All the Way Live mini-jam feedback

[nik]

Hey guys,

Thanks to everybody who participated/entered in Saturday's event! It was your presence that made it so great!

All the Way Live is a work in progress. Our mission statement is almost like Nustudio's--to share the culture--also, to give the youth something healthy and positive to participate in and get excited about (dance! music!). AND, for the rest of us to get together, get down, and have fun!!!

We want to throw quality events so if anybody has any feedback on what you think would make the event run more smoothly, or any other kind of improvements you'd like to see, please give us your feedback here.

We'll take all of it into consideration so that we can throw even better events.

See you at the next jam!!!!!!!!!

-Nik

[BBOY KB]

i really liked the format of the event, how it was a stage with an open area for cyphers. It as awesome that it was an open styles event cuz all styles deserve respect. the feel of the place was awesome and cool cuz it wasnt too crowded and everyone was having a good time. i really hope to see another event like it, it was basically a fun ass party

[Inventfmc]

I didn't like the fact that there seemed to be a lot of late comer "special contestants" that battled when people who were registered (but showed up late) were'nt allowed to battle.

To me that just smells fishy.

Im not sayin it forced a biased outcome on the battles, but its not fair to the cats that were really wantin to battle that signed up way ahead of time to not be allowed to go cuz they were too late, but then some foo gets to battle because the judges and event organizers know who he/she is.

Also if I remember corrently the original sign up was 26 slots, then it got bumped up to 30 something with like 4 or 5 on the waiting list, then FORTY people entered!?!?! The organizers need to stick to their guns a little more on keeping the numbers where they initially wanted them and making sure no one gets "preferential" treatment.

My two cents.

(you guys hate me yet???? lol)

PS- I did have a blast though... lot of dope dancers and even the the venue was a little hot, it was good havin the stage and decent get down space... I just wish I was more in the mood for dancin that day, ended up leavin after the first round of battles.
I say two thumbs up to more all styles battles!!!
We should be more versatile in how we get down!!!

[Funky Robotnick]

Don't hold battles during my finals!!!

[Lil b]

First off this was a seriously dope event. It was way cooler than I had previously thought it was going to be. There were a lot of notable bay area peeps missing from the scene but hopefully now they know they shouldn't be missing out on an event thrown by this group. This all-style event was sick.

LOVED:
- The fact that the DJ's and organizers tried to accommodate for all the different styles of dance with the proper categories of music. I think people have had terrible experiences in the past or have heard of terrible all-style events before but I think everyone was pleased at the way the music was handled that night. Especially with the top-16 and top-8. It was too bad that a lot of people weren't aware that the music would be handled this way. I think there would've been an increase in competitors if people had known. (or if a certain car from Daly City made it on time. Damn filipinos =P)

- The drawing boards for the judges. I think I prefer it that way then 1-2-3 flags or pointing. Feels like it has a bit more fairness to it.

- The organization of the top-16 battles was awesome. All the rounds were crazy. But the top-8 was where it was at lol. That was such a fierce top-8.

- The venue! The venue was awesome for a place without chairs. Giving the DJs and competitors a nice little stage with proper sound setup and lighting like that is definitely a step up from the circles or dance floors. I only say this because sometimes it can seriously suck for some of the people watching from the back of circles.

- I don't recall any songs that were replayed during the night. Awesome job to the Dj's for that and the music selection.

- How the preliminaries were handled. I thought it was handled perfectly in terms of the timing of each competitor and having they're genre of music ready.


COULD USE IMPROVEMENT:
- The breaks between rounds. Either have more performers like Track-9 ready for those breaks or drastically reduce the time of the breaks. I've found that the crowd prefers it if things keep at a steady pace. or at least let them know why there were so many frequent breaks. The only one that seemed to make sense was the one after pre-lims but that was to organize the brackets.
But yeah, you gotta keep the crowd entertained (pre-occupied). I understand the judges need breaks and as the battles wind down the performers need it too. There are a number of ways to give them a break while still keeping the crowd in tact. Like actually announcing for the dj to give everyone some "get down" time while you "set something up".

- The heat! It was getting way hot in there. It was good that some of the crowd dispersed after a while so that some cool air could make it's way into the venue.

- Extended final round for almost no reason. Like I said before, sometimes you just gotta cut to the chase.

- Sausagefest of competitors. =(

That's all for now! Seriously tho, great job to the organizers. I hope you guys can throw another one soon of equal or better quality. You guys obviously know what you're doing so just keep it up. Maybe experiment with things like 2on2+ events or grudge battles. Just tossing it out there haha.

