For those following the live blog yesterday-sorry for stopping before the end of the show! My phone died side stage and mid post. I'll do a full post about the weekend soon!
Sent from my iPhone
Monday, May 30, 2011
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Bruin continued!
Jawani girls are about to go up. Their new suits are beautiful and the ladies look pumped for their performance.
Amy is doing the intro/sher and her voice is absolutely amazing. Amazing energy, clean choreo and the crowd seemed to love them.
Aeg is up next. Waiting on side stage looking for them and just realized they are entering from the audience! They are wearing grills the glow. Yes, I just said that.
Formation changes are cray good. Dudes just grabbed the daangs with the saaps. Makes no sense now but the video will.
They just did a laser thing a la beyonce at the billboard awards.
Holy moly they just finished the dance by going into the audience and dancing in the aisles. They totally won this crowd over and are serious, serious condensers.
Sent from my iPhone
Bruin!
Khalsa junction/apd collabo is up next. The energy in this place is insane! The guys are behind a prop with the kj logo and getting totally pumped up.
Mix started with a VoiceOver introducing the teams as the hometown heros. The guys are setting up the infamous truck. Saap intro and the crowd went nuts. Every single
Dancer is going full out and it's so
Obvious they are loving every single second of this
They just a two man tower in full
Choreography. Wowza.
They pulled in yaar anmulle and given the history of these teams, I might have a tear in my eye.
Three level tower at the end to seal the deal. They just won everyones hearts if not first place. Standing o from the crowd.
Mix started with a VoiceOver introducing the teams as the hometown heros. The guys are setting up the infamous truck. Saap intro and the crowd went nuts. Every single
Dancer is going full out and it's so
Obvious they are loving every single second of this
They just a two man tower in full
Choreography. Wowza.
They pulled in yaar anmulle and given the history of these teams, I might have a tear in my eye.
Three level tower at the end to seal the deal. They just won everyones hearts if not first place. Standing o from the crowd.
Bruin, again!
Smd is up now killin em. Energy is crazy good and the crowd seems to be responding well. Like I said yesterday, the mix is fun. It sounds a little quiet back here but that might be because I'm off to the side. They just did the dougie, in case you were wondering. And now they are doing dhamaal to beyonces "run the world." their formations look a little crammed on stage but they are adjusting well. Crowd is giving them a great response.
Bruin live post!
Hi all! I'm posting from side stage at bruin so
Please pardon the sloppy formatting!
So far: bruin committee performed and hyped up the audience! Bk went first and killed it. Violin player for the win. They were fun to watch-great energy and the crowd loved them.
Second up was the hpd/vdw collabo. Riculously good. I'm side stage so I can't see formations and details but from here, the performance was sick! I love watching these guys dance. Barbie is up now and brought out a dude dancer. They are the second team of the night to use the "choli ke pichhe" beat.
Stay tuned for more!
Please pardon the sloppy formatting!
So far: bruin committee performed and hyped up the audience! Bk went first and killed it. Violin player for the win. They were fun to watch-great energy and the crowd loved them.
Second up was the hpd/vdw collabo. Riculously good. I'm side stage so I can't see formations and details but from here, the performance was sick! I love watching these guys dance. Barbie is up now and brought out a dude dancer. They are the second team of the night to use the "choli ke pichhe" beat.
Stay tuned for more!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Turn Up The Lights In Here Baby
[Post title refers to: Kanye West "All Of The Lights"]
What's good! First post from Bruin! Sorry for the delay--the weekend has been nuts and it is only Saturday afternoon!
A couple updates:
The mixer was great. The teams met in the lobby around 9pm to be bussed over to the venue in Century City. Everyone was suited and booted and looking foine. Despite some difficulties with the venue, the Bruin Committee pulled through and delivered a good time. The DJs were great (a wonderful mix of hip hop and bhangra) and teams actually stayed and hung out! The food was good and, as promised, those plastic plates really made a difference.
