What kind of preparation did you have for competitions and what are the best and worse parts of it?

We tend to prepare hardcore a week in advance to a competition. The best part of it is that we spend so much time with the team and it starts tog et really fun because its real bonding. The worst part is grades drop down like a bomb.

Are there any “dance” clowns aka jokesters on your team?

I think the whole team is “dance” clowns and jokesters… if you dont have a strong gut on our team, ur gonna get ripped on like no other

Does your team have any pre-performance rituals?

Listen to lose yourself, til i collapse. and our cheer to get is pumped!

What did you like about the competitions that you’ve been at and how it was run?

The ones that cater to dancers. Especially when they provide last second items that are needed like chewy bars, scissors and like anything else that comes in handy

How did it feel when your team name was announced as the winner and you realized you had won a bid to Bollywood America?

Like a dream… I’m pretty sure I just stood in the background waiting for it to set in before I was able to get the trophy and everything. It was the most surreal feeling.

What kind of preparation did you have for competitions and what are the best and worse parts of it?

Our team has many practices in preparation for competitions, but this is just a portion of it. Outside of practice, each member participates in prop constructing, fundraising, and team bonding. The best part is of hanging out so much with each other is that it has formed us into a giant family that eats, studies, and even parties together. In fact, we even joke that we’re a fraternity (Qurbani = ΦΒΙ, or Phi Beta Iota), and we all have brother names as well. The worst part of preparation is that when practice time comes along, we tend to be more serious and strict as a whole, especially since it’s our first year competing. In prior years where we only did shows and performances, practices were much more relaxed and lenient. Also, it’s pretty hard to balance a difficult school work load and dancing at the same time, so we are forced to manage our time to the fullest extent.

Give us a team blurb or description.

Qurbani is an all-male dance team from Georgia Tech, located in the heart of Atlanta, GA. Our team includes styles of traditional and contemporary forms of bhangra along with different forms of hip-hop including break-dancing, ticking, and beat-boxing. With this, we we are able to uniquely blend the Western culture with the Indian heritage by giving the audience a performance they will never forget! Starting as a performance team in 2006, Qurbani has only recently begun entering into competitions in 2010. We are always looking for potential leaders who retain the same mindset of Qurbani and what it has to offer. We really try to foster personal development in each of our members and try to involve ourselves in the Georgia Tech community. We stress strong values of sportsmanship and positive attitudes to help foster collaboration of teams from across the state and nation to help accomplish our mission.

Are there any “dance” clowns aka jokesters on your team?

All of us are jokesters. We tease each other all the time, but each one of us knows it’s all out of love. Even though practices are strict for the most part, we always make room to joke around and have fun.

Does your team have any pre-performance rituals?

Prior to going on stage, we sing our official Qurbani song (too hard to spell since it’s not in English lol) while in a circle arms wrapped around each other, and we have 2 chants that we shout. 1. One guy says “CLEAR EYES, FULL HEARTS”, and the rest of the team “CAN’T LOSE!!” because at the end of the day, if you have those two things, you’ve already won. 2. (followed right after the first chant) One guy says “WHO ARE WE?”, and the rest of the team “QUR-BA-NI!!”

What did you like about the competitions that you’ve been at and how it was run?

From the competitions that we have been to, we have really admired how all the teams support one another at the end of the day. Each team comes with the mindset that the best team will, in fact, win and there’s no bias favoring any particular team. Starting from Rangoli to ATL Tamasha to finally, Dance Fusion, we are amazed by the level of professionalism shown throughout the course of each competition. Coming from of a history of only participating in shows, this was a something completely new to us and definitely took some time getting used to.

How did it feel when your team name was announced as the winner and you realized you had won a bid to Bollywood America?

A few of us cried. Others are soooo excited that it can’t be described in words. The rest of us are still in shock.

What kind of preparation did you have for competitions and what are the best and worse parts of it?

For competitions, we rigorously prepare with practices that often last over ten hours. It is not uncommon for us to be found in a parking structure at 6 AM. The best parts of these practices are getting the chance to spend time with our family away from home that you really care about and vice versa. Our ability to feed off of one another’s positive energy is the only way we make it through those intensive practices. However, on the flip-side, many team members are often faced with academic and health issues due to the extensive practice times. The word “sleep” disappears from our dictionaries.

