Psant
UNC Bhangra Elite Alum, Brandeis Bhangra
- Messages
- 434
First of all, props to the Virsa Punjab Da organizers for really stepping up the quality of the competition this year; everything seemed upgraded and much more polished. The venue was amazing and everyone I met was very welcoming and courteous. Our liaison, Angela, was awesome and she stayed with us for basically all of the rehearsals and the show.
Pre-mixer: I personally thought it was kind of a fail and not really worth going to. All that we did was pick show order out a hat and then we ate pizza. I think I heard something about a boliyan competition, but honestly, how many music teams are going to have someone with the capacity to sing a boliyan competitively. I feel as though the point of a mixer should be to encourage communication and intermingling of teams, but it's a little awkward when everyone is just sitting there. Maybe in the future, you guys could implement some sort of game or dance off?
Rehearsals: Ran 1.5 hours late. We weren't too happy about that, considering we drove 40 minutes in the morning and we essentially had to stay in the lobby for the whole time because we couldn't check into our hotel yet. We were sixth in show order too, so, a simple phone call would have saved us some time. But, regardless, after the wait, everything went smoothly. The full stage lights made everything look awesome and, once again, the venue was superb.
Actual Show: To be frank, the emcees weren't really that funny at all. There was some sort of airplane theme to their whole routine that has been overdone and the introductions weren't even pertinent to the team they were introducing. It just seemed like a bunch of brown stereotypes thrown together. Then, they just seemed to stop caring after intermission or maybe there was a time constraint and they just said "And now...here's _____ team." I know it's a charity competition and all, but there was literally 20 straight minutes of speeches after intermission. I feel as though breaking that up would add to the smooth flowing of the show. People were getting antsy clearly in the crowd. The tech was also lacking; it just looks really unprofessional when you literally see someone opening up a video file and seeing the desktop. I wasn't a fan of only letting four people on stage per team at the end for awards either, but maybe that was a venue restriction.
Afterparty: It was wild and I loved the fact that you could walk from the hotel. From what I remember, everyone seemed to have a blast. DJ Ace was on point.
Teams:
DCMPAA: Brought their all-girls squad. It didn't really stick out to me and a lot of their girls appeared to be very young and inexperienced. It looked like they had a lot of fun on stage though and they had a TON of crowd support. I think I heard multiple air horns blowing for them.
JJ: Their beginning saaps formation was SICK. Shahrukh, dude, you are a formations mastermind. The khundey circle was where everyone held each other's khundey was also amazing. It was slightly messy at times and I saw more mistakes than the usual JJ routine, but you had really strong dancers and amazing stage presence. There were so many nonsymmetrical formations and my mind was literally blown by trying to understand what was going on haha. Definitely deserved first place. Nice vardiyan too, they're Furteelay's right?
PDAP: I think it was the same set from Burgh. It was solid and creative, but other than the two red male jodis, the rest of the dancers appeared a little inexperienced. I love the squat bedi weave thing you guys do. Overall a pretty entertaining set. I think the Burgh set was cleaner though.
KPGD: Really surprised me! There was so much creativity there. I love how guys used little flower vases as your stage markers haha; that's really fitting. The mix was on point and there were plenty of effects. All your dancers dance differently though, and I think that's what took away from your set. I realize you had to outsource a lot for this competition, but I think the overall form of everyone was what held you back. The balloons in the mela were pretty cool haha. OH, and the new vardiyan are SICK. The embroidered flower on the vest is awesome and I love the colors.
NYPD: I didn't really get to see the whole set because I ran backstage when I thought there was intermission, but from what I did see, you guys were pretty clean. Some of the formations were slightly off, but the overall nakhre and form was good. I was expecting a little more hype in the mix though. I think the set was a pretty well deserved second place.
UNC: I love my team haha. I hope the airhorn hyped you up.
FAUJ: Damn, for your first competition, that was a pretty sick set. The sher was on point and the whole army theme was really creative. I'm from near Boston haha and that was the first time I was thoroughly impressed by a set from a Boston team. The carrom board in the mela was on point and the scooters were sick too. For coming from so far, FAUJ had a TON of crowd support. Shout out to Prashant in the crowd; I hope what was left of the airhorn helped. Vardiyan were sick too. I think if you guys just cleaned up a little, this will be a placing team soon.
CMU: I liked the Packers/Steelers intro thing at the beginning. You guys were really clean and the hype was definitely there. I love your saaps song and your formations were really dynamic! There were mistakes here and there, but overall, a very solid set.
