Yes! I have been invited to be interviewed on the Indian Satellite radio "World space" as a guest. They want to know about Gujarati culture in USA. You know I am going to open my big mouth and talk about American Raas (as I call it) and other dance forms that our kids (young adults) are performing in colleges and keeping the culture alive. I plan to talk about Rutger's use of "pink panther theme, BU's use of Boston tea party theme, Batata nu Shak etc. along with the usual serious stuff about how our culture is evolving in the west. I will try to get a voice recoding and post it here if they would let me.
India is crazy as ever. Mumbai is exploding with wealth. Now Bollywood defines Indian culture. It used to be the other way around. Culture used to define Bollywood.
Congrats to BU (my daughter's team). They were second, but I heard that the Boston competition was not terribly well organized. No comments on judges since my daughter is the captain.
I will attend Maryland Masti. I have heard that it is a good up and coming program, well organized. See you there. This will be my first Raas competition to attend this year.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Where is the real A.R. Rehman?
June 16 2007
I went to See the A.R. Rehman concert held in Dallas TX last night. I had seen one other concert here at the Nokia theater two years ago.
Remember I am talking about A.R. here, not some fly by night Bollywood concerts of drunks and concubines. I expected great sound, great singers singing their hearts out, and some serious live music.
I was very disappointed. Here is why. If you plan to plunk down one hundred bucks to see this guy, take this into consideration.
1 Sound: Local sound guy is a reputable one and has always done well. He has done many a Bollywood concerts, but the way he was asked to sit, he could not see the artists. Results were disastrous. When ever female singers were singing, their mike volume was too low for first five seconds. Volume would be raised and then in the next stanza it was properly adjusted. You would think that A.R. would get upset and do something as he was sitting right near the sound board. The ushers who have worked at the venue for a long time commented that these guys adjusted their own sound and it was not good. (Many of them were wearing their ear plugs that day. Several commented that this was bad and the previous week's Asha concert was worse.) Mind you, I have attended my share of Indian concerts and other concerts. Being an A.R. fan, I would have thought that his sound engineer would have done a better job. I know the local sound man they had hired and he has a high standard. I have used him for fairly complex situations and he tends to be precise, but he will not leave any microphone on that is not being used. May be it was his fault.
2 Music: Here is the real problem. There was no orchestra, which makes A.R. what he is. There was too much recorded music. You would hear large drum sounds when shiv Mani was not moving his hands? May be I am ignorant but some thing was not right. There was one violin and one cello player but the "violin sound" was so rich that it can only be produced by an prchestra or a synthesizer. Volume of the music was not proportionate to the singing (instruments being too loud), base was out of control. Some thing was not right. He brought in some "local" talent, which was really no talent to speak of and I did not pay to listen to some local talent of low quality.
3 Dances: Horrible.
I went to See the A.R. Rehman concert held in Dallas TX last night. I had seen one other concert here at the Nokia theater two years ago.
Remember I am talking about A.R. here, not some fly by night Bollywood concerts of drunks and concubines. I expected great sound, great singers singing their hearts out, and some serious live music.
I was very disappointed. Here is why. If you plan to plunk down one hundred bucks to see this guy, take this into consideration.
1 Sound: Local sound guy is a reputable one and has always done well. He has done many a Bollywood concerts, but the way he was asked to sit, he could not see the artists. Results were disastrous. When ever female singers were singing, their mike volume was too low for first five seconds. Volume would be raised and then in the next stanza it was properly adjusted. You would think that A.R. would get upset and do something as he was sitting right near the sound board. The ushers who have worked at the venue for a long time commented that these guys adjusted their own sound and it was not good. (Many of them were wearing their ear plugs that day. Several commented that this was bad and the previous week's Asha concert was worse.) Mind you, I have attended my share of Indian concerts and other concerts. Being an A.R. fan, I would have thought that his sound engineer would have done a better job. I know the local sound man they had hired and he has a high standard. I have used him for fairly complex situations and he tends to be precise, but he will not leave any microphone on that is not being used. May be it was his fault.
2 Music: Here is the real problem. There was no orchestra, which makes A.R. what he is. There was too much recorded music. You would hear large drum sounds when shiv Mani was not moving his hands? May be I am ignorant but some thing was not right. There was one violin and one cello player but the "violin sound" was so rich that it can only be produced by an prchestra or a synthesizer. Volume of the music was not proportionate to the singing (instruments being too loud), base was out of control. Some thing was not right. He brought in some "local" talent, which was really no talent to speak of and I did not pay to listen to some local talent of low quality.
3 Dances: Horrible.
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Retired from college choreography?
Now that is a novel idea. If you are involved with Raas, Bhangra or any other Indian dance form, you might want to consider this idea. This summer we were having a problem with young boy's Raas team. They were very conscious and needed a lot of time. Young boys dancing for the first time are the hardest to train, especially if they do not know each other well. Our esteemed choreographer (to whom I am married) thought that she would ask for some one's help. She asked our son, but he was too busy doing nothing. Then came a break through. A 15 year old student who has danced with our group since he was a baby sad the Raas. He was horrified to see how the young boys were doing. He started taking their practice and things went much better. So, if you are done with the college season, find some aunties dance school or some temple or church or what ever, collect a bunch of kids and start teaching. I promise you it will be fun. That is what I do. I get involved with "polishing" items, giving them objective feed back and encourage the groups that are performing. Here is a picture of boys from 2004 Bhangra. I promise you this will be as rewarding as any good activity.
Friday, May 11, 2007
FUTURE DANCERS
.JPG)
My wife runs a dance school. Here is a little plug for her. She will have about 150 participants dancing at Irving Arts Center. As usual there is Bhangra, Raas, Garba, other folk dances and bunch of classical dances. Participants are from age 4 to above 50. Many of these participants have gone on to dance at college level (UT, SMU, BU, UCLA, GW to mention a few). Some have become choreographers. The show will start at 3:30 PM (NOT INDIAN TIME) on May 19. Yours truly will be compering and running lights and sound and partially manage the stage at the same time. Make up will start around noon. Some one donated food, others donated drinks (not the funny kind, just juice), some one gave cash other one donated trophies. Entry fee is 10 bucks (used to be as low as three bucks for seniors a few years back).
If you are in Dallas, come see it. It will be a bot boring in the beginning when the little ones are dancing, but by the time the 15-18 year old will be doing Bhangra, audience will be going nuts. There is one Garba item that I hope to post on U tube some day. Amazing choreography. There is a 20 minute Ramayan piece done by the school teachers. There is a true "auntie dance" where all the aunties are dancing (I won't say which one, but if you see it you will know. I call it Aunties gone wild). Here is a picture of "Rangoli" on the stage and a youngster being helped by a volunteer with picture session.
Website "nrutyashala.org" check it out.
Comments from Pann State team
I have completely screwed this one up. I was trying to post the comments of Penn State "Head choreographer" but I will just have to copy them here.