I tried interviewing a couple people while there and am including the interviews below! Thanks to everyone for putting up with me asking the same questions over and over and over again. And sorry the little thumb print thing below is like the worst close up ever for each of you. And me. For all of us, really.
Today most teams are practicing and getting ready for the show. SMD was nice enough to let me in to their practice. A short clip of them practicing below. The video is mad short and really shaky. Oops. It was so awesome seeing them run through. Their mix is dope, the choreo is fun and the formation changes are going to be ridic-u-lous. Watch out, Bruin.
Speaking of the ladies of SMD, I am writing this post by the hotel pool while they are all playing marco polo. Actually, I just looked up and they are all holding hands making some formation in the pool saying cheese (right after they sang the California Girls song). They have definitely taken the fun level of this pool up a couple notches.
Hopefully will have some more updates later tonight!
What's good! First post from Bruin! Sorry for the delay--the weekend has been nuts and it is only Saturday afternoon!
A couple updates:
The mixer was great. The teams met in the lobby around 9pm to be bussed over to the venue in Century City. Everyone was suited and booted and looking foine. Despite some difficulties with the venue, the Bruin Committee pulled through and delivered a good time. The DJs were great (a wonderful mix of hip hop and bhangra) and teams actually stayed and hung out! The food was good and, as promised, those plastic plates really made a difference.
I tried interviewing a couple people while there and am including the interviews below! Thanks to everyone for putting up with me asking the same questions over and over and over again. And sorry the little thumb print thing below is like the worst close up ever for each of you. And me. For all of us, really.
Today most teams are practicing and getting ready for the show. SMD was nice enough to let me in to their practice. A short clip of them practicing below. The video is mad short and really shaky. Oops. It was so awesome seeing them run through. Their mix is dope, the choreo is fun and the formation changes are going to be ridic-u-lous. Watch out, Bruin.
Speaking of the ladies of SMD, I am writing this post by the hotel pool while they are all playing marco polo. Actually, I just looked up and they are all holding hands making some formation in the pool saying cheese (right after they sang the California Girls song). They have definitely taken the fun level of this pool up a couple notches.
Hopefully will have some more updates later tonight!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Now Let Me Welcome Everybody To The Wild Wild West
[Post title refers to: "California Love"]
It is officially BRUIN TIME, BABY! (And a vacation day for me yippee!) Hence the California Love reference. I feel like that song plays at least 36 times over the course of Bruin weekend and every single person does the C-Walk and throws up the West Side sign (even if they are from Arizona...I mean some other non-California state).
Exciting news: I will be blogging the events of the weekend! And as long as things work out as they are supposed to, this will include fun video footage from the various weekend events--mixer, team practices, pre-party, performances, etc. I mean, don't expect the most amazing quality video for all of these events (my trusty flip should be able to do the job) but DO expect some wonderful and funny footage.
To the teams--YAY I can't wait to hang out with old friends, make new friends and capture the fun of the weekend. To readers/people hoping they were at the show but couldn't make it--feel free to give me feedback over the weekend on what you'd like to see (if anything).
The quick rundown of what has happened so far:
I was in Westwood yesterday and stopped by the Bruin President's apartment to say hi with some friends. The apartment was jam packed with food, water, and awesome plastic plates that people at the mixer better appreciate. The organizers were hard at work organizing last minute details. They are putting a ton of work into getting ready for the weekend and from what I could tell--they have spared no detail.
In other news, the Bulls lost yesterday. Which really put a damper on the evening. But now I can't wait to see Dirk killin em in Miami. My call is the Mavs in 6. Yes, I am for real.
I will be at the hotel later today capturing some pre-mixer footage (hopefully). So please check back in!
It is officially BRUIN TIME, BABY! (And a vacation day for me yippee!) Hence the California Love reference. I feel like that song plays at least 36 times over the course of Bruin weekend and every single person does the C-Walk and throws up the West Side sign (even if they are from Arizona...I mean some other non-California state).
Exciting news: I will be blogging the events of the weekend! And as long as things work out as they are supposed to, this will include fun video footage from the various weekend events--mixer, team practices, pre-party, performances, etc. I mean, don't expect the most amazing quality video for all of these events (my trusty flip should be able to do the job) but DO expect some wonderful and funny footage.
