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I'm not sure how many of you are following Elite 8 Bhangra 2012 right now but these teams, while technically may not be as clean as some may have expected...their ideas are off the chain?!

The show is still going on but AEG just revealed six girls in the middle of the 18-man routine...24 people on stage?!, Joshiley Jawan did a flash mob during their ending segment, and APD just went up and had one of their members, whose last performance it was, propose to his girlfriend DURING their routine...



If E8 Bhangra 2012 (and the couple years before) is any predication of how teams should approach E8 Naach, then April can't come sooner.

UPDATE:
NYPD just had a gimmick heavy spartan theme with full props - so well executed
UNC Bhangra Elite just brought out out their UNC Marshing Tar Heels Drumline in their routine (reminds me of Jhalak jungle year)

UPDATE:
SMD - Garba in the middle of their Bhangra set, legit.

WINNER of E8 2012: UNC Bhangra Elite
Congrats - Two wins in one night (UNC beat Duke too)!! That's so legit and so well deserved.

no kidding. year of the gimmicks.

on another note - such a good day to be a tar heel.

Awesome that Bhangra Elite won! Congrats to them!

But yeah, seems like there were pretty sick gimmicks. If the proposal team won, probably would have made the proposal a little crazier (the proposal was real, right?)

And here I thought fusion teams had the craziest gimmicks.

While this was definitely a year of gimmicks, I personally think what was more important was the fact that teams tried outdoing themselves more than their competition. That is what makes E8 Bhangra the sickest Bhangra competition there is. Since Emdo has extended this to the Fusion/HFD circuit, I personally am hoping that the teams do not end up disappointing anyone. Even the weakest team at E8 Bhangra was a winner in their own right. That is what is expected of the fusion circuit as well.

Bring out your gimmicks, bring out your stunts, bring out everything you have. But the dance is what matters. I am hoping for an even crazier Elite 8 Naach!!!

The gimmicks, stunts etc. were some next level shit, unbelievable, but what made it even more awesome was that UNC won with pure dancing, the drumline was a good addition but their routine wasn't molded around it. UNC went in after teams dropped with 0 hype and just simply danced and won.
This is where our circuit loses focus at times, the team that dances the best doesn't end up winning because teams outproduce them, perfect example - last year's pennstate - best DANCE team of the year, but their number one critique was why don't you guys change your theme or up your production value - but I say why should they have to - we are DANCE teams not musical/production teams. another example, WA - yeah they do their gimmicky stuff but they have been killing comps with their dancing ability, their backdrop is always nice but you forget about it because their killing it as dancers. just wanted to throw in my 2 cents.

+1 ^

It's almost laughable to see reviews of teams after competitions sometimes

esp., when pple say nothing was memorable about their performance - even though if a judge could actually break it down, their dance value/ability was stronger than many of the other teams - but distractions such as amazing costumes, elaborate sets/backdrops, gimmicks - keep everyone from seeing that. I like all of that as much as the next person, but to an extent it comes down to the finances you have.

it's one thing if pple said that this is what the circuit is about (and some do), but when I see some people post about how the circuit should be all about dance, but then give poor reviews of teams that were actually stronger choreo wise and dance wise, I can't take them seriously anymore

moreover, I say all this having been on a team (a couple of yrs ago) that competed few weeks apart at 2 BA bid comps and got poor reviews the first time, and got amazing reviews the second - and the things we changed (included a digital backdrop, added a costume change, added one gimmick, we had 3 small steps changed)

In the end it made us realize - what people judge the vast majority of the time is everything but the dance itself, but then go post on DDT about how weak the dance was.

I agree with both of the above. Honestly last year I was in awe of PSU cause of their choreo and sheer dancing ability and was at a loss when they got zero recognition from judges at both JS and BA (Zahanat and Zor got best choreo at both). I hope the E8 Naach judging reflects something similar to what E8 Bhangra is, that bring your gimmicks and stunts, but in the end the best DANCING team should win. Elite 8 Naach is a dance competition.

As much as we beat this topic to the ground and each person has their opinion, I think the key is striking a balance for your team between the two. Dances, at least in my opinion, are not simply a means to showcase strong, intricate choreography, song choice, supplemented with gimmicks, but a form of storytelling. The reason why HFD teams are mesmerizing to watch in my eyes is because of their ability to carry through a story or idea from start to end through the medium of dance. There is no one mode of dance or way to judge a competition or style in which to approach it. PSU did their thing and outshined the majority of the circuit in terms of choreography, but then you have teams like Fizaa who in my eyes strike a great balance between production and strong choreography with good music choice.