Hey just want to let you know that I'm the head coreographer of Penn State. I'm not Guju, I'm Goan/Mangalorean and Catholic as well. I graduated already, but I read some of your blogs about the history and the proper Raas/Garba moves. I wish I knew that earlier, otherwise I would've taught that with my team. I joined the Raas team my Junior year and knew nothing about raas, garba, nor gujarati culture. I was very much ABCD. They only style of dance I did was Hip Hop, which I'm well known for. I joined the team because my friend wanted me to try it (He’s guju). The first year was fun, but we didn't do well at Raas Chaos 2004, here’s the performance - http://konkan.tv/view/e35291c6fa7fcf881949 . It was my first exposure of desi dance competition. I got discouraged that we didn’t place and that's when I lost interest in raas because 1)performance was not up to par 2)moves were poor 3)this team had no RHYTHM nor style. Next year, Junior year, someone spreads rumors in the first week of school that I was going to choreograph raas. So I was pressured. I wanted to do bhangra because I love the atmosphere and hype of the shows, even though we weren’t great. I didn’t want to do raas because the way practices were handle, but I knew that there had to be a team. So I took the offer. 1) I made sure our dance stood out 2)proper music selections 3) teaching them the proper dance steps with rhythm. I did my best with video research on raas/garba and reading articles about it. It was difficult for me as a leader because my teammates would hardly listen to me. I also edited the music mix. I added my own drumline and bass tune because it didn’t have that booming sound. Regardless of struggle, I made sure this team could dance, be presentable, and make history. We were the underdogs and no one expected us to win. You can check the youtube of Raas Chaos 2005 performance - http://konkan.tv/view/f5d19ec61575114d8a2d - we won this competition and got the Bid for B.O.B. In the past years, this tean has never done more than one competition nor done shows in the spring, so this was a learning experience for us. I was very worried about our performance because I thought our dance was not the same level as teams on the Midwest and west coast. So I decided to change up some moves and added one more song. To my concern, it hurt us by changing it. Instead of practicing over and over again, we did more changing than rehearsing. We placed third at Garden State Garba and did poorly at B.O.B. NYC. I haven’t seen our video performance from BOB NYC, but here’s our GSG performance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz1RYCci1Hw - Now my Super Senior semester, 90% of our team graduated (my close friends graduated) and we recruited majority freshmen. These are the worst to handle at practice, but luckily practices wasn’t as bad because I learned a lot from last year as a leader. Choreographed again and made the mix again with 11 songs with better drumline and bassline that I created. Our theme was Ride the Beat from Day to Night. A lot of people didn’t understand that until after Raas Chaos 2006. Here’s our performance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjb37ImSdt4 - unfortunately I didn’t perform with them because I was helping out Maryland Masti. I will tell you that story later. Anyways, I had high doubts on this team because our choreography and music was very different. I thought this team wouldn’t place, until I got a call. They shocked me and once again got a Bid to B.O.B. Chicago. We also place 1st at Garbafest in Boston, and that’s where I joined them in this performance, you will notice my long hair and me sliding on my barefeet - http://konkan.tv/view/0848a542e57d1595f58e . One thing I learned was not to change the dance, but instead practice hard at being flawless and perfection. And it paid off well at B.O.B. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhbKKbruO90 - This was a successful year for my Penn State team, and although we didn’t place at Garden State Garba after BOB Chicago, we still manage to have fun and entertain the audience. You’ll also notice in our dance that we didn’t do any stunts nor flips. We made sure the music, dance, and tradition stood out. Now I co-organized Dance-Fusion (bollywood dance competition) and Maryland Masti, which is a Raas/Garba Competition and I enjoy every minute of these teams perform. One most important thing that I taught my team is sportsmanship. We made sure we cheer’d, congratulated, and supported every team that performs on stage. The joy that they get when they hear chants from other teams makes them perform even better. Well I know this was really long, but I wanted to share my experience with someone who was knowledgeable in that dance era. Thank You, and I hope you enjoyed our dance.Also here is our Intro Videos (which I also produced):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLgvyl0wTgEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76w1qb1eR5M
MY RESPONSE:
Well, Goan?Menglori choreographer is quite welcome. I hope you read my comment on "Lahori choreographer". The only Raas team that won the B.O.B. "Best item" (not just Raas) for G.W. was a Pakistani guy who was originally a Bhangra man. He did get a lot of help from the team, but he put it all together. Us Gujjus have to eat a humble pie, since Raas may have originated in North, but it appears that "Garba" probably came from south India. So, it is natural that our friend would do wellat choreography. Goa has some of the most fascinating dances (now I know why you did so well with even slow movements, it is the Goan and Menglori element). Here are some of my comments about your team from an earlier blog. "Penn: Very good choreography. Choreographer is not afraid to "go slow". She or he knows that his dancers are able to show grace no matter what is the speed of execution. Best music selection. a traditional judge would score them high." I thought you guys would win, and I did insinuated that in my previous blog "out on the limb". If the judges were "california style" and if Berkeley team did their usual energetic stuff, they could have won. What I also like is the spirit of these two teams. By the way, my daughter is from BU and they won Maryland Masti. As far as "all time best team", here are my thoughts: "All time best team" must win against other catagories in B.O.B. The team would have place first or second in majore competitions, and should have won on both coasts. I do not want to get into that all time best stuff. All I know is that your item was very good and you did deserve to win. I suspect next year will be difficult. Don't be disappointed if you don't win next year as long as you can make a good dancer out of some ordinary guy who is on the team because his girlfriend dragged him there. Only other issue I have with all these teams is that they are all like their parents. "win, win, win". Why not "experience, learn, grow, keep tradition alive, make new friends". Well I was going to tear down my blog, but since some one was kind enough to write, I will keep it up for a while.
P.S. I bet our Goan?Menglori Catholic choreographer has a Gujju girlfriend whose last name starts with a P and first name is five letter long! (Just a wild guess).
Hey just want to let you know that I'm the head coreographer of Penn State. I'm not Guju, I'm Goan/Mangalorean and Catholic as well. I graduated already, but I read some of your blogs about the history and the proper Raas/Garba moves. I wish I knew that earlier, otherwise I would've taught that with my team. I joined the Raas team my Junior year and knew nothing about raas, garba, nor gujarati culture. I was very much ABCD. They only style of dance I did was Hip Hop, which I'm well known for. I joined the team because my friend wanted me to try it (He’s guju). The first year was fun, but we didn't do well at Raas Chaos 2004, here’s the performance - http://konkan.tv/view/e35291c6fa7fcf881949 . It was my first exposure of desi dance competition. I got discouraged that we didn’t place and that's when I lost interest in raas because 1)performance was not up to par 2)moves were poor 3)this team had no RHYTHM nor style. Next year, Junior year, someone spreads rumors in the first week of school that I was going to choreograph raas. So I was pressured. I wanted to do bhangra because I love the atmosphere and hype of the shows, even though we weren’t great. I didn’t want to do raas because the way practices were handle, but I knew that there had to be a team. So I took the offer. 1) I made sure our dance stood out 2)proper music selections 3) teaching them the proper dance steps with rhythm. I did my best with video research on raas/garba and reading articles about it. It was difficult for me as a leader because my teammates would hardly listen to me. I also edited the music mix. I added my own drumline and bass tune because it didn’t have that booming sound. Regardless of struggle, I made sure this team could dance, be presentable, and make history. We were the underdogs and no one expected us to win. You can check the youtube of Raas Chaos 2005 performance - http://konkan.tv/view/f5d19ec61575114d8a2d - we won this competition and got the Bid for B.O.B. In the past years, this tean has never done more than one competition nor done shows in the spring, so this was a learning experience for us. I was very worried about our performance because I thought our dance was not the same level as teams on the Midwest and west coast. So I decided to change up some moves and added one more song. To my concern, it hurt us by changing it. Instead of practicing over and over again, we did more changing than rehearsing. We placed third at Garden State Garba and did poorly at B.O.B. NYC. I haven’t seen our video performance from BOB NYC, but here’s our GSG performance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cz1RYCci1Hw - Now my Super Senior semester, 90% of our team graduated (my close friends graduated) and we recruited majority freshmen. These are the worst to handle at practice, but luckily practices wasn’t as bad because I learned a lot from last year as a leader. Choreographed again and made the mix again with 11 songs with better drumline and bassline that I created. Our theme was Ride the Beat from Day to Night. A lot of people didn’t understand that until after Raas Chaos 2006. Here’s our performance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjb37ImSdt4 - unfortunately I didn’t perform with them because I was helping out Maryland Masti. I will tell you that story later. Anyways, I had high doubts on this team because our choreography and music was very different. I thought this team wouldn’t place, until I got a call. They shocked me and once again got a Bid to B.O.B. Chicago. We also place 1st at Garbafest in Boston, and that’s where I joined them in this performance, you will notice my long hair and me sliding on my barefeet - http://konkan.tv/view/0848a542e57d1595f58e . One thing I learned was not to change the dance, but instead practice hard at being flawless and perfection. And it paid off well at B.O.B. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhbKKbruO90 - This was a successful year for my Penn State team, and although we didn’t place at Garden State Garba after BOB Chicago, we still manage to have fun and entertain the audience. You’ll also notice in our dance that we didn’t do any stunts nor flips. We made sure the music, dance, and tradition stood out. Now I co-organized Dance-Fusion (bollywood dance competition) and Maryland Masti, which is a Raas/Garba Competition and I enjoy every minute of these teams perform. One most important thing that I taught my team is sportsmanship. We made sure we cheer’d, congratulated, and supported every team that performs on stage. The joy that they get when they hear chants from other teams makes them perform even better. Well I know this was really long, but I wanted to share my experience with someone who was knowledgeable in that dance era. Thank You, and I hope you enjoyed our dance.Also here is our Intro Videos (which I also produced):http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLgvyl0wTgEhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76w1qb1eR5M