To the teams--YAY I can't wait to hang out with old friends, make new friends and capture the fun of the weekend. To readers/people hoping they were at the show but couldn't make it--feel free to give me feedback over the weekend on what you'd like to see (if anything).
The quick rundown of what has happened so far:
I was in Westwood yesterday and stopped by the Bruin President's apartment to say hi with some friends. The apartment was jam packed with food, water, and awesome plastic plates that people at the mixer better appreciate. The organizers were hard at work organizing last minute details. They are putting a ton of work into getting ready for the weekend and from what I could tell--they have spared no detail.
In other news, the Bulls lost yesterday. Which really put a damper on the evening. But now I can't wait to see Dirk killin em in Miami. My call is the Mavs in 6. Yes, I am for real.
I will be at the hotel later today capturing some pre-mixer footage (hopefully). So please check back in!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
As My Reflection In Light, I'ma Lead You
[Post title refers to: Common, "The Light" ]
Whoa, whoa, whoa--another long period between blogs?! Oops! Big things going on in my world. Ya'll don't even know. For example, I got a car wash the other day. It was pretty crazy (no, really it had been like a year or something absurd so it was long overdue and definitely an aberration in my usual weekend activity). This weekend my friend Jon and I decided we needed a random sports team to be really excited about between basketball and football season (I don't like baseball and the impending end of the NBA season is just too much for me to handle). So, we have adopted the Club Deportivo Chivas MLS team. It is completely arbitrary. See Jon's blog post about it here. No, I don't know much about soccer. But I am pretty excited about my new found summer obsession (after the NBA playoffs are over that is). And yes, I have plenty of non-sports-related and non-car wash-related things to do (like work).
As for the blog title post, aside from genuinely loving The Light and the beauty of the lyrics/song (it is one of my favorites), I thought the John Steward-Bill O'Reilly battle over Common's invitation to the White House was relatively interesting and I just so happened to be thinking of Common. And yes, I just posted a link to World Star Hip Hop instead of You Tube. In other current events that happen to be in my head at the moment--hey Mavs, I see you; Gibson, you are a beast; errybody Dougie (RIP M Bone); and I appreciate you Grant Hill/Jared Dudley/Rick Welts).
Okay back to bhangra! So for today I have my first guest blogger! The wonderful Hans Gill! (Cheering, applause, yippees, woohoos!). You might remember me talking about Hans in my first couple posts--he was one of the guys I talked to early on about joining LBC and one of my first friends on the team back, back in the day. He is also an old school LBC member, which is where the awesome throw back picture above comes from.
I asked Hans to answer a couple questions about my joining the team and about his experience with LBC. He also adds some of his insight on the judging and nature of competitions. My self absorbed questions (you should laugh when I make fun of myself otherwise it just makes it awkward for both of us...and yes I mean just me and you because we might be the only two left reading at this point) and his wonderful answers are below. In the brackets I insert my random and probably unnecessary commentary. Enjoy!
1. So my first few blog posts makes it seem like I pretty much stalked LBC. Would you say that is how we met?
Haha well I don't think that was the case..was it? Well even if you did, you certainly had me fooled. I remember you asking me a few times about dancing with us and in general most of us were not really into the whole idea of dancing at competitions with girls because we perceived it to be a bigger headache than it was worth. My comments only apply to the dancing at competitions not parties or anything else like that =)
3. I heard that you considered putting me in a pagh and having me dance the whole time. Seriously?
Oh man that was the brilliant Idea of Sukh if remember correctly. He said in his Sukh style "na hell naaaa we puttin her in a paaghhhh plaayaa".
4. What do you remember about our first practice for Bruin 2006?
The practice was a bit sloppy (that's common) and I remember being a bit frustrated (nothing uncommon again). I do remember you asserting yourself (in a good way) by being very eager to learn and wanted to keep practicing. "Come on guys lets practice" "we gotta get this down". The gentle approach to getting all of us to be focused on practice.
