Who's going to start new initiatives??

[Saleem]

Before launching this, a bunch of us were talking on the facebook group (join here if you're not in it yet) about new initiatives that could kickstart activity in the bhangra community. Each of these needs people to actually make it happen. Chime in below if you have another idea, or what you think you can kickstart with a friend or with your team:

1. Centralized list of competitions, teams, etc
2. BTF Ask Me Anything (AMA), asking either current dancers or judges about their experience.
3. Bhangra Podcast
4. Weekly Song translations (lots of demand for this)

What else could be done? Each thing needs someone to drive it-- it doesnt happen by itself

Regarding #1, I know there are a couple people looking to bring this together. One is the google doc of current competitions and results, which I've linked in the navigation bar above:

Others are working on the judging side, which is great.

#3 I know Ram aka @Saab is working on this

 

[scaplash]

@Saleem - I'm not much of a coder, but I wanted to know if there was a way to have a centralized resource that rated DJs/Prop places/Competitions. Kind of like a Yelp-TripAdvisor thing where people can put in the type of experience they had. A lot of new teams I feel like often repeat the mistakes that other teams, now more experienced teams, once made. -Could be helpful-idk what others thought about this idea

 

[Saab]

@scaplash pm me.

@Saleem some translations will be done via podcast, but do agree this is something that should be tackled.

If anyone else wants to help with the podcasts let me know!

 

[mithu]

For #2 you can use Reddit/Discord to have those kind of discussions.

@scaplash pm me.

@Saleem some translations will be done via podcast, but do agree this is something that should be tackled.

If anyone else wants to help with the podcasts let me know!

I like the idea of the podcast, but focusing purely on bhangra will be short lived. There is only so much you can do and bring in.
Maybe try focusing the culture as a whole (all of unified-punjabi culture).

For Example (going with your idea of translations): go into the history/main meaning of songs like challa, mirza, heer ranja, etc etc. Nearly everyone knows these songs, but nearly no on knows the actual meaning.

As a general note: Someone should transcribe these podcasts. Not everyone wants to sit through, or seek through podcast just to get a translation of a song.

 

[hardeep_singh]

too bad saleem and his cronies don't actually care about including punjabi culture in this bhangra oriented forum. the weekly song translation thing is jokes, so you want people to translate songs for those who don't understand punjabi but you don't want to provide an avenue for punjabi language discussions to occur which may allow for people to organically gain better insight into the culture. i'll keep re-iterating the fact that the bhangra scene is superficial with respect to punjabi culture and language understanding, most people don't care about either and the few who have an interest in either have no easily available resources to help them go deeper. to sukhmeets point about punjabi culture, there is a whole range of musical styles in punjabi culture far beyond what is explored in bhangra. i've never seen anyone try to discuss anything like that on this forum. so what do you people want? do you want to just talk about bhangra and disregard anything else about punjabi culture or do you actually want to understand what the language and dance are about? the current forum rules against posting in punjabi/gurmukhi are restrictive and ignorant, they hinder self-expression for those of us who want to have active dialogues in the language of our culture. everyone loves to shit on those deemed as uneducated punjabis who don't know how to structure strong english language responses on line yet aren't willing to provide an avenue for those same people to express their thoughts naturally on this forum even though they might be able to explain things with much better insight then those who grew up outside of punjab.

 

[mithu]

too bad saleem and his cronies don't actually care about including punjabi culture in this bhangra oriented forum. the weekly song translation thing is jokes, so you want people to translate songs for those who don't understand punjabi but you don't want to provide an avenue for punjabi language discussions to occur which may allow for people to organically gain better insight into the culture. i'll keep re-iterating the fact that the bhangra scene is superficial with respect to punjabi culture and language understanding, most people don't care about either and the few who have an interest in either have no easily available resources to help them go deeper. to sukhmeets point about punjabi culture, there is a whole range of musical styles in punjabi culture far beyond what is explored in bhangra. i've never seen anyone try to discuss anything like that on this forum. so what do you people want? do you want to just talk about bhangra and disregard anything else about punjabi culture or do you actually want to understand what the language and dance are about? the current forum rules against posting in punjabi/gurmukhi are restrictive and ignorant, they hinder self-expression for those of us who want to have active dialogues in the language of our culture. everyone loves to shit on those deemed as uneducated punjabis who don't know how to structure strong english language responses on line yet aren't willing to provide an avenue for those same people to express their thoughts naturally on this forum even though they might be able to explain things with much better insight then those who grew up outside of punjab.

