Now this is an idea whose time has come! Recently some one left a messege wanting me to advise them about starting a Raas competition in U.K.
I can talk about Raas in UK since I personally have seen Raas Garba in Lester (I mean Leicester) and I know two musicians who frequently do Garba programs in UK (Leicester and Liverpool). I cannot talk about how to start a competition unless I know what type of competition. If it is something similar to what we do here in USA for colleges, I think there are far more qualified people in "desidanceteams.com" web site, where I frequently contribute under title of Raazmaster (a name they assigned to me). Ask Freaks or other people who post frequently. Call GWA (Garba with attitude) or Maryland Masti or Dandia dhamaka.
If you are looking for some ideas about a more general competition, I will give you a mouthful. I would say write to me (Raazmaster) at desidance team website or send me your e mail on this blog (I will not publish it). this would be a very long topic.
I will take this opportunity to comment about Leicester Garba done by Sona Rupa people. They have a small place and getting a "pass" to get in is not easy. Last time I went there Asheet and Hema Desai were singing with a Shehnai player, and total of 12 people on the stage. NOT A SINGLE ELCTRONIC INSTRUMENT. NOT A SINGLE DRUM SET. Mr. Mattani was singing along with the Desais and their son, who now goes to Liverpool with his own group.
Participants were required to follow traditional steps and wear traditional clothes. No open abck blouses for women. I was told that if they did not followed the rules they would be politely but firmly asked once. Then they would be forced to leave. Aarti was done with a variety of songs. There was a 20 minute Raas just for children. I have never had such a great experience in India (except for 1960's in India and now when we have private garba with my musician friends in Baroda).
I hope U.K. does a traditional competition. I am ready to help. For air fare and a bottle of good British port wine or whatever they make, I will come there in person!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
"Sticking of the tongue"
I never said anything about relevance to the theme. My point is that sticking out your tongue is a gesture to ward off evil spirits in some Polynesian cultures, but in context of Raas it would be and should be considered an obscene gesture, and most judges that have any understanding of traditional Raas would take off points for that just as they would for using Hindi Bollywood songs (as UCLA did in 2007). I do understand their reason for using it, but I think it goes to show their lack of understanding of the basic traditions.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Now that it is over 2008
I view the 2007-2008 historical Raas season (for me) with a great deal of satisfaction. Both our children participated in BOB and won. My wife, who is a dancer is particularly pleased because of the level of dedication that is evident.
I was pleased to see how professional BOB was at running their program. I was pleased to see how participants interacted. I was even pleased that I found a Taco Bell in downtown Chicago without getting mugged or getting a ticket.
My usual tirade about GWA also came true. I got to view all the videos of MM, DD, attended GWA, and Dallas R2B2.and some from Garden state. Things are changing fast. I hope that BOB is judged the same way next year as this may lead to more uniformity in what wins and what does not. I personally do not like the idea of "viewers choice' as it becomes a matter of how loud someone can scream or how many SMS can be sent in a short time by a team and its well wishers.
I could not go out "on the limb" this year as my daughter was participating in BOB but I did feel that it was between NYU and BU, but it was obvious that BU out shined when the dust was settled. I was vindicated about my rantings on Desidanceteam.com bulletin boards about GWA winner not winning BOB.
I wish all of you the best and Ihope that you will stay involved with Raas.
I was pleased to see how professional BOB was at running their program. I was pleased to see how participants interacted. I was even pleased that I found a Taco Bell in downtown Chicago without getting mugged or getting a ticket.
My usual tirade about GWA also came true. I got to view all the videos of MM, DD, attended GWA, and Dallas R2B2.and some from Garden state. Things are changing fast. I hope that BOB is judged the same way next year as this may lead to more uniformity in what wins and what does not. I personally do not like the idea of "viewers choice' as it becomes a matter of how loud someone can scream or how many SMS can be sent in a short time by a team and its well wishers.
I could not go out "on the limb" this year as my daughter was participating in BOB but I did feel that it was between NYU and BU, but it was obvious that BU out shined when the dust was settled. I was vindicated about my rantings on Desidanceteam.com bulletin boards about GWA winner not winning BOB.
I wish all of you the best and Ihope that you will stay involved with Raas.
