CURRY BEAR

Iota Nu Delta Hangama 2008 Review

First of all, I’d like to state that the brothers of Iota Nu Delta (IND) that were behind Hangama ‘08 were one the most generous and accommodating organizers I’ve worked with (watch out BOB!). I’m sure my friends at DesiDanceTeams.com can vouch their hospitality for me. I urge and encourage many other organizations to sponsor this group for years to come. They can quote me on this. My only regret is that the event was on a Friday (I work at a car wash to pay my child support…this website don’t give me dime). Had it been on a Saturday or Sunday, I could’ve spent an entire day making notes of how the event unfolded from start to finish.

The organizers are also very clever. “Conveniently,” Curry Bear’s tickets did not come in the mail so I was forced to pick them up at Tribeca Arts Theater. IND probably thought this would reveal my identity. Screw you bitches – I sent two losers with Curry Bear t-shirts to pick up my tickets. Yes BooBoo, I’m smarter than your average bear. On a serious note, IND did a great job bringing more awareness to Swab for Bevin and raising money for SAKHI. I’ll be writing more about the previously mentioned items in another entry. Nothing makes me more emotional than charities. Well, except for the movie Juno – that made me cry. The IND guys are one of the most professional people I have met other than the 2 Asian hookers I went home with that night. The hookers were very professional and will be featured in Curry Bear’s new video, “2girls1bear”.

The doors opened at 6:30 PM as stated but the show did not start until 7:15, which was great because many people had trouble getting there on time due to weather conditions. Despite the nasty weather, the venue was packed. A brother from IND sung the Indian National Anthem, which was a good change since I’ve always seen it sung by women at desi competitios. What followed next was the American National Anthem, which was done in an ingenious way – ELETRIC GUITAR!!! I didn’t catch the kid’s name, but I definitely wouldn’t challenge him in Guitar Hero. However, I would totally kick his ass in Sitar Hero.

This event had a good host, a comedian named Rajiv Satyal. Unfortunately, the crowd would NOT SHUT UP, so half of his jokes were inaudible. It also didn’t help that a majority of the crowd members were too immature to understand some of his witty and clever remarks. Now Curry Bear knows something about being immature. I am a cartoon bear after all. However, there is a time and place to be obnoxious. You, as in you loud and obnoxious people, may think you are very clever with your loud comments but most people would rather you shut up. You come off looking like the guy from “Not Another Teen Movie” who always claps at the wrong time. But seriously, the crowd really hurt this competition. During and in-between performances, the crowd was excessively loud and incoherent. I felt really bad for Rajiv; I really liked his material, but he was receiving no love from the audience. Once in a while, some of them would yell out “you suck”. It is really hard being on stage and that just kills the mood and the momentum.

Curry Bear feels like he should make a “Cheering for Dummies” book for these people. It is great to cheer for your team, but when you are cheering over their introduction you are doing them a huge disservice. This is not at all the fault of the organizers since you can not screen audience members as they come in. Us brown people have enough racial profiling to deal with as it is. But something has to be done about crowd control. Teams need to tell their fans to cheer and not continuously shout chants during a performance because it really ruins the performance of your team. People start wondering what they are saying and stop watching your dance. Most of the time, it is pointless because people can’t hear what you are chanting. It is also very disrespectful to the host and the event organizers when you can’t be silent while a person speaks. The team with the loudest crowd does NOT win, do you understand that??? UConn had no crowd support and they placed 3rd. Also, yelling out a random girl’s name will not make her cool. Puja should be concentrating on her dancing and certainly not listening for shout-outs. Keep your ignorant remarks to yourself or post them on DDT, but don’t shout them out during a performance. Feel free to chant for your team right before and after they perform, except when the host is speaking. Now that my rant is over, let’s move on to the reviews of the teams. I’ve been really out of touch with Bhangra so those reviews won’t be as detailed. They also won’t be detailed because I didn’t do background research on the scientific nuclear biochemical and aerodynamics of the derivate formulas, thesis and hypothesis of the art called Bhangra. My Ph.D was lost in the mail along with my tickets. Note to the teams: don’t pay much attention to the total scores as they don’t matter as much as individual scores. You should be more concerned with the individual score of each criteria since that shows your strengths and weaknesses.