Give us a team blurb or description.

Nashaa at UCLA is more than just one of the nation’s most acclaimed Bollywood dance teams. It is a family, built and brought together by a mutual love for dance, integrity, and unconditional love. Once you are a part of the Nashaa Family, you are forever embraced as a part of it. Through hard work and dedication to an extracurricular activity that means so much to us, Nashaa effectively amasses national attention through victories at competitions across the country. And the members of the team are able to do so while excelling and graduating from one of the nation’s most reputable universities, going on to be among the best doctors, lawyers, bankers, and more in the world.

Are there any “dance” clowns aka jokesters on your team?

Almost every member on our team has been found to have his/her share of ridiculous moments, but our top clowns would be Aman, Amar, Astha, & Manoo.

Does your team have any pre-performance rituals?

Apart from constantly listening to the cut, the boys take some time to reflect and mentally prepare for the upcoming performance via visiting the nearest restroom together and taking the time to drop a unified deuce. Once that has been completed, we gather as a team on stage right before our performance in an energy circle, in which we grip each others’ hands and squeeze to pass energy around. Motivational speeches and our team chant follow soon after.

What did you like about the competitions that you’ve been at and how it was run?

We greatly enjoyed the hospitality and organization at SAS and NNR this past year. The liaisons/organizers at these competitions were very understanding of any circumstance that arose during the weekend, and were able to handle any/every problem in an efficient and effective manner. The staff at Jhoomti Shaam was also one of the kindest, sexiest, loving, and humble group of people we have ever encountered.

How did it feel when your team name was announced as the winner and you realized you had won a bid to Bollywood America?

“**** YEA!!!” We experienced an overwhelming feeling of joy and excitement as we celebrated our first big victory of the season. We have been waiting and preparing for this moment to perform amongst the best teams in the nation for the last 6 months, and it is gratifying to see that our hard work paid off. We are looking to experience that winning feeling one more time on April 23rd and prove to everyone why we deserve to be there.

What kind of preparation did you have for competitions and what are the best and worse parts of it?

Kamaal uses the “Hell Week” method to prepare our team for competitions and increase their stamina for stage performances. This dreaded week leading up to competitions includes 6:45am and pm practices Monday-Friday. It sounds crazy, but it gets us pumped and geared up for competitions!

Give us a team blurb or description.

• “Come one, Kam-aal!”
• “Scooping the nation one competition at a time.”
• “Kamaalers are Ballers.”

Are there any “dance” clowns aka jokesters on your team?

• Jay Patel aka Baby Jay/ Noodles/ DJ BJ.
  • most famous quote to date: “Are you a supa-hero?”
• Sagar Shah comes in close second.

Does your team have any pre-performance rituals?

• Team Huddle and Prayer.
• Play Panga until the “We coming” line.

What did you like about the competitions that you’ve been at and how it was run?

• Food always holds an important place in Kamaaler’s hearts, but our favorite parts of competitions would have to be our wonderful liasons and meeting all of the other teams.

How did it feel when your team name was announced as the winner and you realized you had won a bid to Bollywood America?

It was a different atmosphere because Bollywood Smash was an online competition. Many of us were watching in the one apartment on 3 separate computers while others were on speaker phone. It was a huge relief to know that all of our hard work paid off! We were very excited to have the opportunity to perform alongside some of the best teams in the nation in the beautiful city of San Diego!

What kind of preparation did you have for competitions and what are the best and worse parts of it?

The weeks leading up to competitions are always really intense.  This year we faced many challenges: we have a young team and we had a lot to prepare for. We are composed mostly of freshmen and sophomores, and only have three upperclassmen. Many of our teammates have never danced before Jalwa, so synchronization is always one of our biggest challenges. Competing at NNR and Jhoomti Shaam back-to-back required us to step our game up to another level. Going to NNR was probably the best part of our year, in terms of pushing ourselves to be creative and innovative. It was a lot of fun creating the routines and formulating the ideas because the possibilities are endless. Costumes were a major difficulty, because they did not arrive on time for either NNR or Jhoomti Shaam, and we had to make do with whatever we could quickly put together the day of the competition. The worst part of a competition is the stress and preparations, especially the late-night practices and last-minute running around. But it all becomes worth it the moment we hit the stage.

