2023 WGI: The Slay All Day Thread

[packwick]

ive got videos of Pearland, both woodlands groups, Dawson, Bridgeland, Undaunted, and Third Coast Independent, also a maaaassive headache from all the screaming girls.

twhs world isn't "cute" at all. hahahaha. the show is weeeeird and quirky and not that colorful. they're like robots or something learning how to move while also moving boxes lmao. need costumes to confirm lol. i appreciate weird stuff but was missing the heart/personality. right when it started getting more emotional and fluid and connecting the phrases better they stopped. only like half a show. but the performers are great and their score was great, like 7 points higher than last year, so good for them. hahahaha.

[WoodlandsMom4ever]

Lol!   I told my husband that I didn’t miss the screaming from the back stands!!!   
 

definitely still a work in progress for TWHS guards….  But a great first glimpse!  Can’t wait till the costumes come in.  

[Rubisco]

  On 1/29/2023 at 5:07 AM, packwick said:

ive got videos of Pearland, both woodlands groups, Dawson, Bridgeland, Undaunted, and Third Coast Independent, also a maaaassive headache from all the screaming girls.

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Well, now would be a good time to respond to that DM I sent over a month ago, preferably with these supposed videos. 👀

The most striking thing for me about this weekend's results in Texas was Westlake on top in Scholastic Open in their first year in the class. And with a fantastic score, too. Ditto for McNeil and Reagan. I'm not used to seeing scores that high in SO this early. Way to go! I've got my fingers crossed that they keep it up as we move into actual WGI contests.

[Hard Core Band Fan]

  On 1/29/2023 at 5:11 AM, Bandmomx4 said:

Lol!   I told my husband that I didn’t miss the screaming from the back stands!!!   
 

definitely still a work in progress for TWHS guards….  But a great first glimpse!  Can’t wait till the costumes come in.  

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Someday you'll miss those screaming girls! Wish I could watch my now grown adult daughter compete just one more time.

[WoodlandsMom4ever]

  On 1/29/2023 at 5:48 PM, Hard Core Band Fan said:

Someday you'll miss those screaming girls! Wish I could watch my now grown adult daughter compete just one more time.

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Oh I know!!!   This is our last competition season and I’m definitely trying to soak it all in.   And figure out how to still be involved when she’s gone next year!

[J-Mike16]

Y'all......... I am shooked. Palm Desert Charter Middle School is all I have to say. *Mic Drop*

[LeanderMomma]

  On 1/30/2023 at 6:52 AM, J-Mike16 said:

Y'all......... I am shooked. Palm Desert Charter Middle School is all I have to say. *Mic Drop*

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Yes they are always absolutely amazing. World Class amazing. Here’s a video…the screaming of the crowd is awful but the show is phenomenal. 
 

 

[J-Mike16]

  On 1/30/2023 at 1:51 PM, LeanderMomma said:

Yes they are always absolutely amazing. World Class amazing. Here’s a video…the screaming of the crowd is awful but the show is phenomenal. 
 

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Good thing I rewatched it one last time. They took the video down. 

It seems they upped their game BIG time this year, as I saw so many impressive tosses from start to finish. I am very happy that they are returning to Dayton in April. We could be seeing a possible top 10 finish in Scholastic A. Has a Middle School ever been promoted to Open Class before? And is that even possible?

[WoodlandsMom4ever]

So bummed I missed the video!   I can’t wait to see them in April!    

[LeanderMomma]

  On 1/30/2023 at 3:13 PM, J-Mike16 said:

Good thing I rewatched it one last time. They took the video down. 

It seems they upped their game BIG time this year, as I saw so many impressive tosses from start to finish. I am very happy that they are returning to Dayton in April. We could be seeing a possible top 10 finish in Scholastic A. Has a Middle School ever been promoted to Open Class before? And is that even possible?

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If you follow my Instagram there’s a Reel I made of this video. 

[J-Mike16]

  On 1/30/2023 at 4:10 PM, Bandmomx4 said:

So bummed I missed the video!   I can’t wait to see them in April!    

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Hopefully we will be seeing a video of them in the next coming up weeks! 😁

[Rubisco]

There's actually an even better video still on YouTube. Just search for "PDCMS varsity."