History of American Raas
Like any folk dance form, American Raas changed as it moved from India to USA, especially from Saurashtra to Gujrat to USA via Mumbai. The male domination of the Raas scene went through a subtle change. Most men who migrated in 60’s and seventies from Gujrat did not know how to perform Raas. If they did know, they did not know it well enough except for the basic steps. Most were incapable of teaching anyone, but having married women who went to colleges in Baroda and Ahmedabad, they brought young women to this country who had learned something about Raas and a great deal about Garba. When these women became “aunties” and started teaching their children or children in their towns, the seeds of American Raas were sawn. In mid and late eighties one started seeing Raas teams of some substance showing up at FOGANA meets with good energy. Many were disqualified if they did not keep circles or if they borrowed from Gujrati movies. Raas took a back seat on the FOGANA. Garba and innovative folk dances were the staple where as Raas was in the junior or minor category. U.T Austin team performed on a sort of “mix in early ninties” in traditional style and won first prize but they were choreographed by a seasoned FOGANA choreographer. They could not hide their energy but they were restricted to traditional moves and formations. They one first prize and this was probably the origin of what I refer to American Raas in competitive form.
Characteristics of American Raas:
1 Music: As some one who has managed to create music for last two winning items at BOB, “freaks” readily admits that his roots are not from Gujrat and that he has extensive background of hip hop. He is obsessed with the “native steps” of raas seen at local Navratri festivals. He is fascinated by the whole music form. In some ways American Raas does not acknowledge two important aspects of traditional Raas; variation in music and “Lasya” (sensual grace). It goes more for the “gusto”, the energy and virility that raas is famous for. This is partly because almost all the music used for remixes comes from cd’s and tapes made by a handful of artists with very strong rhythm, mostly of “non sto” variety where indivisual song is sacrificed in favor of the over all tempo and rhythm. A sa result the Raas remix becomes a “non stop” on steroids. Often additional pieces from Bollywood and other genre are thrown in. No one dares to do anything slow. At the manifest level the concern is that the audience will not appreciate slow dancing, but at another level there appears to be a strong need to deny anything “slow” that remotely resembles the taste of the parents of college student who perform American Raas. Total number of songs used between most teams are probably no more than 100 or 200. Rarely do you hear a song that has not been used elsewhere. Songs take a back seat but rhythm does not as it is the universal language. There is little connection between the meaning of the songs and actions. If the Raas involves a theme, the theme does not match the content of the song. Words serve as a background. Tempo rhythm and visual images take the fore stage.
I will be the first one to admit and to some extent predict that the music will change in next few years. I am quoting a participant and a mix maker; “It's like going to a dance club and the DJ makes a solid transition with the music, but you still keep on dancing without any interruption. Also Tempo of the music is very important because that sets the pace of the team's dance. You have to find a unique way to go from Slow to Fast or Fast to Slow, I think it's called the Breakdown beat or Prep beat. I use it to switch up the music.”
I hope that Bollywood will stay out of this form altogether although the Gujrati movie music has already entered the American Raas (Odhni Odhu Odhu Ne Udi Jay is one such number, although we do not hear it as often lately). Use of Live Dhol has been tried. Recently we have seen live singing (probably borrowed from Bhangra) but it would not surprise me if these innovations flourish further, although I have to say that most live music I have heard is minimalist at best, done by players and singers who cannot create the variations and intensity that well recorded and remixed music does.
Participants: Most college age girls seem to initiate the team activities. It is often hard to find guys on college campus who have time or interest in Raas. Most team captains are young women who have learned some thing from a local teacher from there home town, although there are exceptions such as the choreographer of 2005 GW team who was from Lahore And had no experience and persons who do not know the language but have special talent at mixing music or understanding the dance process.
Choreography: While many of the basic Raas steps can still be visible from the past, many non Gujrati steps have also been added often. The high stepping and keeping Dandia by the side of the shoulders, stunts, pyramids and use of non round formations are more typical of American Raas. Squares are often used just like the cheer leaders and Bhangra teams would use. Skipping is some what limited. Dandia twirling is a norm and more variations of twirling are evident although the type of “double twirling” that was seen in Saurashtra is not yet evident.
What really differentiates this form is the fact that these dances are for indoor performance on a stage. Props and lights are getting more importance, some times at the expense of the basic solid choreography. Audiances like stunts, and stories although original Raas had three stories; Krishina/love, Godess Ambika and praise of a warrior or a person. American Raas is not thus limited. Themes can wary from Lord Krishna stealing Dandia (Rutgers played to pink panther music) star wars and Disney to rice farming. Lack of continuity of music is often compensated by having a theme but the theme and the wordings of the music do not match as most participants seem to see the wordings as a backdrop. There is historical evidence to support this. Back in the old days Raas was danced to a Dhol or two. Wordings may appear here and there. If you go to a village fair and see Raas being done, there was not much singing. There were no microphones, Rhythm carried the dance.