MY RESPONSE:
Well, Goan?Menglori choreographer is quite welcome. I hope you read my comment on "Lahori choreographer". The only Raas team that won the B.O.B. "Best item" (not just Raas) for G.W. was a Pakistani guy who was originally a Bhangra man. He did get a lot of help from the team, but he put it all together. Us Gujjus have to eat a humble pie, since Raas may have originated in North, but it appears that "Garba" probably came from south India. So, it is natural that our friend would do wellat choreography. Goa has some of the most fascinating dances (now I know why you did so well with even slow movements, it is the Goan and Menglori element). Here are some of my comments about your team from an earlier blog. "Penn: Very good choreography. Choreographer is not afraid to "go slow". She or he knows that his dancers are able to show grace no matter what is the speed of execution. Best music selection. a traditional judge would score them high." I thought you guys would win, and I did insinuated that in my previous blog "out on the limb". If the judges were "california style" and if Berkeley team did their usual energetic stuff, they could have won. What I also like is the spirit of these two teams. By the way, my daughter is from BU and they won Maryland Masti. As far as "all time best team", here are my thoughts: "All time best team" must win against other catagories in B.O.B. The team would have place first or second in majore competitions, and should have won on both coasts. I do not want to get into that all time best stuff. All I know is that your item was very good and you did deserve to win. I suspect next year will be difficult. Don't be disappointed if you don't win next year as long as you can make a good dancer out of some ordinary guy who is on the team because his girlfriend dragged him there. Only other issue I have with all these teams is that they are all like their parents. "win, win, win". Why not "experience, learn, grow, keep tradition alive, make new friends". Well I was going to tear down my blog, but since some one was kind enough to write, I will keep it up for a while.
P.S. I bet our Goan?Menglori Catholic choreographer has a Gujju girlfriend whose last name starts with a P and first name is five letter long! (Just a wild guess).
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Who is afraid of Virginia Wolf?
There was this old play about these two couples, who were emotionally cruel to each other. One of the women developed pseudo pregnancy and all. What I am about to say has nothing to do with Raas, but it needs to be said.
I am referring to what happened at Virginia tech. It is very relevant to Indian community along with other South Asian communities.
When Indians develop mental problems, they don't get help. Often they wait for a long time or deny that a problem exists. Generally it has been my experience that Indians and other immigrants, especially young college students who experience a break with reality, are very hard to treat. Parents often don't believe that their child has a problem. More often the college student is in complete denial and tries to avoid getting help. We Indians are just as susceptible to Depression, schizophrenia and alcohol abuse. Our communities have Bollywood Pollyanna view of life. We are obsessed with financial success. Parents are more concerned about the grades and salary that their children make than their happiness. This only fosters the denial.
What happened to Cho can happen to any one. Case that lead to the "duty to warn" rules involved an Indian with mental illness who killed some one. A young Indian fellow allegedly sufffering from mental illness (from a very successful, happy, reasonable well adjusted family that my friends know) killed his mother not too long ago. We also hear about uncles bumping off aunties. Aunties upset with uncles over drinking. We would like to believe that because we have good family support, we are immune from serious emotional problems. We blame bad luck and evil spirits. Our spiritual foundation is sometimes hollow because many of us grow up in families that don't teach spirituality or they are hyper religious. Indian kids and their parents often don't talk. Kids live two lives; one for parents and one for themselves. Most reasonable Indian parents can listen to their children but generally there is peer pressure to not talk to parents and keep secrets. This only hurts our young people when they get in trouble. This is the also case in India. Famous places like IIT are besieged with suicidal depressed brilliant students. Why do you think that the faith healers advertise so heavily on Indian TV here in USA? They make a lot of money off unhappy people looking for magical solution. If you know of someone who needs help, talk to them.
I am referring to what happened at Virginia tech. It is very relevant to Indian community along with other South Asian communities.
When Indians develop mental problems, they don't get help. Often they wait for a long time or deny that a problem exists. Generally it has been my experience that Indians and other immigrants, especially young college students who experience a break with reality, are very hard to treat. Parents often don't believe that their child has a problem. More often the college student is in complete denial and tries to avoid getting help. We Indians are just as susceptible to Depression, schizophrenia and alcohol abuse. Our communities have Bollywood Pollyanna view of life. We are obsessed with financial success. Parents are more concerned about the grades and salary that their children make than their happiness. This only fosters the denial.
What happened to Cho can happen to any one. Case that lead to the "duty to warn" rules involved an Indian with mental illness who killed some one. A young Indian fellow allegedly sufffering from mental illness (from a very successful, happy, reasonable well adjusted family that my friends know) killed his mother not too long ago. We also hear about uncles bumping off aunties. Aunties upset with uncles over drinking. We would like to believe that because we have good family support, we are immune from serious emotional problems. We blame bad luck and evil spirits. Our spiritual foundation is sometimes hollow because many of us grow up in families that don't teach spirituality or they are hyper religious. Indian kids and their parents often don't talk. Kids live two lives; one for parents and one for themselves. Most reasonable Indian parents can listen to their children but generally there is peer pressure to not talk to parents and keep secrets. This only hurts our young people when they get in trouble. This is the also case in India. Famous places like IIT are besieged with suicidal depressed brilliant students. Why do you think that the faith healers advertise so heavily on Indian TV here in USA? They make a lot of money off unhappy people looking for magical solution. If you know of someone who needs help, talk to them.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
I TOLD YOU SO
Few months ago I proposed a theory that the California Raas teams fail to perform well at national level (BOB). It turns out that I was right one more time. Winner of GWA (Garba with attitude) did not win at BOB Chicago. It was Penn state that won. Why? Again the judges in California are out of touch with the national level of judging. They tends to disregard the basic connection between the old Raas and the new Raas. The result is that teams that win GWA consistently fail to win BOB.
I don't know who the judges were at BOB Chicago. I bet they they were more traditional judges. Having watched the Penn State video (Thanks youtube,own some shares of Google and have done well over the years) I had predicted that if the judges were traditional, they would win. As some one from Berkeley team had mentioned, they did have great "moves" but remember Raas is not an African American phenomenon. It is Indian. "Moves" do matter but over all flow takes precedence.
Ineresting tit bit: Of all places Iowa had a Raas competition right in late March. Now I know that Iowa is in the middle of no where. If Raas madness starts there in March, there is something big going on that most Americans don't know about. It is called Raas !
In summery, GWA need to revamp its judging, so that California teams win nationally.
I am not sure if any one really reads the rantings of this old man as I have not gotten much feed back lately, so I will probably kill this blog unless some one out there responds. Since this blog may die, I thoought I would post my picture so that you can connect my name to my face. Please don't beat me up or Taunt me when you see me at the next dance competition!
Berkley team, you were good, but you were too off the wall to win B.O.B. If you need help next year, my son is free and willing to travel! (He sneaked into the Iowa competition even though he is not in college. Never mind how that happened!)
I don't know who the judges were at BOB Chicago. I bet they they were more traditional judges. Having watched the Penn State video (Thanks youtube,own some shares of Google and have done well over the years) I had predicted that if the judges were traditional, they would win. As some one from Berkeley team had mentioned, they did have great "moves" but remember Raas is not an African American phenomenon. It is Indian. "Moves" do matter but over all flow takes precedence.
