First review!
NOTE: I had took down some mental notes so if some of my information is incorrect, or if you don't agree with my opinions, please don't chase me down with a pitchfork in hand.
Overall Comments: Show was really good! All the teams put on performances they should be proud of and from an audience point of view, simply awesome. Also, the judging seemed to have favor "dance" more than "production value" this time around.
UIUC Fizaa- Mr. and Mrs. Singh -
In one word, flawless. I don't think I saw a single blunder or mess up and they executed their dance and theme well. Even though they went first, they had plenty of energy. The main thing that bothered me though was that almost all stunts were re-used from last year and even a little bit of choreo. They still had a fresh approach for a lot of their dance, but no denying that the things that worked from last year were used this year. Had a very big production value and the story was fairly knit together.
UC Dhadak- A Team -
I have really grown to like this team. The girls on this team are ridiculous and that one girl doing continuous flips was pretty crazy. All in all, this is a relatively new team to the circuit, but they dont look anything like new dancers. Choreo was very strong and very fast, but then they used a video to play during their performance as a digital backdrop. I think this took away the tempo from the dance. Also, stage usage wasn't as good as other teams. Some cool formations like the two lines where the girl kept flipping through were there, but something was still lacking. Overall, strong, and still amazes me they only have 2 guys.
BU Jalwa - Terminator -
The team I came to support, so no comments (so no one says i am being biased), but very proud of them
UCLA Nashaa - Writer in India -
Almost the same thing as the videos they put up. Even the mom gimmick, which I dont think was as good as when they first did it. I think the thing that hurt this team the most was the fact that they have been doing the choreo for so long, its gotten boring to them. I definitely did not see the same energy in them as I saw in the videos and expressions dropped here and there. Dance was spot on in terms of cleanliness and execution (there was a little flub with the name banners I believe, but thats it). They added a few things here or there, but no big changes.
UCI Zamana- She's the Man/ Dil Bole Hadippa -
I was quite impressed with this team. It seemed like Zamana is re-invented. They added a love story element, which I don't remember seeing in a video, but still quite fusiony (which I personally like over HFD type). The girl was a beast, did all the same stunts and choreos like the guys. I thought they werent as clean as they have been in past years, nor cleaner than the other teams. The male leads expression kept dropping too, which kept taking away from all of it. But very good performance none the less.
BSB - Gladiator -
Home crowd, great dancing. They had a lot of support and took full advantage of it. Almost consistent choreo as earlier in the semester, made a few changes here or there. Was quite entertaining! They had a flash mob in the audience for the bhangra section and had drexel bhangra come out from banisters. Really strong dancers, but wasnt that clean. They were typical BSB which is always great because the crowd always enjoys their performance.
USC Zeher- Girl trying to become the next big bollywood actress and Dying hero gets her there -
This team surprised me. I could tell that they really earned their placing at Tufaan. The male lead was really good, I think there was quite a disparity between him and some of the other dancers. The theme was interesting, but a bit cheesy sometimes, but good integration and great dancing, but not that clean. It seemed like some of the guys were off by a half a beat for some of the portions. Very very solid performance.
DE Kamaal- HIMYM-
I was laughing from the intro video, nice way to go almost start like your egyptian theme and go into HIMYM. I have seen a video of your live performance and obviously Bollwood Smash and I think you guys really did take the best parts of both and bring it together into a theme that made sense. Great choreo, but energy lacked at times and the lead seemed to be getting tired at the end. Energy dropped, but a lot of fun to watch! I definitely think in terms of entertainment value, these guys were very up there.
UCSD Zor- Two brothers, one disciplined, one kinda floaty, discipline one goes to war, other realizes he has to be better-
Not the best summation of their theme, but I definitely think they changed their theme for the better from previous performances. all the leads were good. Choreo was definitely the best of the night. The theme was intense, but they still had some entertainment value. Everything hit and definitely a really strong dance. Congrats on first!
U of A Om Shanti- Black swan-
First of all, hot theme and hot dancing. Black swan was a pretty hot dancer too. Very good dance, and definitely great choreography. Male lead was very strong as well. Both swans (sisters I believe) were good and almost everything about their dance seemed very different from what you usually see. Very impressed and seeing as I have never seen them before, I thought they lived up to the expectation in terms of dance and quality, but I think some of the other dancers on the team need to match the energy level of the leads, or it shows. But very very good. Congrats on second!
I dont remember who won all the individual things, but some one will put it up.
General Comments: It seemed to me that the teams that had the most "production value" was fizaa, nashaa, and BSB. Everyone else had a theme and integrated it, but saw more dance. It could be because of the digital backdrop. I think fizaa was the only team that used it to its potential.
Very pleased that everyone is pushing the boundaries of what we now call filmi-fusion dancing, but I think teams generally need to re-invent some of their choreography. I see the same variations of bollywood steps, which is good at alot of parts, specially ones with alot of movement as there is a lot of mobility, but I really didnt see a single segment that absolutely, mind blastingly, blew me away.
Also, I think some teams focus on storylines too much. integration of theme is great, but sometimes it looks like you dance to make the story, not the story to make the dance (if that makes sense).
Personally, going into the judging, I had no idea who would win because I didnt know what the judges are looking for. In terms of full package, I felt fizaa had it better than everyone, but choreography and dance wise, Zor had it, and creativeness in dance went to Om shanti. I felt alot of the teams did well and it was probably really hard to choose a first and second.
Also, side note, streamers being expoded into the audience over and over again got annoying lol. things like that are being re-used, but its not as cool anymore.
Overall, I think it was a successful BA 2012.
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