My question to you is what did you think of the first practice? Amazed at our talent? Amazed at our ability to dance in a parking lot? or were you bewildered at how we actually get it done? Somehow the idea of 30 minute breaks and 5 minutes of routine run through didn't really make sense to you but I think you have learned that is the secret sauce along with Gurjit's hilarious jokes.
In all honesty, this question is something which Gurjit, Sukh or Ambi can answer to the exact minutes. I don't know what they eat but whatever it is, its equivalent to bhangra memory pills. These guys can tell you about each dancer was on your Michigan team at the VIBC competition and what their position on the floor was at 4:15, If they were doing the jugni or the morni OR if they were out of position.
5. Did you think I would continue to dance with you guys after Bruin?
When you danced with us at Bruin, I seriously thought it was going to be a one time thing because we didn't want to utilize a gimmick every time, similar to this other down south team which brought out this extremely talented little kid EVERYTIME if you know what I mean, that gets old you know? =) [The smiley face implies he is joking, for all of you getting your banans in a bunch. Speaking of banans.]
And now here we are, 4 years strong with Jazz as a gimmick highlight. Oh wait no you're not a gimmick I take that back and will leave the highlight part of my comment in there =). You brought / bring great energy, structure and overall joyful character to the team and if I knew in 2006 what I know now I would say no question you were going to be part of LBC for life! [SELF PUMP for the winnnnn!]
6. How did you feel going in to Bruin 2006?
Bruin was always the big competition where the best teams performed and I'm sure it was the one event which was marked from day one on every teams calendar. The whole event was just amazing, the huge crowds, amazing parties, great organization (except for the after party nonsense of teams rarely getting in). I usually felt that we were under prepared as a team for the larger events but that is me always being the worry wart. In all honesty, if I have one regret its that I didn't let myself enjoy, as much as I should have, the times which led up to the performances (hanging out, partying and practicing) because I was always too worried about getting the things right. The guys had the right attitude and joked around a lot more and knew that things would work themselves out on stage as they usually did.
There is one thing which I think is important to discuss and that is judging (related to order of the show). I clearly remember picking the order in the show was by far the most frustrating part for every team. It had to do with many things. If you picked the first spot to dance you pretty much were going up when some of the crowd hadn't even shown up. Also the practice time was going to be super early and LBC was never one to back-down from a night of partying till 6am the night before competition. A typical conversation night before a show: Hans: "guys we should get a good nights sleep and can party all we want tomorrow after the show". Ambi (a specific moment which I still remember from LA): "mannnnnnn, F*** sleeping I'm having hella fun right now". Just for that reason alone I always prayed we go later on stage later in the show.
Most importantly if we picked to go up 1 or 2, we knew we would generally be scored lower than the other teams. This is by no fault of the judges rather I think its the structure of the judging. Many of the judges were not qualified to judge and everyone knew that but here is the more important point; Even if I was put in position to judge 10 teams I would err on the side of caution and not be able to give proper scores to the early teams because I have nothing to compare against.
As the judges see more and more they are able to hone in their scores because they have other performances to compare against. What is required is unbiased comparative judging of a performance. I say comparative because that is naturally what everyone in crowd does and that is how it should be judged. The scoring should be done when ALL The performances have completed. The judges should be able to see a clip of each team and then based on the notes they took during the performance give their scores.
Some are going to argue that each performance should be scored individually with no other performance affecting the score but this is not possible because most judges in the US are not qualified in the art of bhangra and rare are times when teams meet the criteria of TRUE Bhangra. Most of what we see is entertaining fusion bhangra and there is nothing wrong with that, judging has to be structured accordingly. That is just one idea of how to improve it but really there needs to be some research on how other talent shows judge and adopt similar ideas into the bhangra world. Jasmine lets head it up and see what we can do with this =)
7. Anything else you want to add?
The blog which you have created really is a great way for many to share in the experience of the bhangra scene. One thing I grew to understand over my many years dancing is that at the end of the day its all about friendships. If it wasn't for bhangra I wouldn't have never met some of my closets friends (LBC), KJ, yourself.