Ineresting tit bit: Of all places Iowa had a Raas competition right in late March. Now I know that Iowa is in the middle of no where. If Raas madness starts there in March, there is something big going on that most Americans don't know about. It is called Raas !
In summery, GWA need to revamp its judging, so that California teams win nationally.
I am not sure if any one really reads the rantings of this old man as I have not gotten much feed back lately, so I will probably kill this blog unless some one out there responds. Since this blog may die, I thoought I would post my picture so that you can connect my name to my face. Please don't beat me up or Taunt me when you see me at the next dance competition!
Berkley team, you were good, but you were too off the wall to win B.O.B. If you need help next year, my son is free and willing to travel! (He sneaked into the Iowa competition even though he is not in college. Never mind how that happened!)
Thursday, March 15, 2007
RAAS FOR LOVE OF LIFE, RAAS FOR CHARITY
This one is about not just Raas. It is about love. It is about longing. Longing for old friends. Longing for some one that is gone. Lord Krishna did Raas with his celestial lovers, the Gopis who were hand picked to take birth when he was on this earth to experience true love and longing.
Some times things don't work out in love and in life. Some times people move on. This is about one such soul who moved on. His name is Sachin. Sachin Shah to be exact. Late Sachin Shah to be precise. He died in a car accident. He loved to dance. Here is what his friend Suneet has to say about this fun loving young soul (As a parent I would never want my kinds to die when I am still around. It must be really tough for Sachin's parents).
"In high school, I danced with Sachin on the "Mitwas" team. We competed in two competitions in 2002. The CCF (Charitable Care Foundation) competition in Hayward, CA, where we won first place. The same team also competed at the Neema Sari Palace competition in LA, where we also won first place.After high school Sachin went to UCSD where he competed on the UCSD team I believe in 2003, 2004 and 2005."
Sachin's friends on the Berkeley Raas team have been selling T shirts and raising funds for charity. The family has also created a web site. They are also trying to raise funds for charity. The URL for the t-shirts is:http://www.suneet.com. The website for the charity, The Sachin Shah Cares Foundation, is http://www.mysscf.org . They are a non-profit and have a tax-id, etc.The website, suneet.com, contains all the information about the team and why they are selling the t-shirts, and the mySSCF website has more information about where the money will be spent, etc. The photographs on the web site are absolutely heart breaking. Here is this handsome young senior who is suddenly gone.
Kudos to Berkeley team for raising money by selling T shirts. They look kind of cute.To me, this team is the real winner. I don't care what happens at BOB 2007.
I just bought the T shirt. I bought the large size, even though I am a small guy. I guess my "beta" can wear it too. I hope you buy one too. I will wear it with pride and pray that no young person die before their time. A word of advice; if you lost at a competition, don't be too mad or too sad. There are worse things in life. Dying young before your dreams are fulfilled. Having to raise funds for a buddy who died before his time. Never drink and drive. Party in moderation. Don't put down other teams; lose or win, be a gentleman/lady.
Some times things don't work out in love and in life. Some times people move on. This is about one such soul who moved on. His name is Sachin. Sachin Shah to be exact. Late Sachin Shah to be precise. He died in a car accident. He loved to dance. Here is what his friend Suneet has to say about this fun loving young soul (As a parent I would never want my kinds to die when I am still around. It must be really tough for Sachin's parents).
"In high school, I danced with Sachin on the "Mitwas" team. We competed in two competitions in 2002. The CCF (Charitable Care Foundation) competition in Hayward, CA, where we won first place. The same team also competed at the Neema Sari Palace competition in LA, where we also won first place.After high school Sachin went to UCSD where he competed on the UCSD team I believe in 2003, 2004 and 2005."
Sachin's friends on the Berkeley Raas team have been selling T shirts and raising funds for charity. The family has also created a web site. They are also trying to raise funds for charity. The URL for the t-shirts is:http://www.suneet.com. The website for the charity, The Sachin Shah Cares Foundation, is http://www.mysscf.org . They are a non-profit and have a tax-id, etc.The website, suneet.com, contains all the information about the team and why they are selling the t-shirts, and the mySSCF website has more information about where the money will be spent, etc. The photographs on the web site are absolutely heart breaking. Here is this handsome young senior who is suddenly gone.
Kudos to Berkeley team for raising money by selling T shirts. They look kind of cute.To me, this team is the real winner. I don't care what happens at BOB 2007.
I just bought the T shirt. I bought the large size, even though I am a small guy. I guess my "beta" can wear it too. I hope you buy one too. I will wear it with pride and pray that no young person die before their time. A word of advice; if you lost at a competition, don't be too mad or too sad. There are worse things in life. Dying young before your dreams are fulfilled. Having to raise funds for a buddy who died before his time. Never drink and drive. Party in moderation. Don't put down other teams; lose or win, be a gentleman/lady.
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Lahori Choreographer
Omar was his name. It was year 2005. I had just gotten lost on a rainy Friday early evening driving from Baltimore to Washington D.C. With my family in a rental car. I was driving towards downtown D.C. hoping to make it to Raas Chaos on time. My son (who did not have a clue about where I was) was trying desperately to help me get to the place. My wife tells me I have a keen sense of direction. I can "smell places" and drive like a hound to my destination. I guess it is a matter of instincts. I am about to talk about a truely instinctive man.
I made it to the auditorium on time, even got a great parking spot with no help and a Small map. With my old training from the city (Manhattan I mean), I managed to squeeze in.
Place was loud and crazy. One could smell alcohol on some of the patronls breath all around. I felt as if I was at a kick boxing event. I even managed to get hit on the back of my bald head with a bottle by some disgruntled fan who did not care that I was cheering for some one other than his team. I was not hurt. Like all the good uncles I had my video ready to film my little "Beta" showing his skills. Skills he did show. GW won.
I was introduced to "Omar", the unlikely choreographer of this Raas team. "Where are you from in Pakistan?"I asked. I was warned earlier that this choreographer was a Pakistani kid. I assumed he must be son of some Muslim Guju from Karachi, where lot of Gujaratis have settled. Boy was I wrong. "Lahore" he said. "He knows Bhangra" my son informed me. Omar was a lovely soft spoken unassuming young man. I had to wear my uncle hat and start asking him all sort of questions. I did not care if my son was embarrassed. Besides we had come all the way from Dallas. I was even ready to feed the team like a good uncle should. I felt entitled to ask these questions. After all I was not sure If I ever will see a Lahori Raas choreographer in my life time again. It turns out that he did not see this as a big deal. He did not see that the big issue was about going from up and down step of Bhangra to Baroda style skipping (probably my son's gift to this his team as my wife always made sure that all her students learned skipping).
After talking to Omar Majid and his team it was obvious that this man survived and prospered on his instinct about dance. He knew what was traditional and what was not by his gut feeling. Other participants looked up to him and worked hard under his leadership. Participants came up with Individual steps but he put it all together. He opened the Raas with music from one of A.R. Rehman's drumming piece. It felt as if you were in the middle of "Urs" or "Tajia" (Muslim functions from my home town of Bhavnagar India) for a few seconds. It felt spiritual just as a deep night Navratri Raas would. After all Urs and Tajia are quite intense experiences. It was not a typical Gujju 8 beat peace. It was five beats in a four. Skipping was fast. How this man came up with what he did will always be a mystery. They went on to come second at GWA and first at BOB. Next year Omar was gone and the 2006 team did not do well. Omar was a Bhangra guy but his Raas did not look like Bhangra. you can find him on youtube.com/omarmajid. I assume that is the guy because he has the 2005 GW videos on his site.
I wish I headed a foundation that could pay for the Omars of America to visit some distant place in Gujarat and expose them to more traditional Raaas groups. They are still out htere. What may evolve from that may truly be great Raas.
I made it to the auditorium on time, even got a great parking spot with no help and a Small map. With my old training from the city (Manhattan I mean), I managed to squeeze in.