Give us a team blurb or description.

Hi everyone, we’re Boston University Jalwa, Boston’s premier Co-Ed Fusion team. This is our sixth year as a team, and we’re continuing our tradition of integrating creativity with strong choreography to entertain our audiences wherever we go. This year our team has traveled to Delaware and Los Angeles, and we are looking forward to representing Boston at Bollywood America for the first time in San Diego! This year we are telling the story about a group of college students who take Vegas by storm to make some money. Will they reach their goal or will they lose it all? Find out on April 23^rd!

Are there any “dance” clowns aka jokesters on your team?

We have a lot of clowns and jokesters on our team! Without them, we definitely would not have as much fun as we do in practice and in general. We love to make fun of each other and we especially love to prank each other. Our team’s favorite prank is the Facebook Hack. If anyone on our team accidentally leaves his or her unattended computer or phone logged in, chaos will ensue. Our pranksters will do anything from comment on other people’s pictures, update statuses, write on walls, and change your sexual orientation and gender.  If you are [god-forbid] still logged on to your email account and your Facebook, they will change your password and make you do something ridiculous to get it back. On April Fools Day, our captain pranked everyone into believing that Best of the Best in New York had been cancelled.  In terms of jokes, we have a lot of inside jokes and quirks, just like any other team. One of our freshmen, Abishy, is nicknamed Tubby and Brotein. Brotein because all he eats and thinks about is protein. To find out the story behind the nickname Tubby, you’ll have to ask us in person at BA.

Does your team have any pre-performance rituals?

We always bring speakers with us wherever we are getting ready and take turns picking songs to play. Blasting music helps us get pumped for our performance! We also do our traditional huddle (boys on the outside, girls on the inside) to listen to a motivational speech and do our chant. In our huddle we also read out loud all of the texts/emails we’ve gotten that day from our friends and families, to remind ourselves of all of the people counting on us and supporting us. Last but not least, who can forget the Red Bull?

What did you like about the competitions that you’ve been at and how it was run?

Our hands-down favorite thing about all of the competitions we’ve been to is all of the team friendliness. We’ve loved meeting/talking/dancing/partying with everyone! We also appreciated all of the hospitality in accommodating our team from the organizers of NNR: Muquabla Remix and Jhoomti Shaam. Muquabla’s mixer was one of the most fun ones we’ve been to and escaping Boson’s weather to enjoy the California sunshine and In-N-Out was one of our favorite parts of Jhoomti Shaam.

How did it feel when your team name was announced as the winner and you realized you had won a bid to Bollywood America?

With the way Muquabla was organized, it felt like we were being judged three separate times instead of once — so it was exhilarating and nerve-wracking at the same time. After watching Flawless Entertainment perform Round 1, we were beyond nervous for eliminations. When our name was announced, we were in shock! We felt really lucky to have the chance to show our Round 2 dance and quickly got back to our dressing room to change and get in the zone. After that, beating out two powerhouse teams on the Indian dance circuit just felt surreal. We felt honored to even perform with the teams so winning was a whole different story. With regard to the news about Bollywood America, our team shared a lot of backstage cheering, laughter, and even some tears. Our journey in the past couple years has been rocky, and we are elated to make it this far.

What kind of preparation did you have for competitions and what are the best and worse parts of it?

Practice obviously. Best part of our practice is that we get lot of time to spend together, but worst part is pulling all-nighters.

Give us a team blurb or description.

JaDhoom was created in the year 2008, since inception we have been devoted towards dancing for the love of the art, passion of our hearts, and desire to prove ourselves. Also best part of our team is that we dance for each other.

Are there any “dance” clowns aka jokesters on your team?

All of us, JaDhoom is full of jokesters.

Does your team have any pre-performance rituals?

Drinking a TON of Energy drinks and having a dance party. WOO!!

What did you like about the competitions that you’ve been at and how it was run?

Loved competitions run for the TEAM not for ticket sales.

How did it feel when your team name was announced as the winner and you realized you had won a bid to Bollywood America?

It’s really hard to describe in words. But it was unreal, all our hard work was finally recognized and we knew that the possibilities really are limitless.