2023 WGI: The Slay All Day Thread

[myoklonik]

Cy-Fair indoor percussion has been promoted to world class

[J-Mike16]

  On 2/27/2023 at 5:02 AM, LeanderMomma said:

So many great shows this weekend!  Especially loved PDCMS and AMP!  I have videos of both. 
 

Such an exciting year for so many groups!  

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Right now, Palm Desert Charter Middle School is tied for 6th place overall in Scholastic A Group Standings. The standings are only for groups heading to WGI Worlds. Will be interesting to see how well they can do come April. Possible top 10 finish if they just continue cleaning.

[stellamo]

  On 2/28/2023 at 6:44 PM, TWHSPercDad said:

Hey @LeanderMomma!  Jordan HS has also just been promoted; from A Class to Open Class (and will be attending WGI Austin)!  

You mentioned in this week’s On A Water Break podcast that you weren’t familiar with Jordan HS. Jordan is the newest HS in Katy ISD. This is their 3rd year in existence and first year with four full classes of students. They made the BOA Shenandoah Finals this past fall!  I’m expecting great things from this program (plus my daughter is their 1st Assistant Director 😉)!

As a longtime proud supporter and Floor Crew member of TWHS Guards, I’m looking forward to seeing you again in Austin on Sunday (I’ll be at the WGI Katy Percussion Regional Saturday to watch my son’s performance with Austin’s Rhythmic Force). 

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Is this confirmed? They are still on the Austin schedule in A class. 

[TWHSPercDad]

  On 3/2/2023 at 3:43 AM, stellamo said:

Is this confirmed? They are still on the Austin schedule in A class. 

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Hello @stellamo! Yes, it is confirmed. WGI will not publish revised schedules until Thursday’s prior to the Regional. If you go to the 2023 Current Entries for WGI Austin (wgi.org), you will notice that the classification changes are noted there (Flower Mound now in SW; Jordan in SO). 
Enjoy the show!

[Rubisco]

The final schedule for WGI Austin has been posted. You can find it here: https://wgi.org/individual-events/?single_event=austin_regional_1035

This is probably my favorite event in Texas. You get a good mix of groups from across the state. I'm looking forward to seeing Hebron and Westlake for the first time. Hebron has been underperforming a little bit so far compared to where I'd thought they'd be, but I'm curious if they can turn it around. I'll be missing Coppell, Clear Brook, TWHS JV, and a small handful of the Dallas A guards, like Rock Hill and Southlake Carroll, but besides that you've pretty much got it all at this contest.

[Tubalord11]

  On 3/2/2023 at 8:43 PM, Rubisco said:

The final schedule for WGI Austin has been posted. You can find it here: https://wgi.org/individual-events/?single_event=austin_regional_1035

This is probably my favorite event in Texas. You get a good mix of groups from across the state. I'm looking forward to seeing Hebron and Westlake for the first time. Hebron has been underperforming a little bit so far compared to where I'd thought they'd be, but I'm curious if they can turn it around. I'll be missing Coppell, Clear Brook, TWHS JV, and a small handful of the Dallas A guards, like Rock Hill and Southlake Carroll, but besides that you've pretty much got it all at this contest.

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Very exciting day! Home for spring break so I’m gonna try and catch as many groups as possible! Best of luck to everyone!!!

[packwick]

'twill be good.

[LeanderMomma]

I’m here for it! 😍😍

[Hard Core Band Fan]

Good job by Mt. Pleasant varsity. They are the sole guard from the vast wasteland of military bands in Northeast Texas that compete in WGI events. 

Correction: Pine Tree from Longview competes in WGI as well. 

[Rubisco]

I'm catching up. Watching fragments and full shows here and there. I've gotten through the first block. New Braunfels came out on top over Georgetown, which is a change from WGI Houston. I agree with that. I thought New Braunfels had a very clear, logical program and gave one of the cleanest performances I've seen so far. I believe it was the Georgia O'Keeffe one with Georgia on My Mind for the soundtrack. Georgetown by contrast seemed to have a somewhat rough run, with room to grow for finals. Shadow Creek was clean, but the soundtrack (River Deep, Mountain High) is kind of samey from beginning, middle, to end, which makes the show not feel as dynamic as some of the others. It was fun, though, and high energy.