Competitions: Teams are college level teams and numerous new competitions have started across the country in last three years. National competition is still part of a comprehensive competition, BOB (Best of Best).
Future: American Raas has a bright future. Students who performed and graduated are still trying to stay involved. New forms such as Sanedo are added very quickly. Priority of theme versus stunts versus formations versus other aspects is being worked out. To quote one enthusiastic ex choreographer and music mix maker: “Personally, I want to see more of slow graceful garba because I think these teams can do so much. I think slow garba is harder than fast tempo garba/raas. You can be really creative on garba then at raas. When I went to GWA, the only thing that was entertaining was the garba. I'm still a student at garba/raas dancing, and I want teams to look deeper into this culture because I've been hearing a lot of stuff that this style has more to offer. I think people should know the history of American Raas.”
Luckily the current generation is very busy making this history.
Characteristics of American Raas:
1 Music: As some one who has managed to create music for last two winning items at BOB, “freaks” readily admits that his roots are not from Gujrat and that he has extensive background of hip hop. He is obsessed with the “native steps” of raas seen at local Navratri festivals. He is fascinated by the whole music form. In some ways American Raas does not acknowledge two important aspects of traditional Raas; variation in music and “Lasya” (sensual grace). It goes more for the “gusto”, the energy and virility that raas is famous for. This is partly because almost all the music used for remixes comes from cd’s and tapes made by a handful of artists with very strong rhythm, mostly of “non sto” variety where indivisual song is sacrificed in favor of the over all tempo and rhythm. A sa result the Raas remix becomes a “non stop” on steroids. Often additional pieces from Bollywood and other genre are thrown in. No one dares to do anything slow. At the manifest level the concern is that the audience will not appreciate slow dancing, but at another level there appears to be a strong need to deny anything “slow” that remotely resembles the taste of the parents of college student who perform American Raas. Total number of songs used between most teams are probably no more than 100 or 200. Rarely do you hear a song that has not been used elsewhere. Songs take a back seat but rhythm does not as it is the universal language. There is little connection between the meaning of the songs and actions. If the Raas involves a theme, the theme does not match the content of the song. Words serve as a background. Tempo rhythm and visual images take the fore stage.
I will be the first one to admit and to some extent predict that the music will change in next few years. I am quoting a participant and a mix maker; “It's like going to a dance club and the DJ makes a solid transition with the music, but you still keep on dancing without any interruption. Also Tempo of the music is very important because that sets the pace of the team's dance. You have to find a unique way to go from Slow to Fast or Fast to Slow, I think it's called the Breakdown beat or Prep beat. I use it to switch up the music.”
I hope that Bollywood will stay out of this form altogether although the Gujrati movie music has already entered the American Raas (Odhni Odhu Odhu Ne Udi Jay is one such number, although we do not hear it as often lately). Use of Live Dhol has been tried. Recently we have seen live singing (probably borrowed from Bhangra) but it would not surprise me if these innovations flourish further, although I have to say that most live music I have heard is minimalist at best, done by players and singers who cannot create the variations and intensity that well recorded and remixed music does.
Participants: Most college age girls seem to initiate the team activities. It is often hard to find guys on college campus who have time or interest in Raas. Most team captains are young women who have learned some thing from a local teacher from there home town, although there are exceptions such as the choreographer of 2005 GW team who was from Lahore And had no experience and persons who do not know the language but have special talent at mixing music or understanding the dance process.
Choreography: While many of the basic Raas steps can still be visible from the past, many non Gujrati steps have also been added often. The high stepping and keeping Dandia by the side of the shoulders, stunts, pyramids and use of non round formations are more typical of American Raas. Squares are often used just like the cheer leaders and Bhangra teams would use. Skipping is some what limited. Dandia twirling is a norm and more variations of twirling are evident although the type of “double twirling” that was seen in Saurashtra is not yet evident.
What really differentiates this form is the fact that these dances are for indoor performance on a stage. Props and lights are getting more importance, some times at the expense of the basic solid choreography. Audiances like stunts, and stories although original Raas had three stories; Krishina/love, Godess Ambika and praise of a warrior or a person. American Raas is not thus limited. Themes can wary from Lord Krishna stealing Dandia (Rutgers played to pink panther music) star wars and Disney to rice farming. Lack of continuity of music is often compensated by having a theme but the theme and the wordings of the music do not match as most participants seem to see the wordings as a backdrop. There is historical evidence to support this. Back in the old days Raas was danced to a Dhol or two. Wordings may appear here and there. If you go to a village fair and see Raas being done, there was not much singing. There were no microphones, Rhythm carried the dance.