Place was loud and crazy. One could smell alcohol on some of the patronls breath all around. I felt as if I was at a kick boxing event. I even managed to get hit on the back of my bald head with a bottle by some disgruntled fan who did not care that I was cheering for some one other than his team. I was not hurt. Like all the good uncles I had my video ready to film my little "Beta" showing his skills. Skills he did show. GW won.
I was introduced to "Omar", the unlikely choreographer of this Raas team. "Where are you from in Pakistan?"I asked. I was warned earlier that this choreographer was a Pakistani kid. I assumed he must be son of some Muslim Guju from Karachi, where lot of Gujaratis have settled. Boy was I wrong. "Lahore" he said. "He knows Bhangra" my son informed me. Omar was a lovely soft spoken unassuming young man. I had to wear my uncle hat and start asking him all sort of questions. I did not care if my son was embarrassed. Besides we had come all the way from Dallas. I was even ready to feed the team like a good uncle should. I felt entitled to ask these questions. After all I was not sure If I ever will see a Lahori Raas choreographer in my life time again. It turns out that he did not see this as a big deal. He did not see that the big issue was about going from up and down step of Bhangra to Baroda style skipping (probably my son's gift to this his team as my wife always made sure that all her students learned skipping).
After talking to Omar Majid and his team it was obvious that this man survived and prospered on his instinct about dance. He knew what was traditional and what was not by his gut feeling. Other participants looked up to him and worked hard under his leadership. Participants came up with Individual steps but he put it all together. He opened the Raas with music from one of A.R. Rehman's drumming piece. It felt as if you were in the middle of "Urs" or "Tajia" (Muslim functions from my home town of Bhavnagar India) for a few seconds. It felt spiritual just as a deep night Navratri Raas would. After all Urs and Tajia are quite intense experiences. It was not a typical Gujju 8 beat peace. It was five beats in a four. Skipping was fast. How this man came up with what he did will always be a mystery. They went on to come second at GWA and first at BOB. Next year Omar was gone and the 2006 team did not do well. Omar was a Bhangra guy but his Raas did not look like Bhangra. you can find him on youtube.com/omarmajid. I assume that is the guy because he has the 2005 GW videos on his site.
I wish I headed a foundation that could pay for the Omars of America to visit some distant place in Gujarat and expose them to more traditional Raaas groups. They are still out htere. What may evolve from that may truly be great Raas.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
BOB 2007 Out on a limb with my foot in the mouth
I did some thing terrible. I saw videos of Penn state and Michigan. I had seen Berkeley live at GBA. who will win? one of the three for sure. I have to say that my opinions are based on poorly shot videos from audience (thanks U tube, even with Google stock being down).
Penn: Very good choreography. Choreographer is not afraid to "go slow". She or he knows that his dancers are able to show grace no matter what is the speed of execution. Best music selection. a traditional judge would score them high.
Michigan: They won DD. Not an easy task. Berkeley was there if I am not mistaken. I don't know what to make of this one. Vegas theme seemed odd ( I hope I am talking about the right team). I was under the impression that UI Urbana won that competition, but I guess I am wrong.
Berkeley: I have commented about Berkeley in the past. Almost got in trouble for that. If judged by younger judges or non traditional judges, Berkeley is a winner. They did have more energy than Penn. Creative choreography in a different way. My sense is that the "flow is about to change as newer judges come on the scene and help create new traditions.
Penn has better music, more creative but closer to traditional choreography. Berkeley, very energetic, creative but departing from tradition.
All three teams are close and should be proud of their performance. My favourite all time winner? 2005 G' dawgs; George Washignton from D.C. (choreographed by a wonderful young Muslim guy from Lahor Pakistan who was originally a Bhangra choreographer, but really understood dance. God bless him wherever he is. More about him later.)
Penn: Very good choreography. Choreographer is not afraid to "go slow". She or he knows that his dancers are able to show grace no matter what is the speed of execution. Best music selection. a traditional judge would score them high.
Michigan: They won DD. Not an easy task. Berkeley was there if I am not mistaken. I don't know what to make of this one. Vegas theme seemed odd ( I hope I am talking about the right team). I was under the impression that UI Urbana won that competition, but I guess I am wrong.
Berkeley: I have commented about Berkeley in the past. Almost got in trouble for that. If judged by younger judges or non traditional judges, Berkeley is a winner. They did have more energy than Penn. Creative choreography in a different way. My sense is that the "flow is about to change as newer judges come on the scene and help create new traditions.
Penn has better music, more creative but closer to traditional choreography. Berkeley, very energetic, creative but departing from tradition.
All three teams are close and should be proud of their performance. My favourite all time winner? 2005 G' dawgs; George Washignton from D.C. (choreographed by a wonderful young Muslim guy from Lahor Pakistan who was originally a Bhangra choreographer, but really understood dance. God bless him wherever he is. More about him later.)
BOB Chicago 2007 who is there?
I would love to hear from all of you who know anything about the four teams. I heard that Penn State is very good. I heard that there is a team from Chicago area and some on from Michigan. I would love to post more information. If you happen to have videos, please give me the link. I would love to comment or post them here.
Berkeley and Tripple stepping
In his or her response, some one mentioned "triple stepping". Now I know skipping as they do in Baroda style. I know "Thes" as in Saurashtra style and I know that north Indians like to kick their legs in front. But American Raas seems to have developed its own terms. What exactly do you call tripple stepping? Are there any other terms that others are using? I would like to know. Please help me in documenting these terms. By the way, if you are not skipping, you are too slow. Skipping helps you cover more ground and it looks very graceful. If you bend enough it looks very powerful too. Please tell me names of more terms and also reference with some videos.
Monday, February 26, 2007
BOB 2007 Response from Berkley
What a refreshing view from Berkley Raas team! I am proud of you guys and I respect you and all the other Raas team for the following (These are called affirmations I suppose).
1 I know you guys work hard; all of you including ones who did not make it to any competition.
2 Raas keeps you closer to your culture.
3 You don't get paid for doing it. You do it because you love it.
Now coming back to your comments. Please do not apologise. People have right to their opinions. Some get very emotional. 70% of participants generally leave the auditorium unhappy after any competition! it would be nice if we are polite and kind to each other. The point I was trying to make was that the judging on east and west cost is very different. Judging is very different if some of the judges are not familiar with the original Raas. This is the reason I wrote two blogs on history of Raas. I mostly agree with where you are coming from.
I think time has come to where some one will differentiate between traditional and non traditional and eliminate the props (except for props that represent the school). Props distract from the dance itself. I still remember the huge back drop that Stanford used a few years back. Reminded me of "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam".
One thing I hope Rass teams would consider not doing. Opening mouth and showing your tongue is considered an insulting gesture in Indian culture. In some cultures such as Polynesian culture, it is done during dances to scare bad spirits. It has not place in raas. I saw this being done in some dances recently.
Again, for a guy who used to dance in college ** years ago and someone who managed winning teams in F.O.G.N.A. for tem plus years, I am jst happpy that you folks are dancing.
Any comments from judges?
1 I know you guys work hard; all of you including ones who did not make it to any competition.
2 Raas keeps you closer to your culture.
3 You don't get paid for doing it. You do it because you love it.
Now coming back to your comments. Please do not apologise. People have right to their opinions. Some get very emotional. 70% of participants generally leave the auditorium unhappy after any competition! it would be nice if we are polite and kind to each other. The point I was trying to make was that the judging on east and west cost is very different. Judging is very different if some of the judges are not familiar with the original Raas. This is the reason I wrote two blogs on history of Raas. I mostly agree with where you are coming from.
I think time has come to where some one will differentiate between traditional and non traditional and eliminate the props (except for props that represent the school). Props distract from the dance itself. I still remember the huge back drop that Stanford used a few years back. Reminded me of "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam".
One thing I hope Rass teams would consider not doing. Opening mouth and showing your tongue is considered an insulting gesture in Indian culture. In some cultures such as Polynesian culture, it is done during dances to scare bad spirits. It has not place in raas. I saw this being done in some dances recently.