What UNC did at E8 was definitely out dance them, but unlike VCU who competed as well and was flawless in execution but lacked a memorable moment in their routine, what UNC did on top of their superb, clean routine was add that extra cherry on top with their "production" x-factor through their drumline gimmick. It is the marriage of the two, one not overpowering the other & vice versa, that made their dance not only successful but memorable as an Elite routine.

I assume you are talking about this years elite 8 vcu? Definitely agree if that's the case, the basketball ending was distracting and took away from the dancing. On the otherhand there is the first elite 8 VCU end of their performance which was pretty much the definition of a memorable moment/xfactor.

definition of epic xfactor ending http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... CTg#t=376s

I think there is a lesson also to be learned from the way elite 8 played out this year.
Side note: +999999 to the organizers of elite 8 for the way they release judging sheets for completely transparency for everyone. I pray they do the same for elite 8 naach.
This year elite 8 was coined the 'year of the wild card,' well it really turned out to be the year of the absurd amount of gimmicks. Of the teams that were among the top was NYPD, and one of the things that actually ended up hurting them in the end was the number of gimmicks and a few of those gimmicks just simply not hitting (ending was not received well and there were so many start and stop pauses). No doubt that NYPD had mind blowing Toronto style bhangra but they lost in large part due to the bulk of gimmicks.

With that said something that disturbs me is when teams in the fusion circuit straight up jack/steal/take/borrow gimmicks and such from epic performances like this. I've been noticing it increasingly lately but nothing has been that heinous yet. As long as no one tries to recreate this VCU gimmick, the AEG navi gimmick, propose, or anything of that sort its all good. I highly encourage teams to watch some quality bhangra and step outside the box of the way this circuit currently tries to dance bhangra. In my opinion bhangra is incredibly depreciated in this circuit due to the lack of staying true to the art form of this genre of dance.

ok late night rant over.

I was thinking of having us do an all-boys segment, then it turns out one of the boys is a girl, who proposes to her boyfriend (who is dancing on stage). After he says yes she will do a backflip off of his shoulder while playing the drums, and land in a powerful jugni squat. Then she puts her drumsticks together and they become a spear, and she uses the drums plus her spear to become a Spartan. After that the whole team does a flash mob off stage.

^ HAHAHAHAHA

This right here^^ just straight lol's haha

but back onto the topic being discussed, I'm from the bhangra circuit and the closest I've been to the fusion circuit is UH Nasha and Depsi FOI last year so before I get bashed on for my post lemme clarify that I know nothing of the fusion circuit. After following e8 bhangra for the past couple of years (pretty much since it started) I think you guys are taking this wrong. Yes e8 is a dance competition but its e8 not just any comp. You can't simply apply to e8 you have to be chosen. and you're chosen on how consistently you compete and place. Not sure if its the same for naach but for bhangra your region even matters (except for this year due in part to a high number of drops) 2 teams per region (canada east,west, us east,west). So that being said if you're already chosen at e8 everyone knows you can dance thats already a given thats why its so heavily focused on the gimmicks. these are gimmicks that teams would not do elsewhere. APD backflips and three man towers yea they did towers before but 3 man and to backflip off them and just multiple towers with towers on boards that people are holding (see last year's set). People drive hours and i mean hours all the way to DC just for this comp because these are teams that are known to place all the time and known to be the best at what they do - dance but at e8 along with their dance creativity comes into place and thats when gimmicks kick in. I'm looking forward to e8 naach just because fusion sets already have such creativity that just can't be done in bhangra (the themes, stopping, different costumes) and when given an extra portion of a rubric to mess around with thats due in part for gimmicks i can only imagine what teams will come up with if not this year next year I'm hoping for crazy gimmicks.

For those complaining about how some comps watch your dance yet others watch your dance-its upto the comp how they want to establish themselves and its upto that comp to select judges that fit the criteria that they wish to establish themselves as. If they want to be a comp that is known for liking gimmicks and then teams start doing crazy gimmicks specifically for that comp. thats completely upto them. Thats what the rubric is for, that's why we as teams hope that the rubric is given to us early enough to make those slight changes in our set and hope for that placing.

Oh and side note: yes the proposal was real.
sorry for the long ass post

It all goes full circle my man. KJ brought out a girl years back...Panda brought out a girl a few years ago...AEG brought out a girl this year. Bhangra teams have jacked garba formations for years and vice versa. Tons of bhangra teams these days look at old school fusion teams to get their gimmicks (lights, formations, use of rafters, etc. etc.). Tons of fusion teams jack bhangra and garba...it would be nice to see something unique, but thats rare these days so I personally don't expect it. I think its a cool if a team transforms a gimmick into something completely new or pays tribute to when the gimmick was used, thats kinda cool although not all audience will get it. Its hard to find a fusion team that hasn't jacked something from ABDC these days or any other reputable dance youtube video.