+1

Bhangra isn't a culture. Bhagnra is a tiny part of the culture.
If you're a captain, you should learn at least a small part of the culture and attempt to pass that on to the dancers.
There was a post (won't say who) that basically said "fuck the culture, just do bhangra. It's just a dance form." If you have this mindset, please don't lead or even coach a bhangra ( or any cultural dance/activity) team. I have seen too many captains (even judges) that know absolutely nothing about the culture.

A "BTF" podcast is a nice place to start, if only the main focus will be preserving the punjabi culture as a whole and bhangra being a secondary thought.

 

[Romy]

@scaplash pm me.

@Saleem some translations will be done via podcast, but do agree this is something that should be tackled.

If anyone else wants to help with the podcasts let me know!

@Saab I'm down to help with the podcasts! Can also help with translations as well.

 

[Saleem]

I didn't realize I have cronies, but OK. You're very much welcome to discuss Punjabi culture, broader than bhangra, on the forum. Just start a thread-- no one's censoring you.

I don't think anyone here is condescending to non-native English speakers, and everyone is supportive of people contributing here. If you find otherwise, please report the post.

 

[faizan]

saleem doesn't care about the punjabi culture?

Hardeep, where were you in 2005 when he was leading cornell? When he built this forum. When he worked his ass off for bhangra and punjabi culture.

You need to sit down my friend. Please send us a list of "punjabi culture" threads you have created and promoted through thoughtful discussion? It's 2017, time to be positive. Being a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian is not a good look.

-sincerely, one of Saleem's cronies.

 

[Raúl Larsen]

Hi!

I've been involved in Bhangra for a while, but I've struggled a fair bit getting an account registered. Looks like the BTF upgrade helped to get me on this Forum, at last. Desi Dance Network, Inc. is a nonprofit company based in California, and I run its Public Relations branch. You can learn more by going to our website, desidancenetwork.org or PMing me. We have a number of initiatives including:

Completed and Active DDN Projects
Re: #1,
Public Database: Enter your team or competition information so that you can be contacted by competitions and other teams. This is the public database available to the circuit.http://bit.ly/1xUbclB
In addition to this, I have a much more extensive private database (250+ teams and comps), so if your competition or event needs to be connected to a specific team, or vice virsa (sorry, bad pun), I would be happy to act as an intermediary.

Re: #1,
Competition Calendar: A listing of published competition dates of the 4 circuits, with registration packet links, Application Links, updated deadlines for team application, liaison application, judging application, and exhibition application, as available.

http://tinyurl.com/ddncompdates

DDN Facebook Group:
Have your team’s Captains or competition’s Directors (or yourself!) added to the DDN Facebook Group. We have nearly 5,000 members and counting! Contact Raúl on Facebook or any of our DDN Moderators to be added.

Bhangra Captain's GroupMe:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/desidancenetwork/permalink/1815966081966229/
Desi Dance Network is looking to help coordinate captains and teams for the 2016-2017 season by providing updates on deadlines, DDN projects, advice for the next season, assistance in fundraising, and information for gig requests. If you are a Bhangra team, we would like you to update your team's captain information at the below link. This form is both updating team information and for adding your team's captains to a DDN Captains GroupMe, but your team may "opt out" if you choose not to participate in a DDN-sponsored GroupMe. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at rlarsen@desidancenetwork.org
https://goo.gl/forms/A3d01sut3HRAK9zO2

Bhangra Team Information Form (used for adding you to our gig request distribution list, among other projects): https://goo.gl/forms/A3d01sut3HRAK9zO2

Bhangra Directors GroupMe: http://goo.gl/forms/dCrbgqJ5TrkCJ0rt1

DJ/Producers GroupMe: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeR-6BbOBeCSYkApKZvJkyKhSnjk5Imn6SvpClTGuyqjwwe0Q/viewform?c=0&w=1

DDN LinkedIn for Desi Dancers: https://www.facebook.com/groups/desidancenetwork/permalink/1825201124376058/?match=bGlua2VkaW4=

Events
DDCon
Desi Dance Convention is a summer event during which we join artists, instructors, judges, and dancers for a weekend of learning. For more information, email rlarsen@desidancenetwork.org

Legends
Legends Bollywood Dance Championship is a national championship for Bollywood Fusion dance. It will be held on April 15th, in Los Angeles. For more information, email rlarsen@desidancenetwork.org

Things we want help with:
Captains Guide
I'm currently writing a Captains Guide for new teams and new captains, but I've so far covered primarily logistical needs. I would love help on the cultural side, to communicate the important aspects of respecting the circuit as it is for newcomers.