Again, for a guy who used to dance in college ** years ago and someone who managed winning teams in F.O.G.N.A. for tem plus years, I am jst happpy that you folks are dancing.
Any comments from judges?
Friday, February 23, 2007
BOB 2007
Does any one know who is going to BOB 2007? If the teams could give me some information about themselves I would like to post it here. I would like to know your views about your regional competitions. You can also send me other website information.
Raas, a historical perspective Part Two
So what is traditional Raas? ask me 50 years later and my answer will be different. I will try to answer that question as best as I know.
Can a bunch of "Sidi" (sufi Muslims of African origin who settled around town of Junagadh in Saurastra) dancing to African instruments be considered a form of Raas? absolutely. They did stick to a circle, started slow, only men danced and kept their tradition for years. These guys look like African Americans and talk like people from Saurashtra, but they kept their musical tradition.
If you go to North Gujarat the style is different from Saurashtra. In general men used to do Dandia Raas but it all changed in the thirties or forties and women joined men in this dance. I am sure in 2500 B.C. when Lord Krishna was around, men and women danced together. I remember in 1950's in my hometown ( I grew up in Bhavnagar Saurashtra, part of Gujarat), they used to dance to a brass band (known as Mithu Band). They would play tunes on clarinet and various band instruments. It was a lovely experience. A Rass can be very slow. Fast and vigorous dancing is not necessary. Grace (even for guys) and coordination, along with manly execution are important. Mumbai developed their own style of Raas and then came Gujarati movies and Bollywood. "Head bobbing" is not part of Raas and actually is considered uncouth. Movement of head while one is singing folksong like Raas is OK, but not for the dancers. Head bobbing inhibits body movements. It originated in Gujarati movies. "Twirling" the sticks is cool and experienced dancers can do all sorts of moves. Basic formation of Raas is round. There are two lines, one of men and one of women.
There is one particular style of Raas that was done during Navratri by pious worshippers of Godess Bhavani (Durga). They would tie one hand to the ceiling, and have a stick in another hand. They would keep dancing till the rope got teight and they could not move, and then go in the opposite direction. This would go on all night during Navratri season. I saw it in a coastal town of Saurashtra when I was a child. There was no electricity in the town so they would light "petromax" a camping type light. They must be very dedicated to keep doing this year after year. No work next day after the dance and no after Raas party!. So, the first Raas to be done to western instruments was in 1950's by my account.
Can a bunch of "Sidi" (sufi Muslims of African origin who settled around town of Junagadh in Saurastra) dancing to African instruments be considered a form of Raas? absolutely. They did stick to a circle, started slow, only men danced and kept their tradition for years. These guys look like African Americans and talk like people from Saurashtra, but they kept their musical tradition.
If you go to North Gujarat the style is different from Saurashtra. In general men used to do Dandia Raas but it all changed in the thirties or forties and women joined men in this dance. I am sure in 2500 B.C. when Lord Krishna was around, men and women danced together. I remember in 1950's in my hometown ( I grew up in Bhavnagar Saurashtra, part of Gujarat), they used to dance to a brass band (known as Mithu Band). They would play tunes on clarinet and various band instruments. It was a lovely experience. A Rass can be very slow. Fast and vigorous dancing is not necessary. Grace (even for guys) and coordination, along with manly execution are important. Mumbai developed their own style of Raas and then came Gujarati movies and Bollywood. "Head bobbing" is not part of Raas and actually is considered uncouth. Movement of head while one is singing folksong like Raas is OK, but not for the dancers. Head bobbing inhibits body movements. It originated in Gujarati movies. "Twirling" the sticks is cool and experienced dancers can do all sorts of moves. Basic formation of Raas is round. There are two lines, one of men and one of women.
There is one particular style of Raas that was done during Navratri by pious worshippers of Godess Bhavani (Durga). They would tie one hand to the ceiling, and have a stick in another hand. They would keep dancing till the rope got teight and they could not move, and then go in the opposite direction. This would go on all night during Navratri season. I saw it in a coastal town of Saurashtra when I was a child. There was no electricity in the town so they would light "petromax" a camping type light. They must be very dedicated to keep doing this year after year. No work next day after the dance and no after Raas party!. So, the first Raas to be done to western instruments was in 1950's by my account.
Raas, a historical perspective Part One
Raas is a form of folk dance. One we call Raas is actually Dandia Raas. Generally speaking, I know of following types of Raas.
Garba Raas: Garba, originally to be only done by women. Also known as Raasdo.
Dandia Raas: One we all know about this one. Sticks are to be used, originally done by lord Krishna and the women or Vraj. Since Gujarati people descended to Gujarat from up north, they brought this form of dance with them. More about this later.
Daang (Single stick) Raas: done in Rajasthan only men do it. My wife choreographed one in 1992.
Manjira Raas: some thing that I have never seen in USA, this is a dying form of art. Here only men dance. They wear Manjia on various parts of their body, sometimes on legs, arms, they may be stuck to their vest. I have seen videos from Tarnetar fair of Saurastra. (done in seventies) and as a child I have seen some performances. In Gujarat there were two tribes who did Manjira dances, one would be considered Raas, as it is done by men. The "Padhora" tribe lives near the famous "Nal lake". They used to be sailers in the past. Critical element of this Raas is that the beat that is played on Dhol is kept up by the players with Manjira, often they would be up side down with their feet in the air, Manjira tied to the feet and they make wonderful visual. There is significant degree of acrobatics as well as coordination. Some times one guy will have his feet around another guy's waist (no homophobia here) doing circles. This is some thing that can be easily adopted to American Raas, as long as judges know that this is accepted form of Raas but not Dandia Raas. They would some times adopt from the british policemen and wrap cloth around their feet (albeit colorful and not just Khakhi). They would sing if they felt like it. What is most striking is that they are very relaxed and in a state of trance. Musicians are typically playing Bhajans.
Garba Raas: Garba, originally to be only done by women. Also known as Raasdo.
Dandia Raas: One we all know about this one. Sticks are to be used, originally done by lord Krishna and the women or Vraj. Since Gujarati people descended to Gujarat from up north, they brought this form of dance with them. More about this later.
Daang (Single stick) Raas: done in Rajasthan only men do it. My wife choreographed one in 1992.
Manjira Raas: some thing that I have never seen in USA, this is a dying form of art. Here only men dance. They wear Manjia on various parts of their body, sometimes on legs, arms, they may be stuck to their vest. I have seen videos from Tarnetar fair of Saurastra. (done in seventies) and as a child I have seen some performances. In Gujarat there were two tribes who did Manjira dances, one would be considered Raas, as it is done by men. The "Padhora" tribe lives near the famous "Nal lake". They used to be sailers in the past. Critical element of this Raas is that the beat that is played on Dhol is kept up by the players with Manjira, often they would be up side down with their feet in the air, Manjira tied to the feet and they make wonderful visual. There is significant degree of acrobatics as well as coordination. Some times one guy will have his feet around another guy's waist (no homophobia here) doing circles. This is some thing that can be easily adopted to American Raas, as long as judges know that this is accepted form of Raas but not Dandia Raas. They would some times adopt from the british policemen and wrap cloth around their feet (albeit colorful and not just Khakhi). They would sing if they felt like it. What is most striking is that they are very relaxed and in a state of trance. Musicians are typically playing Bhajans.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Well, here is my take on Berkley (and for that matter on winners of last three years at GWA). California Judges judge differently and as a result, winners of GWA have not done well at BOB against teams from Midwest and north east. Only time will tell if I am right. Let us see what happens at next BOB. As some one who took Raas items to FOGANA and always placed first or second, I know a thing or two about traditional. I don't deny that Berkley did not have lot of energy. They all did. That is not the only thing that differentiates a winner. I thought the second place winner had stayed closer to traditional Raas. This is not necessarily a statement against GWA. They are the best organizers as far as I am concerned.