They look great! I could see them pushing into the top of the A class this year.

[J-Mike16]

  On 1/30/2023 at 10:43 PM, Rubisco said:

There's actually an even better video still on YouTube. Just search for "PDCMS varsity."

They look great! I could see them pushing into the top of the A class this year.

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So much better. I feel like they are performing a routine that I could see an Open Class Guard doing. 

[Rubisco]

Okay, so I've finally gotten an opportunity to see some of the Dawson videos.

Pearland is doing a show called As Dreamers Do, featuring a lovely piano arrangement of When You Wish Upon a Star, in the style of Chopin. A brief Google search of the title brings up a documentary about Walt Disney. The floor is a deep grey/black with what looks like a blue constellation map, more of a sketch of the cosmos than a full-on representation of it. No costumes yet, but they seemed to perform their full show, over four minutes long. Lovely describes the music and also describes the show, which matches the music perfectly. It's all very light and ethereal. The movement is very fluid and clear and expressive. It seems like we're almost suspended in time, in a dream. A girl is carried in the air on her stomach as if she's flying, reminding me of when Carmel did that Neverland show in the Open Class. It wasn't a perfect performance at this very first contest, but gosh, given how early it was, this was VERY clean. A well-deserved victory for them, and I suspect we'll see them somewhere approaching the top at WGI Houston. Lovely, lovely, lovely. Way to go, Pearland!

The Woodlands JV did Avalanche, featuring a female cover version of Leonard Cohen's famous song Avalanche. It's a strange, chilly, poetic, and completely unsentimental song about some sort of internal torment. So, of course, I love it! There's a white, craggy set piece in the top left corner of the stage, which casts a white, shadow-like avalanche diagonally across the floor. The show is richly layered, much more so than last year's. There's a lot more going on at once, but the designer guides the eye well. And within all those moments, the blending of the equipment and the movement seems to have been taken to another level. The fact that this is a JV group astonishes me. Overall, I'm not sure this was as polished of a first performance compared to last year -- and I may be mistaken on that -- but I also think it has a higher ceiling than that show in terms of content. They performed about 2 and a half minutes of the show, so I'm excited to see the rest.

The Woodlands World is doing How to: MOVE. My first thought watching this show was, "Well, this is nothing at all like what I was expecting it to be." My next thought was, "Wow! This is absolutely stellar!" I've watched it like 4 times now and notice something new each time. I completely disagree that this show is missing personality. It has boatloads of personality; it's just a different, quirkier one compared to last year's show. The floor looks like a deep blue, purplish, metallic loading dock plate. "Are we ready?" the dude in the soundtrack asks, as a girl crouching on top of a black box in the top right of the stage rises and tosses a rifle down to another girl with her back turned to the box. The other members lining the perimeter grand plie and then seem to scan the audience, drawing an outline of a box in the air rather robotically, followed by some traffic signaling-like movement. The choreography is really fantastic. It has a ton of character. Are they robots? Or are they some sort of aliens or futuristic humans loading up their spaceship with boxes? The beginning of the show is very much electronic, atmospheric space sounds, with no clear pulse. The guard does a remarkable job maintaining uniformity in the absence of a clear beat. A perfect illusion toss from the soloist, with an engaging interplay between the dancers and the dexterous spinning of the rifle line. The first, looser section is punctuated by a super punchy butt-first ensemble rifle toss caught at a 45 angle while collapsing to the ground. Wow! Then we get a vintage synthesizer beat as the members somewhat mechanically wheel out the black boxes on dollies from stage right, briefly stopping and holding up a finger to the audience as if to say, "Hold on one minute," as a duet of rifles goes up into the air in complete silence. The beat continues, building with crunchy mechanical sounds and vintage, minimalist synthesizer melodies. I have no idea what this music is, it's like Kraftwerk or something. The sheer speed and density of the skills within each phrase is insane, they really MOVE, although the connections between those phrases don't seem to be fully choreographed quite yet. These girls are such confident and skilled performers, unlike anything I've ever seen out of Texas. I will say there is a risk when you do such fast, frantic movement that not everything looks perfectly uniform or fully committed, so they're going to need to really lock that in within the coming months, to give us that upstairs clarity. Amazing recovery from the solo performer on that final push in the "opener." She had to chase after the rifle during that blind exchange ripple toss, and then with barely a moment to collect herself did a nearly perfect solo toss. Bravo! The frantic first section fades away to a more delicate, tender, and strangely affecting slow section. Super expressive blending of the movement with the sabres. As it all swells, a quartet of flags soars up into the air, and we're done for now. Less than 4 minutes so far, but my overall impression is that it feels very fresh and different and has a strange poetry to it. I can't wait to see the rest!