The first performance was an exhibition act by FLO, which consisted of 3 IND brothers. The program guide had a picture of 4 members of FLO, so I was surprised to see only 3. Did the 4th member get the FLU? The performance was sloppy in coordination, they made very little eye contact with the audience and there was lots of staring at the floor as if boobs were there. The three members wore suspenders and it kept sliding off their shoulder like a bra from K-mart. Majority of the performance was pop-lock with one guy always out of place. The moves were decent but lacked synchronization. They really couldn’t do any major formations with only 3 dancers. The performance was humorous; I specially enjoyed the exaggerated crunk dancing, which I think was made to look bad on purpose for humor. It was the kind of dancing you would see at a club by random people. This performance seemed like it was for fun and not to impress anyone so I enjoyed it. It was a good effort on the part of IND to be apart of the show in the entertainment aspect. Hey, at least it wasn’t one of those lame stepping routines that have the same 4 steps going over and over again for the entire song. Overall, it was a good job but there is room for improvement.

UMD Dhoom – Fusion
The first competitive act of the night. I was hoping this team would be just as good as their Garba-Raas counterpart, EntouRaas. Unfortunately, that was not the case. They had a very plain performance (like the plain slice of pizza I ate before the competition). Their intro video was about Barbie Dolls coming to life. I just wished their performance would have come to life too. The video really didn’t have much to do about Barbies really, but neither did their performance. It showed a bunch of girls popping out from behind statues or walking around to the Pink Panther theme. The performance commenced with one Barbie fixing the position of 3 others. The first act started with a sloppy Bollywood performance to “Tumhi Tum Ho” from Tara Rum Pum and transitioned to “The Way I Are”, which had non-hip-hop moves. They soon busted out with colored handkerchiefs for their Bhangra segment. During their performance to “Kangana”, one of the girls fell down on her ass but immediately got back up. Way to go champ!

In the next segment, the girls sported white gloves and did the redundant and overused puppet dancing to instrumentals where one girl was controlling three others. What is it with girls and controlling shit? They also performed to “Elephunk”, the Blackeyed Peas song with the Indian instrumental and South Indian vocals. I’m surprised many other teams haven’t used this song considering that fusion competitions have more Bharatnatyam moves than McDonalds has burgers. This was followed by a Bhangra remix to Sean Paul’s “Temperature”. The lights turned off and they played “Please Don’t Stop the Music” for a second. Before Rhianna could stop singing, they turned the lights back on to a played out Rishi Rish song. Their final pose had one girl standing on the thighs of two others. The girls on this team looked very young. They were so cute and tiny that I wanted to collect them like Pokemon. I shall call one of them Pica-gujju and she will follow me battling people in dance battles at my whim. This team wasn’t big on props (only two giant Barbie toy boxes on stage), stunts or originality. They wore a simple and plain costume that didn’t change. The choice of music wasn’t spectacular. They didn’t have much crowd support and their choreography didn’t stand out. The team needs to perform more difficult moves that fit the music, add a costume change and have better transitions in the mix.
Costume: 4
Mix: 4
Video: 4
Props: 0
Stunts: 0
Dance: 4
Synch/Formation: 4
Hotness: 5
Crowd: 4
Originality: 1
X factor: 0
Total: 3.0

Stony Brook Bhangra – Bhangra
Stony Brook’s intro video was a slideshow of pictures with names of team members. The crowd was pretty loud at this point. The performance started with police sirens and the team standing in a cheerleader pyramid position. They had a very sloppy start. They were small in number and made the stage seem very empty. It felt so empty that I started imagining ninja monkeys jumping down from the rafters just to amuse myself. This team really lacked energy. They looked like they just finished having a 26 hour orgy. They also had really poor formations. Their giddah segment did not have much giddah. One girl in a red-blue outfit was the only one that was good at what she was doing. I noticed the arm placements during moves were no where similar to the other team members. The guys were not that good and at times couldn’t even balance themselves for difficult moves. Ballet lessons needed perhaps? The costumes were good while the mix and video was simply average. The prop segment was way too long. Formations and synchronization needs work for SBB. Stunts and dance were nothing amazing and had no crowd support. I bet if they had ninja monkeys, they would have gotten more of a reaction. Nothing stood out about this team, which is why nothing stands out in their review. They need to bring their game up or go rent some ninja monkeys.
Costume: 9
Mix: 5
Video: 5
Props: 4
Stunts: 3
Dance: 3
Synch/Formation: 3
Hotness: 3
Crowd: 3
Originality: 0
X factor: 0
Total: 3.8