I hope that the current teams are able to step back and realize though by nature these are competitive events there's far more to gain than just being called the best team. LBC made it a point to be social (perhaps a little too much at times but that's just how we were). From these interactions with other individuals who share the same passion, culture and love for the art of bhangra we gained lifelong friends and that is a prize possession in itself.
Monday, May 2, 2011
Let The Record Reflect The Records We Set
[Post title refers to: Lupe Fiasco, "Never Forget You"]
Oh no! Another big gap between my last post and this. Between family stuff, work and playoff basketball, my brain has been fully consumed. Speaking of playoff basketball, how ca-razy would it be if we saw a Grizzlies-Hawks finals!? I mean, it is not going to happen, but the way these teams are playing right now I just can’t get enough! My early season call was a hopeful one for a Thunder-Bulls matchup. I am still holding on for that. But I am sure you didn’t come to my blog to read about my perspective on basketball. So, back to bhangra. Actually before I get back to bhangra I have to share an idea! I’d like to analogize bhangra team personalities to basketball team personalities. I don’t actually mean I’d like to as much as I mean I would like other people to.
So, riddle me this: who gets to be the Lakers? Sher? APD? KJ? Who on those teams is like Ron Artest? What team is tryna build up the reputation of being hard like the Mavs? (Clutch defense at the end of tonight's game (Game 1) by Jason Kidd yeeee). Who is the JJ Barea of your team? I know some of ya’ll haters make fun of the short kids. Who always puts him/herself in the front in formations (Kobe (I am a Kobe hater for days and days and days))? Who recently realized maybe they shouldn’t put themselves in the front (Lebron) and gave way to the real star to shine through (Wade)? Who performs awesome in the first half and then goes 33% in the second (Westbrook)? Who gets flops around and feigns injury (Peirce and/or Fisher)? Ah, I could go on for days. A quick high five to Kenny the Jet for calling Phil out for not knowing the substitution rule aaand I'm done.
As a reminder of where we left off—Bruin Bhangra 2006! Am I really still talking about Bruin 2006? Who would have thought I could drag this out into so many posts. For those of you fully uninterested in this stuff and wondering when I am going to get to my thoughts on the scene instead of constantly talking about myself—it is coming. I don’t know when, but I will get there eventually. Until then, I hope you are enjoying the story!
Alright, Already, The Show Goes On.
So showtime had arrived and, unfortunately, we were first in the show. There was a lot of semi-hype around LBC that year. One reason for the hype was that LBC was not in the original Bruin lineup. The rumor is that we didn’t actually get in to the show. I don’t know the full details of what happened but my recollection is that when the lineup was released, LBC was not on it. And then there was some discussion/drama on Punjab Online and for whatever reason we were added. Someone correct me if you remember differently! So, before the performance, we had a good group of people chanting our name, getting us pumped for the dance.
As we were waiting in the wings we were all clumped up, getting excited. Gurjit’s brother, Sukh, aka Cooks, was also in the back with us because he was our “flag guy”—the guy in the intro waiving the flag. Dude was mad nervous about being the flag guy. He would waive the flag around and ask if he was doing it right, if we wanted him to do it differently, etcetera. Funny story: He realized right before showtime that he had forgotten to wear a belt and that raising your hands while waiving a flag around in semi baggy jeans in front of thousands of people could lead to a potential mishap. Thankfully, it did not.
So while Cooks was practicing (yes, he was really practicing) I happened to look up at the exact moment he was perfecting his waive and got poked right in the eyeball. I couldn’t see! Everything went blurry! I had a freak out moment and had a serious flashback: once my senior year of college I was at hip hop practice and poked myself in the eye with my own thumb while doing some choreography. I had to make an emergency ophthalmologist appointment (okay fine, my sister made it for me) and learned that I scratched my own cornea. I had to use special eye drops and refrain from fast, spastic movements for two weeks. If you know me, you understand how difficult this is. So after getting hit in the eye with the flag I freaked out for like 2.2 seconds. Cooks still feels bad about this (no really, he does—he is the one that brought it up like three weekends ago, prompting me to write this paragraph). Turns out everything was fine.
