Bhangra competitions have been held in Punjab for many decades. They are especially associated with college youth festivals.
Since the 1990s, universities and other organizations have held annual bhangra dance competitions in many of the main cities of the United States, Canada, and England as well. At these competitions, young Punjabis, other South Asians, and people with no South Asian background compete for money and trophies.
In the West, unlike in the Punjab, there is less emphasis on traditional songs and more focus on the flow of a mix; many teams mix traditional bhangra music with hip-hop or rock songs. This synergy of the bhangra dance with other cultures parallels the music's fusion with different genres. University competitions have experienced an explosion in popularity over the last five years and have helped to promote the dance and music in today's mainstream culture.
U.K.
In the UK the last ever Professional Bhangra Dance competition was in 1989 at the Hummingbird, in Birmingham. There was over 10 teams across the UK competing and the winning team was Jugnu Bhangra (Gravesend) - the award winning dancers who performed for Jugnu, went on to form 4x4 Bhangra Dancers in 1994. 4x4 Bhangra Dancers,[2] are still known as UK's best Bhangra Dance troupe[citation needed] and have performed with the likes of Diversity (Britains Got Talent winners), Led Zepelin, Omarion (International RnB singer & dancer) and variouse TV and Music videos. 4x4 Bhangra Dancers founder members Gurdish Sall, Gurvinder Sandher, Parwinder Dhinsa and Sukhdeep Randhawa were the