Competitions: Teams are college level teams and numerous new competitions have started across the country in last three years. National competition is still part of a comprehensive competition, BOB (Best of Best).
Future: American Raas has a bright future. Students who performed and graduated are still trying to stay involved. New forms such as Sanedo are added very quickly. Priority of theme versus stunts versus formations versus other aspects is being worked out. To quote one enthusiastic ex choreographer and music mix maker: “Personally, I want to see more of slow graceful garba because I think these teams can do so much. I think slow garba is harder than fast tempo garba/raas. You can be really creative on garba then at raas. When I went to GWA, the only thing that was entertaining was the garba. I'm still a student at garba/raas dancing, and I want teams to look deeper into this culture because I've been hearing a lot of stuff that this style has more to offer. I think people should know the history of American Raas.”
Luckily the current generation is very busy making this history.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Theme, Choreography and execution
When it comes to American Raas, "Theme" seems to take on a special meaning. In the early competitions (2004) theme did not seem to play a big role. Moon lit night, wedding (Stanford 2005) Mela Bataka Nu Shaak 2005), Boston tea party (BU 2006, and many others come to mind. Audiences really love themes. It appears to me that BOB judges have not given as much importance the theme as they have to other aspect of RAAS. I still remember the 40' plus Bollywood style back drop used by Stanford, the "Mela" props from Bataka Nu Shaak and some themes based on Lord Krishna. GWU moon light theme was less memorable but correctly done. It did not over power the dance itself.
Good choreography (what even that means) should be the most important aspect of the dance, followed very closely by execution. Imbalance of the two does not work well. If the choreography is "over done" (poor execution or poor quality of dancers), the flaws in execution become glaring and obvious. If the dance is "underchoriographed" the flaws are not as visible.
Over the years it has been my observation that well choreographed AND well executed items win. I am sure there are exceptions. I particularly don't like to see "props for the sake of props" where the dancers use them briefly like a rich man who rarely drives his Ferrari and leaves it outside his house just to show off. If a team uses "Ghada" (pots for water, they should be used properly and for more than 30 seconds. Some competitions (not the college ones) limit the number of props for this reason.
This years winners (thank you You tube and Bob tube) seem to be a nice mix, but good choreography and seem lees execution with great synchronization (where all dancers look like just one dancer with many forms) should win.
When Lord Krishna danced with Gopis) there was one Krishna for each Gopi (as depicted in Rajasthani paintings and mentioned in Puranas). Each Gopi felt close to Krishna as if she was the only one who was with Krishna. It reminds me of one story of Radha.
Once Lord Krishna invited Radha to the inner sanctum of his garden. No one was allowed there. Radha was very happy being so close to Krishna. Soon she thought that she was special and the only one who had this privilege. As she experienced a great deal of pride for being special, she felt very lonely and sad. She realized that this false pride lead to separation from her lover. Based on this Narsinh Mehta wrote the famous lines of Raas "Nagar Nandji Na Lal, Raas ramanta mari Nathdi Khovani (oh Krishna, while doing raas, I lost my precious nose ring"). Nose ring represents false pride. When she became one with Krishna and lost her false pride, she lost the nose ring. Lesson for modern day American Raas dancers? Don’t let pride of winning go through your head. Leave your rage, frustration, anger at judges aside and focus on the exhilaration that American Raas is supposed to bring! Winning and losing is based on fickle minds of judges and not on your performance!
(Picture courtsey of http://www.gaudiyadiscussions.com/index.php?showtopic=2014)
Good choreography (what even that means) should be the most important aspect of the dance, followed very closely by execution. Imbalance of the two does not work well. If the choreography is "over done" (poor execution or poor quality of dancers), the flaws in execution become glaring and obvious. If the dance is "underchoriographed" the flaws are not as visible.
Over the years it has been my observation that well choreographed AND well executed items win. I am sure there are exceptions. I particularly don't like to see "props for the sake of props" where the dancers use them briefly like a rich man who rarely drives his Ferrari and leaves it outside his house just to show off. If a team uses "Ghada" (pots for water, they should be used properly and for more than 30 seconds. Some competitions (not the college ones) limit the number of props for this reason.
This years winners (thank you You tube and Bob tube) seem to be a nice mix, but good choreography and seem lees execution with great synchronization (where all dancers look like just one dancer with many forms) should win.
When Lord Krishna danced with Gopis) there was one Krishna for each Gopi (as depicted in Rajasthani paintings and mentioned in Puranas). Each Gopi felt close to Krishna as if she was the only one who was with Krishna. It reminds me of one story of Radha.