This debate has always been there for any type of folk art form. There is a group of oldies like use who like for the traditional stuff to be there so that the roots of the dance form are not lost and at the same time we do want the new stuff. My point is this; before the competition it would be helpful for the teams to know what is the push of the organizers. For example R2B2 judges were dominated by different type of judges than GWA. Personally what I would like to see is not first or second prize but most traditional and most innovative.
Thanks for reading my blog and being civil to me.
This debate has always been there for any type of folk art form. There is a group of oldies like use who like for the traditional stuff to be there so that the roots of the dance form are not lost and at the same time we do want the new stuff. My point is this; before the competition it would be helpful for the teams to know what is the push of the organizers. For example R2B2 judges were dominated by different type of judges than GWA. Personally what I would like to see is not first or second prize but most traditional and most innovative.
Thanks for reading my blog and being civil to me.
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Rythmnflow.com
Now this is a novel idea. Dance for the sake of dance. It turns out that that is what folk dance is all about. That is how it has been done since the start of Indian civilization. Check out rythmnflow.com. They are looking for items for their upcoming program on 27 April. I hope you college Raas teams show up there. We used to go to competitions and compete like crazy. Later we figured out that for the cost of air fare and other expenses we can rent an auditorium, charge a minimum fee and do a nice dance program. Participants loved it, families can take all the videos that they want and every one has fun. Food for participants is free. Other cities and Indian student associations should follow the lead.
Spears: Bipolar? Meth? Coke?
Now this has nothing to do with Raas. This is about Ms. Spears who has been caught up in a fire storm. Three guesses: Bipolar? Meth dependent? Cocaine induced problems? Perhaps a combination of some sort. I am sure glad the girl is getting help. She needs it.
Monday, February 19, 2007
R2B2 (Rass Rave and Bhangra Blitz 2007 Dallas TX
This competition was held at McFarlin Auditorium on February 17, 2007. I consider Dallas home. My comments may seem a bit biased but I will try to stay as neutral as possible. Let us first start with the competition itself. There were four Raas groups (SMU Stix, UT Austin Kachi Kerinuh Raas, John Hopkins R.A.G.E. and Mitrass UC Irvine). There were four Bhangra groups (Stanford Chardi Jawani, University of Michigan Bhangra team, Emory Karma and UT Austin Texas Bhangra). There was a guest act by H.K. Gidda team. Grand prizes for Raas and Bhangara were $ 2000 each and second prizes were $ 1000 each.
Judges included two seasoned judges who were very familiar with Raas scene, two seasoned judges who seemed very familiar with Bhangra and one that seemed to know a little bit about both. I will refrain from commenting about the judges because I know some of the judges quite well.
SMU won the first prize and Hopkins came second in Raas category. Emory won the first prize and Michigan came second in Bhangra.
Let us talk about the Mustangs (SMU) first. Several of their participants are known to me for last five to ten years. It was refreshing to see some of the moves that they learned in their early days being incorprated in the dance. Their clothes matched the stage because unlike many stages in west and north east, the floor was black and the dresses were black and blue. What did differentiate them was the intensity, innovative choreography and "phinishing" as a desi would say. They were without a doubt the best coached team. I later found out that they had one of the most demanding managers in Dallas. Well, it paid off. They were the best Raas act of the evening. Their lighting was not I would have preferred and they did use a piece of music that I as a judge would have not liked but they were the best. Gidda team did very well to keep the audience happy while scores were being tabulated.
Second prize went to Hopkins. They were creative with their theme of Kites, but their creativity was not matched by precision and basic Raas choreography.
I personally liked both UT and Mitraas which had great deal of precision and good theme. I probably would have given second prize to one of those teams.
I am not knowledgeable about Bhangra but my daughter danced this year with Boston Bhangra. I have seen quite a few videos (around 30 or 40 on Internet, TV and live). I am biased towards Stanford because there was a girl on that team with same last name as mine. I did like Emory a lot. To me they were all very close but I liked UT and Stanford slightly more than Michigan. It would be interesting to see what the judges with more Bhangra experience thought.
There are a few things SMU could have done differently. They need a seasoned team to handle the back stage. There are many experienced stage hands in the Indian community who are known to have done an outstanding job in the past for various events. India Association runs 45 to 50 items in four and a half hours and their precision as far as stage management is flawless. Video projection was particularly bad. We could not read the themes of many of the teams, including that of SMU. Lighting was somewhat unusual. McFarlin stage is very unique and light designer had to be careful. If you are an Indian program and you left the lighting to them you will get too many color changes and disco type effect. If you are the choreographer you will probably wind up confused because they use lights from the trees on the sides as their primary source. They can do absolutely the best professional lighting if you pay them and give them enough time. I have seen them do some amazing things for T.I.T.U.S., a local dance organization. Timing was off at times. I don't care for too many light effects in a competition unless they are there for a good reason. I like to see faces and expressions. I don't mind night life effect for a few seconds if the theme is about moon light or night. I heard rumblings that the participants had to pay a lot for motel rooms. Some of them felth that did not get the kind of service that they had expected. r2B2 was compared to GWA and Raas Dhamaka butthen again two years ago I heard similar comments about them. Time, experience and better funding will make things better in the future. I know that Krishna and her team worked relentlessly and made many personal sacrifices. This is the third time that SMU has done a competition like this. They will do better next year. They did get quite a few sponsors. After program party was not publicized a lot. My son's Friend said that it was OK, just like any Indian party. I don't know what that means. All in all I have high hopes from SMU next year. As a Texan I would like to thank teams that came from out of state. I hope you will come back.If you need anything while you are in town next year, just contact me here. Make sure you visit Sunny Brian's Barbeque on Inwood (original location) and Harrera's on Maple for Tex max food. Go to Billy Bob's for country dancing. Let yourself loose. Y'all come back now, and remember pardner, What happens in Texas stays in Texas.
Judges included two seasoned judges who were very familiar with Raas scene, two seasoned judges who seemed very familiar with Bhangra and one that seemed to know a little bit about both. I will refrain from commenting about the judges because I know some of the judges quite well.
SMU won the first prize and Hopkins came second in Raas category. Emory won the first prize and Michigan came second in Bhangra.
Let us talk about the Mustangs (SMU) first. Several of their participants are known to me for last five to ten years. It was refreshing to see some of the moves that they learned in their early days being incorprated in the dance. Their clothes matched the stage because unlike many stages in west and north east, the floor was black and the dresses were black and blue. What did differentiate them was the intensity, innovative choreography and "phinishing" as a desi would say. They were without a doubt the best coached team. I later found out that they had one of the most demanding managers in Dallas. Well, it paid off. They were the best Raas act of the evening. Their lighting was not I would have preferred and they did use a piece of music that I as a judge would have not liked but they were the best. Gidda team did very well to keep the audience happy while scores were being tabulated.
Second prize went to Hopkins. They were creative with their theme of Kites, but their creativity was not matched by precision and basic Raas choreography.
I personally liked both UT and Mitraas which had great deal of precision and good theme. I probably would have given second prize to one of those teams.
I am not knowledgeable about Bhangra but my daughter danced this year with Boston Bhangra. I have seen quite a few videos (around 30 or 40 on Internet, TV and live). I am biased towards Stanford because there was a girl on that team with same last name as mine. I did like Emory a lot. To me they were all very close but I liked UT and Stanford slightly more than Michigan. It would be interesting to see what the judges with more Bhangra experience thought.
