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Cornell University’s Bhangra Triumph!

 

Cornell Bhangra, a bhangra team hailing from New York and back to back World Best Bhangra Crew champions, were able to represent their university and culture and showcase their bhangra talent on national television, by competing on NBC's America's Got Talent, which took place on 12th August 2014.

On 23rd July 2014, Cornell Bhangra took place in a showdown with Domino Effect, a group of students creating large scale domino tricks, and Powerhouse Tumblers, an elite tumbling group, on NBC's The Today Show in a segment called "Today's Got Talent", with the winner securing the final spot on the live shows of America's Got Talent a competition for a $1 million grand prize. On 30th July, it was announced that Cornell Bhangra's sixty-second performance was more than enough to successfully progress to the America's Got Talent show, with majority of votes going towards Cornell Bhangra through an online poll.

On 12th August 2014 in Radio City, New York, Cornell Bhangra's dreams were made a reality as it was the day that Cornell Bhangra showcased their talents to a national audience. This was Cornell Bhangra's debut performance on America's Got Talent and it was an energetic and thrilling performance, which combined a mixture of both traditional bhangra and hip hop to Sheri G's "Pat Suteya". The performance was exciting enough to bring judges Heidi Klum and Mel B to a standing ovation, as well as the audience in attendance. Heidi Klum described the performance as "new, fresh and very joyful" and stated that she enjoyed watching the performance. Howard Stern stated that he "enjoyed the performance and the mixture of cultures". Mel B expressed that Cornell Bhangra were: "exciting, and made everyone smile" and that Cornell Bhangra's performance was "off the chain". Howie Mandel voiced that he enjoyed Cornell Bhangra's performance and that the performance "opened the bhangra culture to a wider audience". Cornell Bhangra's co-captain Armaan Kapoor stated that Cornell Bhangra were "thankful for the opportunity to share their culture with America" and that the opportunity was a "dream come true". However, Cornell Bhangra were unfortunately eliminated from the competition and therefore did not proceed to the semi-finals.

Apart from not proceeding to the semi-finals, it is certain that Cornell Bhangra should be proud to accomplish a huge achievement; with the achievement being that they were able to showcase their talent and bring further awareness to their culture. This has been another priceless moment for bhangra, and its forever growing fan-base all across the world.

Article by @JusiSahota/@NMKOnline