The Rise of VanCity Bhangra

Vancity Bhangra is an internationally known bhangra team and academy from Vancouver, Canada. As time goes on their popularity continues to rise, as do the amount of cool projects and outstanding performances. Despite their popularity now, Vancity Bhangra actually started off as a collaboration of BC Culture Boys and PANJ Boys. They originally came together for a competition called Bhangra Idols in 2011 and went against some of the top tier teams in North America. Not only did they compete, but they won 2nd place. After their first taste of success at Bhangra Idols, Vancity Bhangra decided to continue competing realizing that the memories they made with each other were worth all of the effort put into collaborating the two teams.

Why the name VanCity Bhangra? The team wanted to represent not only where they were all raised and currently live, but to begin their legacy and continue it for not just their generation, but generations to come. Building something for the future of the community is something VanCity strives for as culture and tradition are something they hold dear.

Starting with 16 dancers back in 2012, they now have 50 active members who are involved in VanCity Bhangra in one way or another. Recently on Vancity Bhangra’s 4th birthday, they started their first dance academy called Vancity Dance which holds classes for children, adults, teams and private lessons. They also take bookings for events (*anyone getting married in Vancouver, cough cough *).

“We believe our success is heavily based on how good the experience training for the competition is. Having similar values attitudes and commitments are big factors.” says Kabeer Panesar, co-founder of Vancity Bhangra. “ This experience of having our own academy has been amazing because we are able to easily access our passion of teaching and competing and our teams have grown rapidly in the short time we opened.”

Think they’ve pretty much thought of everything? Well, think again! Since they opened the studio, they have also started their own competitive girls team who have places first at 2 out of 3 competitions and placed second in another competition!

“This is an amazing accomplishment for the girls. We took girls who had little to no experience and girls who have been out of the bhangra scene for 4 years. Now, we are approaching our second year with the club and are expanding to a new location which is bigger. This gives our teams more space to practice and ultimately begin coaching their own teams.”

So here's a little glimpse of VanCity Bhangra's journey! Be sure to follow them on Instagram to see what they're up to next!