St. John Raaz – Fusion
Holy Jinkees Scooby! This time I saw an intro video that consisted of a bunch of Facebook pictures, LITERALLY! I know we joke a lot about a team’s intro video looking like Facebook profile pictures but this one had them! It showed Facebook profiles of teams, along with some MySpace and RateDesi profiles. Ratedesi? What the fuck were you thinking? I am so going to dyme her on there. They were going for a Microsoft theme and had a giant cube in the front of the stage that said Microsoft RAAZ XP. What happened Raaz, didn’t upgrade to Vista yet? The team had a good start with an excellent routine to a Bollywood song with great synchronization and energy. At times it was hard to concentrate on the performance and even hear the lyrics of the song because the crowd was so damn loud. Please team, control your crowds and neuter and spay your pets. Raaz had a lot of good stage transitions, moving fluidly from one formation to another while going on and off stage. The Bharatanatyam segment that followed was very creative. I saw them doing Bharatanatyam over two gigantic orange props that might have been stolen from the set of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” This step was quite similar to Drexel Jhalak’s jump rope over the sticks, except Raaz added Bharatanatyam elements. Not only was it something very unique, it was also very coordinated. This is probably what helped them place. If it wasn’t the former, then it may have been a stunt where two girls held the stick with one girl in center flipping over it. I didn’t think it was possible because the gigantic orange bamboo sticks they had looked as if it was made from Styrofoam.

The following segment was with the song “Dil Dooba” but it had very poor stage transition and was sloppy. However, some of the formations were done very well. This was soon followed with a series of bad stage transitions to Bharatanatyam routines as opposed to the well done stage transitions earlier. The routines themselves were great and got the crowd really hyped, perhaps a little too hyped and noisy. I had absolutely no idea what their performance had to do with Microsoft at all. In fact, I was afraid that during the middle of the performance something would crash and I would have to Ctrl-Alt-Del my review and exit out of the theater. The costumes were very nice (blue skirts and red tops…just how I like ‘em) and the girls looked hot. The mix was awesome but neither the mix nor the dance had much to do about Microsoft. Maybe they should just format that gimmick. The prop usage was talented and the stunts were daring for a girl’s team. The dance in itself was splendid and synchronization was fine for the most part, but there were some noticeable mess ups. The crowd was extremely rowdy and stunted my enjoyment. If the girls weren’t so pretty, I would hate this team for their crowd support. For their crowd and incoherent theme, they receive a -1 X factor. Next time SJU, chose a theme you can present properly. Otherwise, it looks like you made the dance first and then threw in a random theme. Also, thank you for bowing down to Curry Bear at the end of your performance. Respect.
Costume: 9
Mix: 8
Video: 7
Props: 9
Stunts: 10
Dance: 9
Synch/Formation: 8
Hotness: 8
Crowd: 1
Originality: 0
X factor: -1
Total: 6.8

UPitt Steel City Bhangra – Bhangra
Their intro video was funny as they had team members’ faces on other people’s body which included football players, actors and other celebrities. It was funny but the clips went by too fast. This was done for the track of “We are the champions”, which is undoubtedly the ultimate victory song. Every girl I’ve slept with plays this song when she reaches an orgasm. When the performance started, one poor fellow in blue had a wardrobe malfunction as his pug came over his eyes. He took it off after the Soulja boy segment but part of me was hoping to see some blind man Bhangra. This team had a small number of people, once again making the stage look big and empty. But on the other hand, the few members made it easier for them to stay in synch. One member in yellow kept puckering his lips like America’s next top model. The uneven gender match up made things weird during the performance. It might have made things even weirder if they hooked up with each other afterwards. The two man tower was very shaky. I recall one girl going off stage and coming back at the very end. I didn’t know you could take bathroom breaks during a performance. And I certainly didn’t know there was a port-a-potty on the side of the stage. They didn’t receive much love from the crowd, which could be from their lack of props, stunts or simple dance moves and sloppy formations. Their moves had no grace or elegance and their jhummar needs work. The mix wasn’t too entertaining or intricate and I noticed excessive use of instrumentals. The lack of members really hurt the team and made the stage transition look bad.
Costume: 6
Mix: 5
Video: 7
Props: 0
Stunts: 0
Dance: 4
Synch/Formation: 5
Hotness: 3
Crowd: 1
Originality: 0
X factor: 0
Total: 3.1

