort to the parking lot which ended up being an issue with the other hotel guests. If we were given a proper space to practice, all issues would have been avoided.
The last major point I wanted to bring up was the judge’s meeting after the competition. It was a bit shocking that the judges were under the impression that we wouldn’t have a judge’s meeting after the show. The purpose of this meeting is for captains to receive useful feedback on their set in order to keep improving. Once the judges agreed to having a meeting, they only gave us five minutes per team which made it difficult for us to thoroughly discuss the set and any follow up questions from that. I understand that it was impromptu, but we also weren’t sure whether we would receive any written notes or score sheets. We depend on this feedback for future competitions and it’s unfortunate that we couldn’t spend more time discussing this with the judges. This is not meant to target any of the judges because just like the liaisons, they were kept in the dark about a lot of details and did their best to accommodate despite everything.
Not getting gear, attending a mixer in the dark 4 hours late, and many other details were only the cherry on top of quite a dysfunctional weekend. But the purpose of my post is not to shit on Rahul or Hi-Fi Marketing. Should you be wary of applying and attending comps run by them? Absolutely. But this post is meant to bring important issues to the attention of other committees that may run into similar issues in the future when holding competitions.
- Make sure you’re hitting deadlines from the start. Time management and transparency are imperative in running a comp. If a delay is necessary, be upfront and honest. Teams respect committees who don’t try to hide anything and meet them halfway. If you expect us to have a killer performance, we expect to attend a killer comp. Or at least an organized one.
- One liaison per team! They’re humans, guys. Attending to one team’s needs throughout the weekend is hectic enough and their efficiency will only decrease when you add more load. And make sure they have answers when teams ask them questions. If they are just as clueless as we are, there’s no point in even having a liaison to begin with.
- Tech time should always be in the morning and should be at minimum, 20-25 mins. Most comps already do this, so I am not going to elaborate further. And make sure lighting cues are squared away at this time.
- Always provide transportation from the airport to the hotel as well as to the venue and mixer. Any comp related event should always have transportation provided as well as a practice space for each team.
- Make sure judges are aware that they are to meet with each team after the show to discuss feedback on the set. A comp without a post judges meeting is unacceptable. And make sure enough time is allotted for each team.
But above all, keep dancing! ?
P.S. Don't indulge in false advertising. Vice was advertised in Miami and Rahul even said "Welcome to Miami" at the mixer when we were an hour away, in Boca Raton...don't go down that rabbit hole.
Last edited:
nathan.e
New Member
- Messages
- 10
Can't speak for everyone but bhangra on the rocks came off as pretty well organized. I can't recall any major problems