RGBTV - Raas Garba Bhangra TV
TL;DR I'm looking for recorders to compile videos of competitive performances.

The Raas Garba Bhangra TV (RGBTV) Initiative aims to record every competitive Desi performance from and to deliver those performance videos to the competing teams within 48 hours. Email rlarsen@desidancenetwork.org for more information or to get involved in helping provide this resource to our circuits.
www.facebook.com/rgbtv.videos
RGBTV works to showcase the talent every team brings to stage. However, it is often the case that organizers forgo the opportunity to perform on stage in order to provide the best possible event to viewers and participants alike. For this reason, RGBTV would like to invite any and all Board members of past or current competitions to submit videos to be shared on our page so that your talent can be appreciated by the dance community at large. Please message our Facebook or email rlarsen@desidancenetwork.org to be showcased on RGBTV!

Brand Ambassadors
TL;DR If you feel that you want to contribute by starting projects for DDN or helping us with our current work, apply to be a Brand Ambassador! *note* for Bhangra dancers, it is not required to be a university student.
https://www.facebook.com/desidancenetwork/posts/1740109316267562

Desi Dance Network is now accepting applications for university campus Brand Ambassadors! Brand Ambassadors will have a number of responsibilities, including: representing DDN on their respective campuses, updating DDN’s database for South Asian events across the country, and helping coordinate visiting DDN staff members (Executive Board, Moderators, other Ambassadors, etc). This program is meant to keep DDN current on South Asian events and student life on your campus, and will primarily ask you to stay active in the activities in which you are already involved. If you would like more information, please follow the link to the app below or email rlarsen@desidancenetwork.org with any questions! Brand Ambassadors will also be offered the opportunity to start new initiatives similar to those listed on this document, or to contribute to existing DDN projects.

Applications are reviewed at the end of each month http://goo.gl/forms/14C6YsTt3K5GBDqn1

--

Full listing of public projects:
http://tinyurl.com/DDNProjects

If you have any questions or concerns, you can contact me at rlarsen@desidancenetwork.org , PM me here, or add me on Facebook!

 

[Romy]

A few suggestions I have:

- A daily or weekly "Simple Questions/Casual Questions" thread that is pinned/stickied to the top of the Main Bhangra Discussion section. This thread can be used as an area for posters to ask one off questions that maybe doesn't need a separate thread for. Since these questions will be in a more centralized area, this will also lead to more responses than if these questions are in single separate threads. Example questions: "Are there any summer comps in California?" "Where can I buy plastic saaps?" "Any teams holding tryouts in New Jersey" etc.

- Resource guides and then quick links to these guides on the Main Bhangra Discussion section. Resource guides could be for example: How to request/work with a DJ to make a mix, how to generate money for your team, and how to have an effective practice with your team. They could also be more generalized. There would obviously be people who will post these questions or something similar regardless if we have these linked in the main forum but at least we will have resources available to get these posters going and help them answer their questions. We could get input from everyone in the BTF community and have a centralized guide or even a megathread that can be linked. Something like the thread "Crafting a well run competition: A dancer's perspective" can be a resource guide for new competition committees.

- Posters tagged as "Verified Advice Givers" or something similar. The prerequisites would need to be determined but it could be a poster that has given constructive criticism/critiques many times that was beneficial and helpful to teams that post their videos. These posters would need to have credibility and respect among their fellow BTF posters in order to get this title. They would only get this title if they are mod verified/approved or can be a vote system among BTF peers. This would give incentive to other posters to post more in these team video threads and post more useful critiques in order to be tagged as "Verified Advice Giver".

 

[siddyp]

<3

 

[HdBrar]

Very noice

 

[mafzal]

It's 2017, time to be positive. Being a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian is not a good look.

+1 Would love to see some initiative from you, hardeep. Despite your off-putting attitude, I think you have a lot to offer us and I bet you'd find a very receptive and eager audience if you dropped the attitude and took a more positive approach. Looking forward to seeing what kind of initiative you come up with (video series? podcast? blog?)

 

[hardeep_singh]

saleem doesn't care about the punjabi culture?

Hardeep, where were you in 2005 when he was leading cornell? When he built this forum. When he worked his ass off for bhangra and punjabi culture.

You need to sit down my friend. Please send us a list of "punjabi culture" threads you have created and promoted through thoughtful discussion? It's 2017, time to be positive. Being a contrarian for the sake of being a contrarian is not a good look.