NYU Pandamonium – Fusion
This team was one of the main highlights of the event for fusion fans. Many people came to see the return of NYU Pandamonium (Yes I spell it that way on purpose, Bear Power!) with an all-new team and an all-new performance. This is a new generation of Pandas from what I’m hearing. If the old NYU Pandamonium is like Batman, then the new Pandamonium is like Batman Beyond. The intro video started off with two members looking through Youtube videos (the Sikh fellow from American Idol, Kashif from America Got Talent, and then eventually a previous NYU Pandamonium performance). When the curtains drew, the crowd went nuts to see this old favorite team. They started off with the Lion King theme song, bringing out a stuffed panda bear and holding it like Simba. Next, they quickly went into “Warrior” remix by Lloyd Banks for their Hip-Hop routine and then followed by 2 Step Bhangra for their Hip-Hop vs. Bhangra routine. As always, I love watching some Hip-Hop vs. Bhangra – it’s like Marvel vs. D.C for brown people. At this point, the Bhangra team members left the stage to “Kiss Kiss” by Chris Brown. The Hip-Hop segment had a lot of pop locking but it wasn’t very clean. The routine was good but all the non pop-lock portions were recycled moves from the old Pandas. This was followed by a transition of “Bruaahh !!! That’s what she said” and mixed into a Bhangra song as the Bhangra members came on stage with dongs (the big stick…no it’s not a penis). The Bhangra was messy and the moves weren’t as elegant as they could’ve been. After their “8” formation with the Hip-Hop guys, one of the Bhangra guy shot a Hip-Hop member using his stick as a shotgun. The rest of the guys revived the victim to the beat of “Way I Are”. I hear that doctors who graduated from NYU use this song to revive gunshot victims in the ER. This was the best segment of their performance; their Hip-hop performance to “Way I Are” was amazing and very neat. They started kicking it Bollywood style to “Muqabala”, and then kicked the guy off the stage who started the Bollywood segment. This was an excellent choice of song because it’s an oldie and the aunties and uncles loved it. In fact, I had a better chance of taking an aunty back to my place than a dance member after that song. The Bhangra remix to “Next Episode” played as the Bhangra members returned to stage. This Bhangram segment was finally clean and the moves were pretty decent despite being recycled. The next Bhangra segment that followed got the crowd pretty hyped. They finished off with a reenactment of Eli Manning’s amazing Superbowl pass followed by the infamous head nod to the side (thank you Night At The Roxbury) to Haddaway’s “What Is Love”. I believe that just like me, everyone had high hopes for this team. They weren’t bad, but they were not close to the level of the old Pandas. They do not have the same presentation talent as the old team; their style was slightly different but not better than their predecessors. The old Pandas had much more of an entertaining factor in their performance and better interaction between Hip-Hop vs. Bhangra. These Pandas have a long way to go to fill the gi-normous shoes of their past members and the Bhangra needs a lot of work. Their mix could also improve as well; there was no strong fusion element like the old mixes. Their choreography did not have the same fusion element of mixing Hip-Hop and Bhangra; this time the two were kept separate for the most part. Pandamonium is known for its fusion; the way they implement Hip-Hop and Bhangra into each other and fuse it like a nuclear reaction is very original. We didn’t see the same technique this time around. Another thing I did not like about this team was the costumes. They wore grey sweat pants. It looked as if they just came from playing dodgeball in gym class. If they did just come from dodgeball, the least they could have done was Dodge, Dip, Duck, Dive, and Dodge in their performance. Even though this team didn’t come to par with the old one, it didn’t stop the crowd from cheering and loving these guys. They still deliver the hype, the energy, and the attitude that we love about NYU Pandamonium. There was no annoying cheering like SJU, Virsa, and some of the other teams. Curry Bear’s recommendation is to study all the old Panda routines and look at the fusion elements. That’s your weakest point at the moment. Also, make sure you keep up your grades. Bears shouldn’t be getting F’s.
Costume: 5
Mix: 7
Video: 6
Props: 5
Stunts: 3
Dance: 7
Synch/Formation: 7
Hotness: -
Crowd: 10
Originality: 5
X factor: 2
Total: 6.3