Pump up the Jam.
The performance was amazing. That Nas intro still gets me every time. At about 5:50 is where I come into the dance at the back of the triangle formation. Oh that triangle formation. I remember that as we practiced in the Walnut Creek Bart station I suggested that I come out in a triangle formation because I had seen something similar (but totally not the same) in a performance in Michigan for the Indian Students Association (the Dola Re entrance formation for my Michigan people reading this). But spatially, I could not figure out how to move the triangle and how it would work. PJ from Khalsa Junction was at this practice and he contributed to the idea, helping us figure out how to move it. He remembers the story as HIM coming up with the triangle but let’s not give him too much credit. So I will say that, collectively, we all came up with the triangle spinning. And BAM, there I was.
I will never, for the rest of my life, forget the feeling I had when I heard the crowd’s reaction to my appearance. It was the loudest and most impressive crowd response I have ever encountered. It made me feel excited, happy, proud, and humbled all at the same time. I have butterflies just thinking about it. So I danced my little heart out. And then I couldn’t wait to see the video.
Of course, watching the video back I self-critiqued like crazy. All the little parts where I was doing the move slightly different than everyone else, or the ending where my leg was coming in when it should have stayed out. That kind of thing. I picked the performance apart and I braced myself for the feedback. I was convinced that people would say they didn’t like it or that I danced too differently from the rest of the LBC guys, or whatever other critique they could come up with. But I was the only girl dancing with an all guys team, I was fully prepared for any criticism that was heading my way and I knew that ultimately, a lot of it would make me a better dancer. But in that moment, all I wanted to do was watch the rest of the teams dance, cheer my friends and fellow competitors on, and enjoy the show with my team.
You win some. You lose some.
And then it was time for them to announce the winners. All the teams gathered on stage, dancing around and holding hands before the top three teams were announced. Third place, NOT LBC. We cringed, but were slightly excited. Second place, NOT LBC. We cringed again, and were a little less excited. First place, NOT LBC. I won’t lie-we were disappointed to say the least. But for us, it was more about respect, having fun and putting on a good performance. We called ourselves the “People’s Champs,” and I still think we look back and think we earned that title in 2006. We shook the “loss” off and did what we normally do—prepared ourselves for the after party.
Oh, Bruin after parties. We walked from our hotel to the after party (I wore white shorts, a red shirt and red wedges to match my performance outfit exactly like the corny person that I am) and found a long, long, line at the venue. Being the overly assertive person that I am (okay some people might call it aggressive) I marched right up to the front of the line and explained to the organizer that it was ridiculous that they were refusing entry to competitors but allowing non competitors in through the front. I expressed how disappointed I was that our team was being held outside while all of our friends were inside. Funny how life works out: the person I was explaining all of this to was Poonam, who I later befriended and now still see at competitions from time to time. At the time, however, I had no idea who she was and explained that we just wanted to dance our faces off.
Reflection eternal.
After Bruin 2006 I wondered if I would continue to dance with LBC; if they would want me to continue to dance on the team and if they were sick of my constant request to practice, my lame jokes, my annoying, non-stop emails. They were. They still are. But five years later, I am still around. Emailing them nonsense all day, telling them that we should meet up and practice, writing theses on why we should dance again, and so on.
A random note: While I am at it, I figure I should use this post to also dispel a rumor that I didn’t even know existed until last year--the rumor that I performed at Bruin and continued to dance with LBC because I was dating one of the members. I nearly spit my water out when I heard this. In my head, it just made sense that everyone understood that we had a brother sister relationship. We fight like we are family and we love like we are family. And probably much to my parents’ wedding-talk-loving dismay, I am not, and never have been, involved with anyone on LBC. Just had to get that off my chest.