Hebron's varsity was absolutely lovely. I'm surprised they've been scoring as low as they have, but this is the first time I've seen them. More Than Gold, was it? Something like that. I think the floor was a guitar with a little black table on it. The costumes are kind of a similar, gold-ish color to the floor. I found it very expressive, and one of the better performances so far as well. Mount Pleasant was a standout, too. Very eye-popping floor and confident performers.

[Hard Core Band Fan]

  On 3/4/2023 at 7:05 PM, Rubisco said:

I'm catching up. Watching fragments and full shows here and there. I've gotten through the first block. New Braunfels came out on top over Georgetown, which is a change from WGI Houston. I agree with that. I thought New Braunfels had a very clear, logical program and gave one of the cleanest performances I've seen so far. I believe it was the Georgia O'Keeffe one with Georgia on My Mind for the soundtrack. Georgetown by contrast seemed to have a somewhat rough run, with room to grow for finals. Shadow Creek was clean, but the soundtrack (River Deep, Mountain High) is kind of samey from beginning, middle, to end, which makes the show not feel as dynamic as some of the others. It was fun, though, and high energy.

Hebron's varsity was absolutely lovely. I'm surprised they've been scoring as low as they have, but this is the first time I've seen them. More Than Gold, was it? Something like that. I think the floor was a guitar with a little black table on it. The costumes are kind of a similar, gold-ish color to the floor. I found it very expressive, and one of the better performances so far as well. Mount Pleasant was a standout, too. Very eye-popping floor and confident performers.

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Mount Pleasant came out on top of the SA class a couple of weeks ago at the Mansfield regional. Their JV made the finals as well.

[Rubisco]

Well-deserved first place for Pearland in round 2 (and overall so far). It turns out the floor wasn't even finished yet! Looks very purple and space-y now. Very expressive and dynamic show, with a top-notch performance as well, crystal clear. Overall, I'd say the judges got the rankings in round 2 pretty spot-on.

[Rubisco]

I just finished catching up on the remaining Scholastic As. I thought the third block was very strong. I'm not surprised to see several high scores in that block, and I wouldn't be surprised to see the top guards there rearrange in finals. And I was VERY happy to see Westfield here! ❤️

Seven Lakes' music seemed weirdly off, like the two speakers weren't perfectly in time with each other, so there was an odd echo effect. I love those T-shirt flags! Friendswood's finished set design is gorgeous. I love the staging in this show and all the expressive qualities. I'm not sure it was quite clean enough to warrant an 80+, but the content was there.

Overall, the Houston-area A guards had a very strong showing here, taking the top 4 spots. Congrats to Pearland, Friendswood, and Cypress Woods on those top 3 placements. We'll see if they can hold onto them tomorrow!

Now time to catch up on Open class...

[Rubisco]

Congrats to Westlake on coming out on top in Open class in your first year in the class! Very, very impressive! Kind of an interesting mashup of the regular dance-y sounding Robyn song Dancing On My Own and a more slowed-down piano version of it. Meanwhile, Winston Churchill wins the award for most WTF show I've seen so far this year. It was a hilariously chaotic floor full of monkeys and monkey bars. I love when the safari guy comes out and is chasing them around. I think he ends up in the cage at the end. 😄

I actually liked ORIGINS Open more than I liked ORIGINS World again. I thought they gave a clean performance of a very clear design. The world class show was... interesting. It's something different, and it may take me multiple viewings to appreciate it more. I will add that Wayne Harris voiceovers are definitely back in style this year. See: Tarpon Springs.

If there's a more talented high school guard in the US than TWHS World this year, I haven't seen it -- at least from an equipment perspective. Is there any other guard in the US right now that could do those insane ripple trick tosses at the end of that show as cleanly as they did them? Not a single drop on the traveling 6s over the arms of the girls. Not a single drop on the roll tosses over the moving dolly that immediately follow. Clean catches, too. WOW! But, as others have mentioned, the design needs to match the level of the performers. I still think the show is in desperate need of a color infusion. Everything is so dark that the staging looks cluttered in parts, because I can't tell the girls from the floor from the boxes. Adding a pop of brighter color to the performers seems like an easy fix. Also, I'd like to see more shaping in the staging in the last section with all the weapon work around the boxes. But overall that 84.9 is a great prelims score, and they're probably still at least in the running for a medal at Dayton.