U of Rochester Bhangra – Bhangra
Rochester had a weird but cool video. They showed Polaroid pictures of the teams. It reminded me of the movie Memento. Hopefully, Sammy Jenkins did not rape and kill their performance. They started off with a crowd favorite, “Sardar” by Amrit Saab. This team sported 8 guys and girls with pairing outfits. What I liked about this team’s costume is that I used to wear similar vests when I was a kid, but the girls costume looked a lot better than the guys (no homo). The girl segment to a Lembher song was great with formation, moves and was flawless, but like some of the other teams they had very poor stage transitions. The guys prop segment had great formation too. Most of the all girl segment received more reaction than the guy segments. One member in green was always way too hyper with crazy expressions. The moves were nothing too impressive. During the coed Lembher song, a head nod to the amplified bass looked pretty. The girls in purple, red, and orange were pretty cute too. The semi-3-man-tower was OK, but the overall ending pose was a pretty nice way to end it and received a lot of crowd reaction.
Costume: 6
Mix: 7
Video: 6
Props: 7
Stunts: 6
Dance: 6
Synch/Formation: 6
Hotness: 7
Crowd: 7
Originality: 0
X factor: 0
Total: 5.8

After the Rochester performance, Dan Nainan came out to do his brilliant stand up routine. He’s very soft spoken but delivers well. His material is just genius and unlike the MC, he had the complete attention of the audience and they loved him. He seems like a good guy and spoke with Curry Bear at the event and agreed to do an interview with us. He is a real nice guy and even gave 100% of his CD sales to the event’s charity. Soon followed the intermission where I had to take a massive dump in the bathroom.

UConn Surya – Fusion
The video intro had the Fox NFL theme song and switched to Candy Shop. It was a bunch of slideshow pictures with lots of crazy transitions. Someone discovered video transitions in Adobe Premiere and got carried away. I do admit though that I loved their costumes. It was a very unique look. It looked as if they had it made on Project Runway. In the words of Christian, they looked FIERCE. I even think a push up bra comes with their costume because every girl on the team was packing at least a C or higher (and I’m not talking about test scores). The performance started off slow but picked up during the second segment. During the “Aaja Nachle” segment, they displayed a mix of garba and Bollywood choreography with weak formations and awful transitions. Next, they had a change of outfits and I noticed two of the girls’ pants were quite transparent and you could see their underwear/boy shorts. The stage lights do that to pantyhose. And it wasn’t even sexy, it was just weird. OK, I lied it was sexy. This was followed by a series of bad transitions from Hip-Hop to Bharatanatyam to Bollywood dancing. Alas, these were all short lived segments. More poor transitions followed to “Touch It” by Busta and Missy and then into the movie Taal’s instrumentals where they performed more Bharatanatyam. I’ll give them props for playing oldies from Rangeela and Hum Sai He Muqabala. There was nothing great about this performance and it was very plain. I didn’t find much creativity with the mix. Their choreography was nothing special along with their formation. At times it was messy, but only clean during Bharatanatyam segments. I’m not sure how they placed third. I suggest them to go back to the drawing board and try to come up with something creative and outrageous if you want to place higher. I think this team has potential and just needs to push themselves.
Costume: 6
Mix: 6
Video: 4
Props: 5
Stunts: 0
Dance: 6
Synch/Formation: 6
Hotness: 6
Crowd: 2
Originality: 0
X factor: 0
Total: 4.1

Bankian Naaran – Bhangra
This was a pretty decent all-girls Bhangra team, though not as great as UBC or NBA. Their intro video consisted of an array of songs. Two of their members were from other teams (Hofstra and Stony Brook I believe). Rumor has it that somebody asked these two girls “What would you do for a Klondike Bar? Would you dance on my team?” They said “Yes”. I admit it’s got to be hard to dance for someone to be in two teams during one competition and memorize two completely different steps. This team had a strong start with a lot of hype from the crowd. The giddah segment was average and their next formation was disorganized but one move with a side kneel was pretty hot. What I liked about this team was that their Bhangra moves weren’t that masculine and gave it that grace and elegance that girl teams are supposed to have. One girl in the green seemed very tired throughout the performance. Overall, it was an above average performance with great song choices. They won’t be too far off from being the best all-girls team on the east coast. The costumes were great, so was the dance, and the crowd seems to love them.
Costume: 8
Mix: 7
Video: 5
Props: 7
Stunts: 0
Dance: 7
Synch/Formation: 8
Hotness: 7
Crowd: 8
Originality: 1
X factor: 0
Total: 5.8