[nik]

thanks, lilB! this is just the stuff we need!!!!!

[DocLock]

I definitely had a great time overall and enjoyed myself.

PROS:

Pretty much what folks have already been saying.

I loved that the battle took place on the stage where EVERYONE can see.

LOVED that there was POWER for me to plug the video camera in through the whole thing. :)


CONS:

Put judges out with the audience. Kind of hard to see them fancy hand trick moves that a contestant may make cause he/she is showing more to the judge and forgetting the audience. As a paying audience member, I want to be entertained.

The Manny/DelaHoya fight caused things to feel a bit "rushed." That is by no means the fault of anyone for or at the jam. I just beleive there would have been more crazy circle action if folks weren't in a hurry to get home to watch the fight - haha! :D





Know to bring more bribemoney-er-donations...yeah that's it...donation money!!!..That's the ticket!!....thus assuring a spot in the actual battle hahaha! :D:D

For reals though....It was an awesome event and shouldn't be considered MINI in any way.

[deuceboogie]

just to touch up on whats other said and what i liked

-the price, five dollars with a flyer, hella cheap compared to alot of other jams ive been through

-the venue, no problems with finding parking, and the moment i stepped into the place it had a really good vibe with the stage and the circle, just felt like a good place to be at

-the format of the prelims was really good, i like how the dj had the music ready for the next dancer


things i think could have used some work, or stuff i would have like to seen

-a judges showcase, i didnt recognize a couple of judges, would have been nice to see them get down in a showcase

-music selection for the final round was iffy, and i agree with B, no need for the extra rounds

-some ventilation, the venue got extremely hot and stuffy, and there was a major source of airflow in the room

-the judges boards, although there were some humorous ways of drawing up the winner, i personally thought it was more confusing than helpful, just pointing would suffice in my opinion or flags

-more entertainment between breaks, i liked the fact trak9 performed, maybe do some dj' showcases, some mcees.


overall i thought the event was run really smoothly, defintely one of the better jams ive been to. and i like many others, would like to see more all styles battles, some 2v2s, and yeah grudge battles would be sick!

and Nik, where do i get one of them shirts haha

[Emily00]

I didn't like the fact that there seemed to be a lot of late comer "special contestants" that battled when people who were registered (but showed up late) were'nt allowed to battle.

To me that just smells fishy.

Im not sayin it forced a biased outcome on the battles, but its not fair to the cats that were really wantin to battle that signed up way ahead of time to not be allowed to go cuz they were too late, but then some foo gets to battle because the judges and event organizers know who he/she is.

Also if I remember corrently the original sign up was 26 slots, then it got bumped up to 30 something with like 4 or 5 on the waiting list, then FORTY people entered!?!?! The organizers need to stick to their guns a little more on keeping the numbers where they initially wanted them and making sure no one gets "preferential" treatment.



The decision to not allow people who come late to compete even though they registered early was purely an administration one. In the last All the Way Live, we had many competitors who did not show up. In order for the event to go smoothly, we cannot hold the event until everyone who registers show up because there is a chance that they won't show up. The cutoff time was 15 minutes before the showcase preliminary and we were actually quite lenient with that. I remember running to the stage to let RJ know that their were a few more competitors that arrived late.

There was a total of 42 people who actually entered and were in the Showcase/Preliminary. There were 52 people registered or waitlisted. These were the people who asked to compete ahead of time. Out of those 52 people, 22 people either showed up late or didn't show up at all. We only added 12 extra people. Now we probably should have capped it to only 30 people, but some of the extra people provided some great battles. It wasn't about preferential treatment, it was more about giving everyone a great and organized show.

[nik]

did ray get there before or after funkaye?

man if i knew funkaye & co. were there i woulda been like GET ON STAGE and slapped rj's shoulder to let him know haha

:(

oops i mean...thanks for the feedback, invent!

we are gonna do stuff diff next time :)

[Inventfmc]

The decision to not allow people who come late to compete even though they registered early was purely an administration one. In the last All the Way Live, we had many competitors who did not show up. In order for the event to go smoothly, we cannot hold the event until everyone who registers show up because there is a chance that they won't show up. The cutoff time was 15 minutes before the showcase preliminary and we were actually quite lenient with that. I remember running to the stage to let RJ know that their were a few more competitors that arrived late.