That just about wraps up Bruin Bhangra 2006. But a little pump before I stop—this year’s Bruin Bhangra show is coming up at the end of the month. If you don’t already plan on going, you should change your plans and go. Buy tickets. Go to the pre party, the show and the after party. I don’t care how old you are or where you live. It is worth it. Come find me and say hi. I will be wearing something bright. And waiving with both hands. At nobody in particular.
Oh no! Another big gap between my last post and this. Between family stuff, work and playoff basketball, my brain has been fully consumed. Speaking of playoff basketball, how ca-razy would it be if we saw a Grizzlies-Hawks finals!? I mean, it is not going to happen, but the way these teams are playing right now I just can’t get enough! My early season call was a hopeful one for a Thunder-Bulls matchup. I am still holding on for that. But I am sure you didn’t come to my blog to read about my perspective on basketball. So, back to bhangra. Actually before I get back to bhangra I have to share an idea! I’d like to analogize bhangra team personalities to basketball team personalities. I don’t actually mean I’d like to as much as I mean I would like other people to.
So, riddle me this: who gets to be the Lakers? Sher? APD? KJ? Who on those teams is like Ron Artest? What team is tryna build up the reputation of being hard like the Mavs? (Clutch defense at the end of tonight's game (Game 1) by Jason Kidd yeeee). Who is the JJ Barea of your team? I know some of ya’ll haters make fun of the short kids. Who always puts him/herself in the front in formations (Kobe (I am a Kobe hater for days and days and days))? Who recently realized maybe they shouldn’t put themselves in the front (Lebron) and gave way to the real star to shine through (Wade)? Who performs awesome in the first half and then goes 33% in the second (Westbrook)? Who gets flops around and feigns injury (Peirce and/or Fisher)? Ah, I could go on for days. A quick high five to Kenny the Jet for calling Phil out for not knowing the substitution rule aaand I'm done.
As a reminder of where we left off—Bruin Bhangra 2006! Am I really still talking about Bruin 2006? Who would have thought I could drag this out into so many posts. For those of you fully uninterested in this stuff and wondering when I am going to get to my thoughts on the scene instead of constantly talking about myself—it is coming. I don’t know when, but I will get there eventually. Until then, I hope you are enjoying the story!
Alright, Already, The Show Goes On.
So showtime had arrived and, unfortunately, we were first in the show. There was a lot of semi-hype around LBC that year. One reason for the hype was that LBC was not in the original Bruin lineup. The rumor is that we didn’t actually get in to the show. I don’t know the full details of what happened but my recollection is that when the lineup was released, LBC was not on it. And then there was some discussion/drama on Punjab Online and for whatever reason we were added. Someone correct me if you remember differently! So, before the performance, we had a good group of people chanting our name, getting us pumped for the dance.
As we were waiting in the wings we were all clumped up, getting excited. Gurjit’s brother, Sukh, aka Cooks, was also in the back with us because he was our “flag guy”—the guy in the intro waiving the flag. Dude was mad nervous about being the flag guy. He would waive the flag around and ask if he was doing it right, if we wanted him to do it differently, etcetera. Funny story: He realized right before showtime that he had forgotten to wear a belt and that raising your hands while waiving a flag around in semi baggy jeans in front of thousands of people could lead to a potential mishap. Thankfully, it did not.
So while Cooks was practicing (yes, he was really practicing) I happened to look up at the exact moment he was perfecting his waive and got poked right in the eyeball. I couldn’t see! Everything went blurry! I had a freak out moment and had a serious flashback: once my senior year of college I was at hip hop practice and poked myself in the eye with my own thumb while doing some choreography. I had to make an emergency ophthalmologist appointment (okay fine, my sister made it for me) and learned that I scratched my own cornea. I had to use special eye drops and refrain from fast, spastic movements for two weeks. If you know me, you understand how difficult this is. So after getting hit in the eye with the flag I freaked out for like 2.2 seconds. Cooks still feels bad about this (no really, he does—he is the one that brought it up like three weekends ago, prompting me to write this paragraph). Turns out everything was fine.
Pump up the Jam.