Binghamton Masti – Fusion

Their intro video began with an old school clip of Gabbar Singh from Sholay right before he delivers his famous dialogue but it ended abruptly. The performance picked up with 4 guys reenacting the Gabbar Singh scene. The guy playing Gabbar Singh had a very nice replica 9mm, which I believe is illegal to have in the state of NY (Damn they really are bad ass). I’m surprised they allowed it into the building. If I’m not mistaken, there was a law passed in NY that all toy guns had to have an orange cap at the tip so little kids would stop getting shot to death by dumbass cops. But I guess a gun used as stage props can be bought without an orange tip. I wonder what they would have done if security took it away. Shoot his rope at them? The girls came on with strong charisma, great formation and were very synchronized. Four girls came out carrying another girl as if she was Xerxes from 300. Luckily, a petite girl popped out instead of a 7-foot tall He-bitch. Soon after they went into a Bollywood remixed segment with hot moves but really low audio. The song played was “Choli Ke Peeche” from Khalnayak, and honestly that’s exactly what I was thinking the whole time. The lights turned off for a bit and later turned back on to reveal a costume change. The performance level to “Naasha Naasha” from Kaal fluctuated up and down; some parts were interesting and some had mediocre moves. The girls then went into a Rockettes-like formation where half the girls on the line did a back flip with the support of members next to them. Up next, the girls performed to “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom” with long thin sticks. Half way into the performance, they snapped the sticks in half over their knees like a KitKat and used them as dandiyas. Speaking of KitKats, I would like to break me off a piece of those girls. This led to a semi-decent Garba/Raas routine mixed with some Bollywood style dancing. After two peacock formations, they ended with a very fast paced segment and the crowd cheering loudly. Overall, it was a great performance but the performance itself as well as the mix had absolutely NOTHING to do with their intro video or the beginning reenactment scene. Their costumes were great and the girls looked endearingly cute. I’m not talking sexy cute, but more like adorable cute…like you want to pinch their cheeks…all four of them. Even though the mix had nothing to do with their theme, it was a pretty good choice of music and most of the choreography worked well except for the Raas/Garba segment to “Jhoom Barabar Jhoom”. They had a good usage of props and stunts and didn’t overdo it. Most of their performance was pretty clean. If I can recall my sexy memories, I think this was the team where a girl jumped in a small bin which was about 2 feet high, squatted down, and instantly stood back up to reveal a new costume. Instant live costume change! I am trade marking that term so don’t even think about stealing it. I don’t know how she pulled that off, but if she can get dressed that quick, imagine how fast she can get undressed. Call me sometime, girl. I also liked the breaking of the sticks into two dandiyas, but JBJ is not the song to do it too. This team was one of the very few teams to really deliver the wow factor to the audience. They definitely gave the crowd a bang for their buck. Now if only they’ll bang me for some bucks. If I had to nitpick at Masti (and I do), I’d say if you’re going to start with a theme, use that theme throughout or at least bring it back in the end.
Costume: 10
Mix: 9
Video: 5
Props: 10
Stunts: 10
Dance: 8
Synch/Formation: 9
Hotness: 9
Crowd: 10
Originality: 2
X factor: 3
Total: 8.5