Exhibition: NC State: Same as the AKD set. Definitely had the hype from the home crowd and a lot of creative ideas. If you guys focus more on individual form, then I think you're going places. Chirag, you ripped it dude.
Overall, VPD 2011 is the best VPD I've been to. Congrats to all placing teams!
Pre-mixer: I personally thought it was kind of a fail and not really worth going to. All that we did was pick show order out a hat and then we ate pizza. I think I heard something about a boliyan competition, but honestly, how many music teams are going to have someone with the capacity to sing a boliyan competitively. I feel as though the point of a mixer should be to encourage communication and intermingling of teams, but it's a little awkward when everyone is just sitting there. Maybe in the future, you guys could implement some sort of game or dance off?
Rehearsals: Ran 1.5 hours late. We weren't too happy about that, considering we drove 40 minutes in the morning and we essentially had to stay in the lobby for the whole time because we couldn't check into our hotel yet. We were sixth in show order too, so, a simple phone call would have saved us some time. But, regardless, after the wait, everything went smoothly. The full stage lights made everything look awesome and, once again, the venue was superb.
Actual Show: To be frank, the emcees weren't really that funny at all. There was some sort of airplane theme to their whole routine that has been overdone and the introductions weren't even pertinent to the team they were introducing. It just seemed like a bunch of brown stereotypes thrown together. Then, they just seemed to stop caring after intermission or maybe there was a time constraint and they just said "And now...here's _____ team." I know it's a charity competition and all, but there was literally 20 straight minutes of speeches after intermission. I feel as though breaking that up would add to the smooth flowing of the show. People were getting antsy clearly in the crowd. The tech was also lacking; it just looks really unprofessional when you literally see someone opening up a video file and seeing the desktop. I wasn't a fan of only letting four people on stage per team at the end for awards either, but maybe that was a venue restriction.
Afterparty: It was wild and I loved the fact that you could walk from the hotel. From what I remember, everyone seemed to have a blast. DJ Ace was on point.
Teams:
DCMPAA: Brought their all-girls squad. It didn't really stick out to me and a lot of their girls appeared to be very young and inexperienced. It looked like they had a lot of fun on stage though and they had a TON of crowd support. I think I heard multiple air horns blowing for them.
JJ: Their beginning saaps formation was SICK. Shahrukh, dude, you are a formations mastermind. The khundey circle was where everyone held each other's khundey was also amazing. It was slightly messy at times and I saw more mistakes than the usual JJ routine, but you had really strong dancers and amazing stage presence. There were so many nonsymmetrical formations and my mind was literally blown by trying to understand what was going on haha. Definitely deserved first place. Nice vardiyan too, they're Furteelay's right?
PDAP: I think it was the same set from Burgh. It was solid and creative, but other than the two red male jodis, the rest of the dancers appeared a little inexperienced. I love the squat bedi weave thing you guys do. Overall a pretty entertaining set. I think the Burgh set was cleaner though.
KPGD: Really surprised me! There was so much creativity there. I love how guys used little flower vases as your stage markers haha; that's really fitting. The mix was on point and there were plenty of effects. All your dancers dance differently though, and I think that's what took away from your set. I realize you had to outsource a lot for this competition, but I think the overall form of everyone was what held you back. The balloons in the mela were pretty cool haha. OH, and the new vardiyan are SICK. The embroidered flower on the vest is awesome and I love the colors.
NYPD: I didn't really get to see the whole set because I ran backstage when I thought there was intermission, but from what I did see, you guys were pretty clean. Some of the formations were slightly off, but the overall nakhre and form was good. I was expecting a little more hype in the mix though. I think the set was a pretty well deserved second place.
UNC: I love my team haha. I hope the airhorn hyped you up.
FAUJ: Damn, for your first competition, that was a pretty sick set. The sher was on point and the whole army theme was really creative. I'm from near Boston haha and that was the first time I was thoroughly impressed by a set from a Boston team. The carrom board in the mela was on point and the scooters were sick too. For coming from so far, FAUJ had a TON of crowd support. Shout out to Prashant in the crowd; I hope what was left of the airhorn helped. Vardiyan were sick too. I think if you guys just cleaned up a little, this will be a placing team soon.
CMU: I liked the Packers/Steelers intro thing at the beginning. You guys were really clean and the hype was definitely there. I love your saaps song and your formations were really dynamic! There were mistakes here and there, but overall, a very solid set.
Exhibition: NC State: Same as the AKD set. Definitely had the hype from the home crowd and a lot of creative ideas. If you guys focus more on individual form, then I think you're going places. Chirag, you ripped it dude.
Overall, VPD 2011 is the best VPD I've been to. Congrats to all placing teams!