-sincerely, one of Saleem's cronies.

you can discredit me and praise saleem as much as you want. it doesn't invalidate the fact that the policy which prohibits posting in punjabi on this forum is and always has been discriminatory. i've supported and encouraged threads and posts in the past which were written in punjabi multiple times only to see them get deleted(censored), i was also supportive of BAB posting their lineup in punjabi especially when many members, including saleem, chose to be critical of something they had every right to do. i know where you stand on the matter faizan and honestly i wish you would back up all your tough talk and start posting in shahmukhi, i would love to have a reason to learn to read another form of written punjabi.
there is absolutely no basis for the argument that members of this forum will feel excluded if punjabi/gurmukhi text is allowed to be used on this forum. i don't understand how anyone can be so biased when there is so much to be gained from it. you want translated lyrics? why wouldn't you want the lyrics available in written punjabi which would actually allow for proper analysis of the lyrics????? if punjabi is allowed on the forums i don't expect it to be overrun by solely punjabi speaking individuals, i rarely meet that many people at competitions who feel comfortable conversing in punjabi or even hindi instead of just english. maybe i'm just a weirdo but generally when i'm interested in something i don't understand i dedicate some time and energy to understanding it at least on a basic level, by not allowing punjabi to be written on this forum the people who may have interest are prevented from being exposed to it.
i do have a personal stake in the matter, i was in first grade when i moved to the US, i've forgotten how to read and write hindi but i retained my punjabi reading and writing skills; i'm fully aware of myown limitations and would love to have some motivation to have more punjabi in my life beyond conversational and the music i listen to. there are probably many others out there in the same situation, who would love to have some way to connect and discuss in punjabi. a punjabi poetry thread would be chill.
punjabi language is integral to bhangra music and dance, not allowing it to be written on this forum is shameful, nothing contrarian about it.

+1 Would love to see some initiative from you, hardeep. Despite your off-putting attitude, I think you have a lot to offer us and I bet you'd find a very receptive and eager audience if you dropped the attitude and took a more positive approach. Looking forward to seeing what kind of initiative you come up with (video series? podcast? blog?)

i'm not here to spoon feed the limited knowledge that i have to those who are less knowledgeable or more ignorant. i don't want to offer anything, what i want is to be challenged, i want knowledge dropped on my that forces me to re-evaluate what i know and drives me to learn. the resources and knowledge people need to learn more about punjabi culture are all out there for them to discover. just being punjabi doesn't provide much of a basis, some people are lucky enough to be a part of a family which values punjabi culture, others either grow up in a religious family where culture is deemed superficial and the only music they're exposed to is gurbani/kirtan or they grow up in a family focused on modernizing and disconnecting from all they deem backwards. i could podcast and blog and post and in the end it would all feel futile because i have so much more i want to learn.

 

[mithu]

As always, handful of vets are against/attacking couple people who want to bring a change.
Here's a simple solution: Why not create a sub-forum (like ones created for mixes, bhangra vids, main discussion...) for punjabi culture? Would it hurt? No. It'll actually help appreciate bhangra as a whole more.

I had personally reached out to people about it, and basically got same response (as well as "BTF has been dead, there's no point") as everyone else has to hardeep....

 

[angeblah]

@mithu , I would love to read more content about Punjabi culture. It's a shame that you got that kind of response, and the blame partially falls on users like me for not being more vocal.

Do it. I'll read it.

 

[scaplash]

I agree with @mithu -I don't think it would hurt to have that subforum. We have a simpler of version of that in the "History of Bhangra" pinned thread, which is a great resource that served both as historical and cultural context of bhangra. Maybe if that proved the basis for the new slight broader sub-forum, it could help contextualize much of the "common themes" in punjabi songs. And with regards to posting in Gurmukhi, @Saleem , is it possible to have a "translate" function like Go0gle does? (no idea about coding, so hopefully that's not a really dumb question) If it was possible, you could elect to "challenge yourself" as Hardeep would like or not.

 

[Saab]

I agree with @mithu -I don't think it would hurt to have that subforum. We have a simpler of version of that in the "History of Bhangra" pinned thread, which is a great resource that served both as historical and cultural context of bhangra. Maybe if that proved the basis for the new slight broader sub-forum, it could help contextualize much of the "common themes" in punjabi songs. And with regards to posting in Gurmukhi, @Saleem , is it possible to have a "translate" function like Go0gle does? (no idea about coding, so hopefully that's not a really dumb question) If it was possible, you could elect to "challenge yourself" as Hardeep would like or not.

Love this idea, and would love to see this posted somewhere. Don't think "Off-Topic" really covers this.

 

[Howie Magz]

All this beef, but a lot of homies on this forum are vegetarian tho.....