Aan Punjab Di – Bhangra
APD’s video had several pictures of famous Sardars giving a very traditional feel to it and it was later followed by team pictures. Their dance began with an amazing live singer. Next, the team waited for some time till their mix was played. Maybe the audio guy was on a bathroom break. They put on a spectacular performance to “Gabroo Jawan”. Their prop segment consisted of every single type of prop. The chimta guy on the side just looked weird standing alone – kind of like the guy who goes to the prom by himself or one of those desi uncles who show up at after-parties. During one segment of the routine, the dancers did a series of awesome spins and great formations. The crowd also sung along to “Daru peekae daru peekae”. They also did some insane high kicks. Throughout the performance, I was afraid that the guy holding the chimta was going to accidently stab someone. Overall, a great traditional performance and this team had the crowd cheering all throughout. Near the end, they kept cheering Virsa. I’m assuming it was a collabo. The team needs to practice on synchronization because they were messy here and there. Out of all the teams, this team probably excelled best on formations and stage transition.
Costume: 8
Mix: 9
Video: 7
Props: 7
Stunts: 0
Dance: 9
Synch/Formation: 7
Hotness: -
Crowd: 10
Originality: 1
X factor: 2
Total: 6.7

Hofstra Sakhiyan – Fusion

This was the last fusion performance of the night. Their intro video explained their theme – it’s “just pure dance”, no props, no gimmicks, no drama, and etc… That’s how they roll! This was genius. They actually made their theme the fact that they had “no theme”. Like George Costanza would say, it was a show about nothing. This actually lowers the audience expectations, which somehow makes the dance even more enjoyable. They also added Curry Bear’s “Powerpoint” picture in their intro video. Thanks ladies, I feel so loved. The team received a huge pop. Perhaps it is because these girls are so hot that they can turn Sunjaya straight. The initial starting pose when the curtains opened up was pretty cool. I notice there were more members this time around. They began with a very seductive start and it felt as if they were trying to arouse me. Yes, it was for me and only me. This was followed by another slow segment. Though they had more members to help with formations, their placement for it was a little off. Most of the time they were too far apart from each other and giving that empty stage feel. Having a backdrop and other props set up fills up that empty stage feel. A few members left as they broke into a Bharatanatyam segment and more returned for a clean Bollywood segment with better formations. This followed another Bollywood segment, “Aja Nachle” with more great and clean choreography and much better stage transition. Their set up to Imran Khan’s “Ni Nachle” was great. This was one of their strongest segments with intense footwork and moves. That definitely got the crowd excited. I mean they were already excited, but this time it wasn’t in their pants. More members returned to the stage where they began the Bhangra segment to “Ni Nachle”. During this segment the members were too clumped up together. Ladies, you need to spread out a little and distribute yourselves evenly throughout the stage. The only time it’s OK to clump up is when you are hugging Curry Bear. Girls, you down for a group hug at Tonic next week? The Bhangra moves were pretty decent too. They finished the performance by going back into the initial pose that they were in when the curtains first opened. The shiny tops were pretty cool, but sometimes outfit changes help because some people get tired of looking at the same costumes. However, that did not really affect me because I was imagining all of them naked. The second half of the mix was great and the second half of the choreography was phenomenal. I believe the slow segment in the beginning hurt you. You gotta keep the hype high. There weren’t many mess ups; the performance was immaculate throughout with original set up moves and not a lot of recycling. This team showed a lot of improvement in several aspects; they just need to keep the hype level at an all time rise or a fast increase at the least. The beginning seemed to drag and felt like forever. Adding more members helped with stage transition and formations, but placement is also critical. Props and gimmicks have never been Hofstra’s style, but it’s survival of the fittest; if you can’t adapt to the change in the game, you’ll lose. I do respect them for not using gimmicks, and if Curry Bear’s respect means more than a silly trophy than keep doing your thing girls. Curry Bear has to give you girls a 0 for props and stunts because that is the way our rating is set up, but you guys are always winners to me.
Costume: 7
Mix: 8
Video: 7
Props: 0
Stunts: 0
Dance: 8
Synch/Formation: 8
Hotness: 7
Crowd: 8
Originality: 7
X factor: 0
Total: 6.0

Drexel Bhangra – Bhangra

The last bhangra performance of the night. Their logo in the intro video was hot. Drexel Runs on Bhangra, a nice parody of America Runs on Dunkin. I’m just glad that annoying hot bitch Rachael “man hands” Ray wasn’t on this team. They opened up to a live singer and a girl on a swing set held by other two girls. The beginning wasn’t very clean but the formations were great and so was the choreography. All the jumps were in synch, which many teams that night couldn’t do. They had great stage usage and transition. One segment, before a strobe light went crazy near the end, was truly amazing. Everything from choreography, formations and synchronization was fantastic. I loved the costumes and their mix was probably one of the best mixes of the night. With a mix of modern and traditional, DUB’s choreography was phenomenal. This team might be one of east coast’s finest. I really look forward to seeing this performance again. And if you can, please send me your mix, it was awesome. I want to play it in my car as I run over Rachael Ray at Dunkin’ Donuts.
Costume: 8
Mix: 10
Video: 7
Props: 6
Stunts: 6
Dance: 9
Synch/Formation: 8
Hotness: 7
Crowd: 9
Originality: 7
X factor: 0
Total: 7.7

My Placing:
Fusion
1st – BU Masti
2nd – St. John Raaz
3rd – NYU Pandamonium
4th – Hofstra Sakhiyan

Bhangra
1st – Drexel Bhangra
2nd – Aan Punjab Di
3rd - Bankian Naaran
4th – U of Rochester Bhangra

Overall – BU Masti

Who I thought the judges would pick:
Fusion
1st – NYU Pandamonium
2nd – BU Masti

Bhangra
1st – Drexel Bhangra
2nd – Bankian Naaran

Overall – Drexel Bhangra

The website claimed that there would be two placing in each category and one overall placing. Instead they went with 3 winners from each and no overall. Good move. I hate overall winners picked from two separate categories.

Actual Placing:
Fusion
1st – BU Masti
2nd – St. John Raaz
3rd – UConn Surya

Bhangra
1st – Aan Punjab Di
2nd – Drexel Bhangra
3rd – UR Bhangra

Hangama 2008 was an excellent show and even if I get Alzheimer’s when I get old, I will not forget about this competition. I was surprised to see it packed with the nasty weather. Maybe it had to do with Curry Bear’s awesome, super, great promotion. The MC of the show was hilarious throughout but didn’t receive the love and the respect he deserved. The location of the place wasn’t too bad; it was not too far from a PATH terminal and city subway. It makes it easy to travel for bears in Jersey. I have to say, I hate the name – not the IND part, but “Hangama”. One of the most played out names for a show. I think it really lacks in the creativity department. But that’s fine, because they made up for it in the management and organization department. Like I stated before, the organizers behind IND Hangama were nothing short of professional and amazing. The seating was also perfect. Each row was elevated nicely so there was no obstruction of view unless Marge Simpson sat in front of you. There were no guest performers, but there was a guest comedian (Daniel Nainan) which was a nice change. I’m really glad to see more Indian comedians making their mark in the industry. I wish his routine was longer though. There was a change up with the awarding but I don’t disagree with the judges’ decision except for 3rd place. I feel that the 3rd place in both categories did not deserve it. The lineup was half decent. About half the teams were great. For the fusion, my top 4 picks were great, but they do not match up to the likes of TCNJ, Drexel, Penn State, and RU SAPA. Any one of those teams could have easily taken first place at this competition. Same goes for Bhangra with likes of SGPD, NBA, and Davis. But as far as the east coast goes, Drexel Bhangra and APD are the top teams in the area. BU Masti, St. John’s Raaz and NYU Pandamonium still aren’t up to that status yet. The stage they chose was great dimension-wise and for the availability of technical visual/audio needs. I saw and heard much diversity in the crowd as the MC did roll calls. The event gets an X factor point of 3. We were told by the people at DesiDanceTeams.com about the organizations unbelievable generosity, hospitality, and accommodations. In emails to me, this organization was always quick to respond and they were being generous and helpful. But unfortunately, this competition will also get a -1 point in the X factor for the crowd. I could not stand the crowd that was at attendance. But please understand that the behavior of the crowd does not at all reflect or represent the organizers. The organizers were great and I encourage all teams to participate in the show next year. In fact, I think these organizers should work with DesiDanceTeams.com next year to take their competition to another level.
MC: 10
Location: 9
Name: 0
Seating: 9
Guest: 9
Award: 7
Team: 5
Timing: 9
Stage: 9
Diversity: 9
X factor: 2
Total: 7.8

Of course, no Curry Bear review is complete until a random person has been made fun of when his or her photo is taken at a precious moment. Enjoy the Curry Bear bubbles.

As always, comments have been disabled on this thread to prevent flame wars. Please go to DesiDanceTeams.com to voice your feedback/hatred/love/noogies.

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