Once Lord Krishna invited Radha to the inner sanctum of his garden. No one was allowed there. Radha was very happy being so close to Krishna. Soon she thought that she was special and the only one who had this privilege. As she experienced a great deal of pride for being special, she felt very lonely and sad. She realized that this false pride lead to separation from her lover. Based on this Narsinh Mehta wrote the famous lines of Raas "Nagar Nandji Na Lal, Raas ramanta mari Nathdi Khovani (oh Krishna, while doing raas, I lost my precious nose ring"). Nose ring represents false pride. When she became one with Krishna and lost her false pride, she lost the nose ring. Lesson for modern day American Raas dancers? Don’t let pride of winning go through your head. Leave your rage, frustration, anger at judges aside and focus on the exhilaration that American Raas is supposed to bring! Winning and losing is based on fickle minds of judges and not on your performance!
(Picture courtsey of http://www.gaudiyadiscussions.com/index.php?showtopic=2014)
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sanedo or Snehdo?
It is called Sanedo. It started some time in 1960's. He died young. When he came up with it, people criticized him a lot, but later it became part of the Garba culture. It was started by a single individual from Rajkot. "Sanedo" comes from "Snehdo". Sneh means love. Most of the original couplets were about love. They are two lines and then the singer bursts into the words "sanedo Sanedo Lal Sanedo Sanedo". This is not exactly Raas or Garba, often done at the end of a Graba program during Navratri. It was made popular by the Mumbai crowd and by Rupal Doshi here in USA.
During the "couplet phase, you just sit and relax.Drum rhythm stops.When the word Sanedo comes, you jump and dance has hard as you can. It is more or less a free for all. There is rhythm but you are not required to dance a certain way, but most people will do the same step.
Look up on You Tube and you will find some interesting "sanedo" pieces. Since the couplets are sung without the drum, there is lot of freedom in what is said and how it is said. Nothing obscene. It often involves names of a wedding party (custom Sanedo), if the Sanedo is done during pre-wedding Sangeet or Garba as most of you will do when you get married. We recently had the pleasure of planning Garba and Bhangra for a Malayali couple. They even served North Indian food. No Bharat Natyam or Malayali folk dance there! I guess that is the trend. Then again if you see a Guju wedding party doing dance you will See lots of Bhangra and some Garba. Young people to Bhangra on the street as the procession is moving, then the whole thing stops and Garba circle starts. Fire crackers go off. Traffic is disrupted. I guess all is fair in Love, so who cares for laws and rules!
During the "couplet phase, you just sit and relax.Drum rhythm stops.When the word Sanedo comes, you jump and dance has hard as you can. It is more or less a free for all. There is rhythm but you are not required to dance a certain way, but most people will do the same step.
Look up on You Tube and you will find some interesting "sanedo" pieces. Since the couplets are sung without the drum, there is lot of freedom in what is said and how it is said. Nothing obscene. It often involves names of a wedding party (custom Sanedo), if the Sanedo is done during pre-wedding Sangeet or Garba as most of you will do when you get married. We recently had the pleasure of planning Garba and Bhangra for a Malayali couple. They even served North Indian food. No Bharat Natyam or Malayali folk dance there! I guess that is the trend. Then again if you see a Guju wedding party doing dance you will See lots of Bhangra and some Garba. Young people to Bhangra on the street as the procession is moving, then the whole thing stops and Garba circle starts. Fire crackers go off. Traffic is disrupted. I guess all is fair in Love, so who cares for laws and rules!
BOB Chicago here we come
It finally happened. Boston University (BU) Raas team won Maryland Masti. My understanding is that they will be in BOB. This is a "traditional" based team. Why do I know this? The captain was trained by my wife. She happens to be our lovely child (Beta tu jiti gai, Wah!). That means both of our children will have competed in BOB.
I plan to attend the competition for the first time. I might attend GWA in two weeks as one other family member is dancing there and I will be in San Diego, so might as well drive to Irvine. This is my favorite competition because it is well organized and I get to see the California and Non California teams. I have attended for last three times. Normally California teams win there because of the nature of judging (don't get mad I don't mean the judges are biased or anything like that). That is just history.
I am looking forward to this season.May the best team win it all.
I plan to attend the competition for the first time. I might attend GWA in two weeks as one other family member is dancing there and I will be in San Diego, so might as well drive to Irvine. This is my favorite competition because it is well organized and I get to see the California and Non California teams. I have attended for last three times. Normally California teams win there because of the nature of judging (don't get mad I don't mean the judges are biased or anything like that). That is just history.
I am looking forward to this season.May the best team win it all.
Monday, December 17, 2007
World space radio interview
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.
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.
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
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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?
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