[packwick]

oh what's this, CyWoods is third with an 80 and not the 68 they got just last weekend? hmmmmmm.... wait a sec, who was right about them again?... oh yeah... that's right... it was ME! hahahaha.

twilight zone, i toldja!

[packwick]

i'd be hesitant for twhs to add tooooo much of a bright color to their costumes, cause it would f*** up the look of the show, but maybe something kinda whitish, beigish. some orange might look good w/ all the blue. i was telling my mom yesterday that they should borrow the gold flags from the JV guard for the opener to provide more of a surprise pop of color when they come out. aesthetic effect.

[LeanderMomma]

  On 3/4/2023 at 6:38 PM, Hard Core Band Fan said:

Good job by Mt. Pleasant varsity. They are the sole guard from the vast wasteland of military bands in Northeast Texas that compete in WGI events. 

Correction: Pine Tree from Longview competes in WGI as well. 

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I thought both of their squads were great!

[LeanderMomma]

  On 3/5/2023 at 4:41 AM, packwick said:

i'd be hesitant for twhs to add tooooo much of a bright color to their costumes, cause it would f*** up the look of the show, but maybe something kinda whitish, beigish. some orange might look good w/ all the blue. i was telling my mom yesterday that they should borrow the gold flags from the JV guard for the opener to provide more of a surprise pop of color when they come out. aesthetic effect.

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I’m not 100% sure they have their show flags yet!  They didn’t last week. But I don’t know if these are the same as last weeks!

[packwick]

  On 3/5/2023 at 5:15 AM, LeanderMomma said:

I’m not 100% sure they have their show flags yet!  They didn’t last week. But I don’t know if these are the same as last weeks!

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yah, the flags were different today, except for i think the slow movement blue ones.

i think Flo's camera darkens a lot of the colors. cywoods' floor looked very different today from the live vid i have of them.

[Rubisco]

  On 3/5/2023 at 4:35 AM, packwick said:

oh what's this, CyWoods is third with an 80 and not the 68 they got just last weekend? hmmmmmm.... wait a sec, who was right about them again?... oh yeah... that's right... it was ME! hahahaha.

twilight zone, i toldja!

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So modest!

I'm catching up again. I thought finals started later than it did.

[Rubisco]

Pearland and Westlake both gave pretty stellar performances. I'm guessing they hold on to those top spots. It's also awesome to see James Bowie look like they're returning to form.

[Rubisco]

Speaking of Westlake and James Bowie, Westlake's show this year really reminds me of the show that Bowie did in the Open class just before they moved on to the World class. I think it was disco mixed with like Adagio for Strings or something. It had a similarly interesting fast/slow combination vibe.

[Rubisco]

Well, you never want to open your show with a drop, but besides that I thought TWHS was stellar in finals. They're definitely one of those guards that probably wishes "difficulty and risk" was a point of consideration in Scholastic World. They've got that in spades.

Moe and Gene Johnson is the real deal, folks. That was waaaay better than I was expecting. I love how they start the show as part of the audience and come down from the bleachers. We the People, indeed. Cool idea!

[Rubisco]

Scores went up pretty significantly in finals at WGI Austin for the most part, especially for the A guards. That 84.690 for Pearland is really making me wish they were going to Dayton! Oh, well. Maybe next year! *fingers crossed* Come ooooon, Clear Brook! 😄

TWHS with an 86, despite that opening drop. That's great; I mean, the overall show was still very well performed. 88 for both vocab and excellence in equipment -- now that's a judge who probably agrees with me about their equipment skills relative to the field this year. They'll be seeded 2nd behind Tarpon for now. Looks like my prediction of Tarpon vs. TWHS may still come true, but I'm sure Carmel and Avon will have something to say about it. Carmel got an 85.2 at their local contest yesterday, with Avon a little over a point behind them. It's gonna be competitive!

[Michelle C.]

Does anyone have a video or clips of third coast from WGI Austin? I thought I would see something from Leandermom, but she posted what feels like every guard but third coast. I'm just super curious about them