Bhanja Bhangra

It has been a very busy two weeks with some flying, long distance driving and lots happening at home and work. Finally got to editing the pictures from our LA trip to cheer my nephew on his Bhangra dance competition. 

Also got to get the video sorted out.  The family has matching T-shirts now, thanks to my sister-in-law. There was a special one for the start which said "RAM"

and the rest of us have Family on the back.. 

First Class Bhangra is the name of the group he was with and they did an outstanding job. Almost two dozen dancers on stage doing formations. 

The background sceen never touched the floor and the kids kept leaving their props on the corner. Did not make for good pictures. If you see the photo below, it was a lot of work to clear up those props on photoshop. Wish I could write a macro for that! 

The costumes, the energy of the crowd, the quality of the effort these kids put in to the 5-6 minute numbers was amazing! 

We were not happy with the Orpheum theater though. The event started an hour late and we had small kids in the group. They refused to let us bring food into the theater, didn't have anything other than chips and beer at their store and did not allow re-entry into the theater if we were to go out eat something outside and come back. So we had to leave halfway into the program.

We took this selfie after reaching the hotel room.. 

For those of you who were wishing there was a video.. well, here it is. Took 10 second clips of other teams, but the highlight for us was First Class Bhangra.

There were teams from bay area as well in the competition. Hoping that they have the competition here next time. 

Now that we have a good idea what to expect, will be better prepared as a parent and as a photographer the next time we go to a Bhangra competition. 

All said and done, it was a great evening. The music kept going in my ears till we were back home and every now and then wanted to jump up in the air and go Balle Balle!

The dancing gene

This blog is not new to my lament about how a Tamil Brahmin dude and ballroom dancing (or dancing) don't go well in the same sentence. 

I am not the only guy in the family tree to pick up dancing. Turns out my two nephews both picked up one form of dancing or another. 

This weekend we drove to Los Angeles and back to watch my nephew compete in a Bhangra dance competition. He is part of a team from Pittsburgh and they went up against 10 of the best teams in the world at the Orpheum theater in LA. 

Any reunion on the fathers side of the family is rare for me. My father is the last of 12 siblings. Of all those siblings and their spouses, only three are alive. My aunt, my dad and mom. Given the wide spread of ages among the next generation and the generation after that.. we meet in little clumps. 

The little one tells me "I thought most of grandpa's side of the family are dead. So all these people exist and you never told me?".. looks like I have my work cut out for me.. My MIL who joined us for this trip was also surprised as she has never seen any of my nephews or nieces or cousins for that matter!

The great unifier, aka my SIL got a lot of us to come to this event and cheer the nephews team. We even got matching T-shirts prior to the event!

The guy kneeling down who looks like a younger version of Virat Kohli was the star of the show for us.. 

We got treated to some amazing talent and group formation dancing.. Yet to edit the photos and videos from the event. Here are a few..

These guys were literally leaping off the stage a good 4-5 feet in synchronization. The energy and beats were so high that the audience was on their feet at times!

 Did not like the white cloth background obstructing my shots from the gallery seat. So I mirrored the flooring on that white background to generate this photograph.. 

Need more men in the family to pick up dancing.. any and all forms of dancing!

The star of the show did not disappoint! Had happy tears watching him dance with abandon!

A long weekend implies a short busy week. Will update this post later this week with a video link. .  .