There was a total of 42 people who actually entered and were in the Showcase/Preliminary. There were 52 people registered or waitlisted. These were the people who asked to compete ahead of time. Out of those 52 people, 22 people either showed up late or didn't show up at all. We only added 12 extra people. Now we probably should have capped it to only 30 people, but some of the extra people provided some great battles. It wasn't about preferential treatment, it was more about giving everyone a great and organized show.

It just seemed odd that after everyone got down the MC was like "We have one more special guest competitor!!!" AFTER the judges were pretty much done deciding on round one...
You guys should just be careful with stuff like that, because although it DID help enhance the atmosphere and the battles for the night, it can look SUPER SHADY to many people. I'm not tryin to say there was super shady business, but a ships gotta be run tight. :) The more organizers can stay away from "on the fly" stuff the better it is for them.

It was still by far one of the best events I've been to.

[Inventfmc]

did ray get there before or after funkaye?

man if i knew funkaye & co. were there i woulda been like GET ON STAGE and slapped rj's shoulder to let him know haha

:(

oops i mean...thanks for the feedback, invent!

we are gonna do stuff diff next time :)

I told you guys I cause trouble!!! lol

I've just always been no holds barred when it comes to speaking my mind and calling things as I see them.

[idennisinfante]

I agree with Invent. Something like that can seem unfair to the others, either on the waiting list, or who also came late and were turned away.

Fun event though. Hot at Shyte, but the door that was open in the corner was heaven lol.

All-styles battles are always up in the air, since there are so many styles, there are also many opinions from the judging panel as to who won each battle. There were some battles where I thought the other person won because their versatility and better musicality (even though the other person also had good musicality), the battle was chosen the other way.

The music selection was good also. I think that the 4th round in the finals wasn't necessary. Would have been nice to give Smart Mark a song he can krump to also, even if it wasn't a krumping song (atleast a hip-hop song). I believe the 1st two rounds were funk/breaks, and the last was house. When RJ announced one more round though, I signaled to RJ to play Hip-Hop, he played Salt N Pepa's Push it hahahahha. Technically is still a hip-hop song, but i meant something like Busta Rhymes or something. But that's why it's an all-styles battle. Gotta be ready for any song thrown at you.
good job to the staff too! thanks for helping me erase my board everytime. o yeah that's another piece of feedback... erasers! =) hahah jk. i felt bad so i just started using my hand to signal the winner.


good times indeed.

Go PACQUIAO!

[MikeyP]

there was no toilet paper in the men's room.

handle that.

[idennisinfante]

there was no toilet paper in the men's room.

Handle that.

hahahahahahahh!!!!

[Lil b]

there was no toilet paper in the men's room.

handle that.

It also smelled like death when Mikey P was done with the men's room. The staff needed to get on that shiz.

[MikeyP]

It also smelled like death when Mikey P was done with the men's room. The staff needed to get on that shiz.

the smell was my doing, not the staffs

[Double You Kong]

Congrats to you nik for this event. It was probably the most memorable even i've attended.

Pros

1. Excellent format with the stage and cypher areas.
2. Excellent timing so that the battles occurred one after the other.
3. The white boards. The judges were creative. I remember someone drawing a "tie."
4. Legit battle between all styles dancers
5. Excellent music selection and balance between all styles.
6. Beatboxer peformance.

Suggestions for next time
1. Towards the end, the music started shifting away from "one beat for each performer." I thought the music was extremely well done in the first few rounds. I recall a popper not getting popping music at all. I loved the Usher's Yeahh part.
2. More air conditioning.
3. Give aways between rounds? During cyphers?
4. The judges can have exhibitions.
5. Specialized badges for the event. It'll feel even more official?
6. Chance to buy "All the Way Live" shirts. Everyone I talked to wanted to purchase one.


I had a great time overall. All the Way Live was worthy of a legit all styles battle that proves that versatility is the way to go. Go niks.

Where do you get your funding? Is this for a school?

[idennisinfante]

I drew that tie! hahahha i'm glad someone was able to see it LOL :D

[deuceboogie]

the smell was my doing, not the staffs

lol @ mikey's smell.

[BBOY KB]

i loved the event. the only thing i would change, is don't rush it, and give more time for cyphers. RJ was busing yelling PACQUIAO FIGHT every 2 minutes and it was obvious everyone was anticipating the fight, i just wish there was more time for cyphers that werent in the dark lol

[nik]

Thanks, all, for the thoughtful responses. The entertaining ones, too. :rolleyes: