Seeing as this is the last time I may be writing this topic as a blog, I thought I would share some thoughts about what good bhangra is. Of course, bhangra allows you to express yourself in any way you wish, and you can make at unique as you want to take it. Nonetheless, there are still those moments in a dance choreography set or the small elements that make the whole performance better. There have been numerous competitions across the years, and it is a challenge to bring something new to the table every year. Yet, teams have been able to do this every time. The most impressive parts of dance sets are things beyond the choreography. You have to look good as one group, meaning you have to be synchronized. You have to take risks in the things you do and be creative. And of course, you have to show the biggest, confident energy you have on stage. This last part of energy is something all rubrics will have at competitions, and it makes the sets much better. Tied along with the energy you present on stage is the “nakhre” you show on stage. Nakhre means attitude in Punjabi. By attitude, we mean the proper expressions during the different segments of your dance. The biggest association with nakhre is that you are genuinely smiling and genuinely enjoying yourself of stage. Not only are you, yourself, having fun, but you are also looking at your teammates and sharing the love on stage with them.

Considering these elements beyond the choreography itself, you can create a bigger picture of what bhangra is about. I aimed to highlight these aspects throughout my blogs. Now, I want to bring it all together and show you my favorite performance from a team. The following video is from a competition in Washington DC called Bhangra Blowout, and is one of the biggest collegiate competitions for bhangra teams. In 2016, CMU Bhangra put on the best performance I have seen.

Video from Harjot Hundal Channel on Youtube

Watching their performance never gets old. Each time I watch it, I am amazed by the synchrony, creativity, simplicity, nakhre, and so much more. From the beginning, they open with a mela scene which is a depiction of a fair or festival where people gather and socialize in India. This encapsulates the rich history portrayed by bhangra. Then, as they transition into their dance, they start very simple with their moves. The powerful part of this is that they are all moving together as one unit. They are stronger together. As they continue with their set, they will continue to be in sync. They introduce great creative elements in the remainder of their choreography as well. Not many teams would have a live musician come out on the middle of their stage, but CMU took the risk. This risk added beautifully to their performance and it showed once again how simple bhangra can be by just dancing on the beat of one instrument. Their energy keeps elevating, and none of the dancers show that they are tired. They continue showing their best performance. Lastly, I wanted to make note of the nakhre and stage presence they have. They are always smiling, and they are always looking at one another showcasing the love between each team member. Everything was able to work together, and they were able to secure a first place win at the competition.

There are more performances that you can watch on the same channel, and they all show the great creativity and energy of bhangra teams. Hopefully it makes you want to join them and dance too!

As I have mentioned before, I have been involved in bhangra in some manner since I was about 5 years old. I have learned many of the different moves, starting from a beginner level and working myself up to an advanced level. When I was in elementary and middle school, I would be a part of the local team at the gurudwara, the local place of worship for Sikhs. We would compete in small competitions or simply put on performances at different events. When high school rolled around, I wasn’t able to keep up with all of the events, but I still enjoyed dancing around my house and watching the performances. Now, I’m in college, and I am able to pick it up again. Maybe not at this exact moment since we’re all in quarantine, but I have enjoyed getting back into the dance over the past year. It has many differences compared to what I remembered in my earlier years of dancing that I would like to share.

It’s a fun environment to get involved with. At the college level, we are students that are solely responsible for all of the logistics of the team. Before, I was responsible solely for myself and learning my own choreography. Now, it is a greater team effort. As a team, we all make sure everybody is understanding what they must do whether it is choreography or formations. Of course, we have leaders and mentors that set the goals for the team, but we all work together to make sure we are doing our best.

It is also interesting to consider that we are all students who come to college for the primary purpose of obtaining a higher level of education, but we can still get involved in dancing with others. We can still uniquely come up with choreography sets, new tricks, new moves, new music mixes, and much more. We can still remain connected to our culture or learn something about a new culture through bhangra.

The preparation of the dance season will begin before the summer begins. In April and May, teams may still be competing, but they will also be preparing for the next year. In this preparation, teams will choose captains and other leadership positions for the organization. Once established, we will compile music and songs that we want to include in the official mix, and we create a mix to base our choreography off of. Captains will begin creating the choreography, sometimes with input from the team. Usually, by the start of the academic year, the team will have majority of the choreography established. It is now a matter of teaching it to the rest of the team and creating formations for the set. Throughout the year, college teams will typically meet about 3-4 times a week to practice or go over logistics. Our practices are typically around 2 hours each day; however, if necessary we may continue for longer periods of time. For competitions, there will be times where we may meet every day of the week and repetitively practice our choreography until we feel it’s perfectly executed. In terms of logistics, we want to make sure that we have enough performances that spreads the awareness of the dance. We also want to grow our team as big as possible. While there may be only about 8-14 dancers on the stage, the team is often much bigger than that. This is the general cycle and experience of what college bhangra looks like. Different teams will have different specific approaches, but it is important and interesting to note that it is all done by students.