There are a few things SMU could have done differently. They need a seasoned team to handle the back stage. There are many experienced stage hands in the Indian community who are known to have done an outstanding job in the past for various events. India Association runs 45 to 50 items in four and a half hours and their precision as far as stage management is flawless. Video projection was particularly bad. We could not read the themes of many of the teams, including that of SMU. Lighting was somewhat unusual. McFarlin stage is very unique and light designer had to be careful. If you are an Indian program and you left the lighting to them you will get too many color changes and disco type effect. If you are the choreographer you will probably wind up confused because they use lights from the trees on the sides as their primary source. They can do absolutely the best professional lighting if you pay them and give them enough time. I have seen them do some amazing things for T.I.T.U.S., a local dance organization. Timing was off at times. I don't care for too many light effects in a competition unless they are there for a good reason. I like to see faces and expressions. I don't mind night life effect for a few seconds if the theme is about moon light or night. I heard rumblings that the participants had to pay a lot for motel rooms. Some of them felth that did not get the kind of service that they had expected. r2B2 was compared to GWA and Raas Dhamaka butthen again two years ago I heard similar comments about them. Time, experience and better funding will make things better in the future. I know that Krishna and her team worked relentlessly and made many personal sacrifices. This is the third time that SMU has done a competition like this. They will do better next year. They did get quite a few sponsors. After program party was not publicized a lot. My son's Friend said that it was OK, just like any Indian party. I don't know what that means. All in all I have high hopes from SMU next year. As a Texan I would like to thank teams that came from out of state. I hope you will come back.If you need anything while you are in town next year, just contact me here. Make sure you visit Sunny Brian's Barbeque on Inwood (original location) and Harrera's on Maple for Tex max food. Go to Billy Bob's for country dancing. Let yourself loose. Y'all come back now, and remember pardner, What happens in Texas stays in Texas.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
GWA (Garba with attitude)
This was my third trip to GWA, held at Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex. I have to say that as far as arrangements and hospitality was concerned ISC (Indian sub-continental club) and UC Irvine did a fantastic job. Program was flawless. Participants were expected to "clean up" after themselves or they would lose points. For last two years I have ordered my tickets in advance and both the times the ticket coordinators were very helpful and accommodating. We "lost" our FEDEX package and Ms Patel was very kind to even offer duplicate tickets. It turned out that the package was not lost.
We visited Sheraton hotel and everything seemed very nice. Food portions that were offered to the participants could have been bigger but they did have food and there were fast food Establishments near by.
GWA has really matured in their attitude towards their guest teams. I have seen a huge improvement in last three years.
All teams seemed to do well. They all seemed to have worked hard. Let me preface the next few paragraphs with a few caveats and disclosures. Both my children performed Raas in college. My daughter is still performing for BU. She is also a part of Bhangre team in Boston. My son won Raas Chaos and BOB from the GWU team in 2005. I have attended GBA three times, Raas Chaos once, seen all the tapes of BOB 2005, Attended Raas Dhamaka in 2004 (my wife was a judge) gone to two SMU Raas competition and have managed several FOGANA teams that won nationals. One of them was a team from UT that I and my wife brought under our banner of Nrutyashala dance school. I have seen University of Miami team perform at Tampa festival (again my wife was judging). I come from town of Bhavnagar. Our local Raas group (Ghogha circle group) has performed all over the world and won numerous competitions (I was never a part of it but knew several team members and had the fortune of getting a taped copy of their work in late seventies). I really believe that Raas in America will be able to stand as a unique Gujarati folk dance entity. I would like to call it American Raas. Before I digress too much, more about 2007 GWA. I will come back to American Raas later.
I take several issues with California Raas organizers. Have you ever wondered why California Raas teams have not won BOB? (by the time you read this blog I may have been proven wrong in my assumptions since Berkley could win theoretically). In 2005 GWU came second at GWA but went on to win BOB, the mother of all Raas competitions for now. In 2007 winner of GWA did not come first at BOB. My prediction is that same will happen this year, unless there is a change in judging.
California is different from rest of the world. The judges for GWA have not performed well at picking a winner at national level. I see a problem here. Many of the judges seemed to have a lot of interest in dance but their qualifications at judging Rass competition were somewhat weak at best. This affects the results. Teams with as lot of fluff tend to do better. The real meat of a Raas performance is the energy and grace (traditional or not). Teams that won in last three years looked cute on the stage but they lacked the grace that I would expect from a national winner. Judges in North east by in large are more traditional. One solution is to bring people in who are not mere practitioners of art of dance but who have actively choreographed Raas. If a new form of folk art is to develop, there need to be some standards. There needs to be a connection between tradition and innovation (reminds me of Rutger's Raas in 2005 where they played Pink Panther and had a scene of Dandia being stolen from high above the ground, a variation of Shri Krishna theme). If you do innovate remember that Krishna, love and Mela (fair) are the three basic Raas themes, may be Amba (Godess Gurga). Since we are in America there can be more, such as BU's theme of Boston Raas party, which nicely connected the American History and the mischievous nature of Shepherds performing Raas with Lord Krishna. Judges should have working knowledge of Gujarati language and traditions of Gujarat. part of the money that is earned needs to be spent on educating choreographers to learn more.
In summery, I would have given first prize to Illinois. If they are in BOB (I am not sure if they won somewhere else), watch out California. They will bite Berkley. All bets are off if the Bhangra Judges start judging Raas. I hope BOB does maintain different set of judges with a single judge for best item catagory.
We visited Sheraton hotel and everything seemed very nice. Food portions that were offered to the participants could have been bigger but they did have food and there were fast food Establishments near by.
GWA has really matured in their attitude towards their guest teams. I have seen a huge improvement in last three years.
All teams seemed to do well. They all seemed to have worked hard. Let me preface the next few paragraphs with a few caveats and disclosures. Both my children performed Raas in college. My daughter is still performing for BU. She is also a part of Bhangre team in Boston. My son won Raas Chaos and BOB from the GWU team in 2005. I have attended GBA three times, Raas Chaos once, seen all the tapes of BOB 2005, Attended Raas Dhamaka in 2004 (my wife was a judge) gone to two SMU Raas competition and have managed several FOGANA teams that won nationals. One of them was a team from UT that I and my wife brought under our banner of Nrutyashala dance school. I have seen University of Miami team perform at Tampa festival (again my wife was judging). I come from town of Bhavnagar. Our local Raas group (Ghogha circle group) has performed all over the world and won numerous competitions (I was never a part of it but knew several team members and had the fortune of getting a taped copy of their work in late seventies). I really believe that Raas in America will be able to stand as a unique Gujarati folk dance entity. I would like to call it American Raas. Before I digress too much, more about 2007 GWA. I will come back to American Raas later.
I take several issues with California Raas organizers. Have you ever wondered why California Raas teams have not won BOB? (by the time you read this blog I may have been proven wrong in my assumptions since Berkley could win theoretically). In 2005 GWU came second at GWA but went on to win BOB, the mother of all Raas competitions for now. In 2007 winner of GWA did not come first at BOB. My prediction is that same will happen this year, unless there is a change in judging.
California is different from rest of the world. The judges for GWA have not performed well at picking a winner at national level. I see a problem here. Many of the judges seemed to have a lot of interest in dance but their qualifications at judging Rass competition were somewhat weak at best. This affects the results. Teams with as lot of fluff tend to do better. The real meat of a Raas performance is the energy and grace (traditional or not). Teams that won in last three years looked cute on the stage but they lacked the grace that I would expect from a national winner. Judges in North east by in large are more traditional. One solution is to bring people in who are not mere practitioners of art of dance but who have actively choreographed Raas. If a new form of folk art is to develop, there need to be some standards. There needs to be a connection between tradition and innovation (reminds me of Rutger's Raas in 2005 where they played Pink Panther and had a scene of Dandia being stolen from high above the ground, a variation of Shri Krishna theme). If you do innovate remember that Krishna, love and Mela (fair) are the three basic Raas themes, may be Amba (Godess Gurga). Since we are in America there can be more, such as BU's theme of Boston Raas party, which nicely connected the American History and the mischievous nature of Shepherds performing Raas with Lord Krishna. Judges should have working knowledge of Gujarati language and traditions of Gujarat. part of the money that is earned needs to be spent on educating choreographers to learn more.
In summery, I would have given first prize to Illinois. If they are in BOB (I am not sure if they won somewhere else), watch out California. They will bite Berkley. All bets are off if the Bhangra Judges start judging Raas. I hope BOB does maintain different set of judges with a single judge for best item catagory.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