The performance was amazing. That Nas intro still gets me every time. At about 5:50 is where I come into the dance at the back of the triangle formation. Oh that triangle formation. I remember that as we practiced in the Walnut Creek Bart station I suggested that I come out in a triangle formation because I had seen something similar (but totally not the same) in a performance in Michigan for the Indian Students Association (the Dola Re entrance formation for my Michigan people reading this). But spatially, I could not figure out how to move the triangle and how it would work. PJ from Khalsa Junction was at this practice and he contributed to the idea, helping us figure out how to move it. He remembers the story as HIM coming up with the triangle but let’s not give him too much credit. So I will say that, collectively, we all came up with the triangle spinning. And BAM, there I was.
I will never, for the rest of my life, forget the feeling I had when I heard the crowd’s reaction to my appearance. It was the loudest and most impressive crowd response I have ever encountered. It made me feel excited, happy, proud, and humbled all at the same time. I have butterflies just thinking about it. So I danced my little heart out. And then I couldn’t wait to see the video.
Of course, watching the video back I self-critiqued like crazy. All the little parts where I was doing the move slightly different than everyone else, or the ending where my leg was coming in when it should have stayed out. That kind of thing. I picked the performance apart and I braced myself for the feedback. I was convinced that people would say they didn’t like it or that I danced too differently from the rest of the LBC guys, or whatever other critique they could come up with. But I was the only girl dancing with an all guys team, I was fully prepared for any criticism that was heading my way and I knew that ultimately, a lot of it would make me a better dancer. But in that moment, all I wanted to do was watch the rest of the teams dance, cheer my friends and fellow competitors on, and enjoy the show with my team.
You win some. You lose some.
And then it was time for them to announce the winners. All the teams gathered on stage, dancing around and holding hands before the top three teams were announced. Third place, NOT LBC. We cringed, but were slightly excited. Second place, NOT LBC. We cringed again, and were a little less excited. First place, NOT LBC. I won’t lie-we were disappointed to say the least. But for us, it was more about respect, having fun and putting on a good performance. We called ourselves the “People’s Champs,” and I still think we look back and think we earned that title in 2006. We shook the “loss” off and did what we normally do—prepared ourselves for the after party.
Oh, Bruin after parties. We walked from our hotel to the after party (I wore white shorts, a red shirt and red wedges to match my performance outfit exactly like the corny person that I am) and found a long, long, line at the venue. Being the overly assertive person that I am (okay some people might call it aggressive) I marched right up to the front of the line and explained to the organizer that it was ridiculous that they were refusing entry to competitors but allowing non competitors in through the front. I expressed how disappointed I was that our team was being held outside while all of our friends were inside. Funny how life works out: the person I was explaining all of this to was Poonam, who I later befriended and now still see at competitions from time to time. At the time, however, I had no idea who she was and explained that we just wanted to dance our faces off.
Reflection eternal.
After Bruin 2006 I wondered if I would continue to dance with LBC; if they would want me to continue to dance on the team and if they were sick of my constant request to practice, my lame jokes, my annoying, non-stop emails. They were. They still are. But five years later, I am still around. Emailing them nonsense all day, telling them that we should meet up and practice, writing theses on why we should dance again, and so on.
A random note: While I am at it, I figure I should use this post to also dispel a rumor that I didn’t even know existed until last year--the rumor that I performed at Bruin and continued to dance with LBC because I was dating one of the members. I nearly spit my water out when I heard this. In my head, it just made sense that everyone understood that we had a brother sister relationship. We fight like we are family and we love like we are family. And probably much to my parents’ wedding-talk-loving dismay, I am not, and never have been, involved with anyone on LBC. Just had to get that off my chest.
That just about wraps up Bruin Bhangra 2006. But a little pump before I stop—this year’s Bruin Bhangra show is coming up at the end of the month. If you don’t already plan on going, you should change your plans and go. Buy tickets. Go to the pre party, the show and the after party. I don’t care how old you are or where you live. It is worth it. Come find me and say hi. I will be wearing something bright. And waiving with both hands. At nobody in particular.