[WoodlandsMom4ever]

Rubisco I LOVE reading your takes on shows!  I can be there and watch the show and love it, but then I read your take on it and your identifying of the individual elements and it is so expressive and great!  You really have a gift for describing things to those of us that don't know the details.

I'm so excited for this season... wait till the costumes come! 

[Rubisco]

  On 2/1/2023 at 4:50 PM, Bandmomx4 said:

Rubisco I LOVE reading your takes on shows!  I can be there and watch the show and love it, but then I read your take on it and your identifying of the individual elements and it is so expressive and great!  You really have a gift for describing things to those of us that don't know the details.

I'm so excited for this season... wait till the costumes come! 

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You're too kind! Thank you!

This Saturday is the first day of contests for a lot of the top guards in NTCA. We'll have to keep watch for more videos. It's a shame there isn't streaming this year. It kind of puts a damper on the discussion.

[LeanderMomma]

  On 2/2/2023 at 2:37 AM, Rubisco said:

It's a shame there isn't streaming this year. It kind of puts a damper on the discussion.

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Agree completely. I don’t understand why there’s no live coverage for the local circuits this year!

[Hard Core Band Fan]

  On 1/30/2023 at 10:43 PM, Rubisco said:

There's actually an even better video still on YouTube. Just search for "PDCMS varsity."

They look great! I could see them pushing into the top of the A class this year.

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Thanks for this info. These students are amazing. When I see people performing at such an unexpected level like this it just reinforces my belief that most of our limitations are in our minds. 

[packwick]

  On 2/1/2023 at 4:50 AM, Rubisco said:

I completely disagree that this show is missing personality. It has boatloads of personality; it's just a different, quirkier one compared to last year's show.

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well la-dee-da. hahahaha. ppl don't even need to watch the videos now.

videos have been available for a while on the google drive for those w/ access. Pearland WAS available but vanished, actually never fully seemed to upload but could access it on my desktop for some reason. suuuuper glitchy uploads, they keep freezing and preventing me from canceling, maybe bc they're larger 4k videos. driving me nuts.

[Rubisco]

A few more SW show updates.

Tarpon's show is called The Origin of Cool. They have a saxophone ensemble and drummer providing live music. It looks to be jazz inspired, like their marching show this last fall, and their gold medal winning New York show from 2016, which also provided live jazz music.

Avon is doing Jane Bond. The graphic is stylized like James Bond. Spy shows are definitely "in" this school year. This is going to be so much fun and filled with so much character, and of course brilliantly executed. I'm really looking forward to seeing this.

Stoneman Douglas is doing Virus in Numbers. It looks like some show about computer viruses or something. They came out on top of West Broward and Flanagan at SFWGA last weekend, so it could be strong. Hopefully all those Florida groups are a little stronger this year compared to last.

Norwin is doing Divided in Perspective. Not much info on this one. It looks like Joey Powell, Bowie's old director, is on the staff in some capacity. Nice to see him still involved.

[Rubisco]

We may have gotten a little preview tonight of how next weekend's WGI contest at Avon will play out. IHSCGA Westfield results in Scholastic World:

1st Carmel 75.1

2nd Avon 74.3

3rd Northview 68.5

4th Warren Central 66.8

5th Fishers 66.3

Carmel and Avon within a point of each other. What else is new? I will say that I've entered this season leaning toward a Carmel win, based on how polished they looked on the marching field, as well as the fact that Lean on Me + Michael Gaines probably = "the feels" + really elegant staging.

This could be a really close race though. Last week TWHS got a 73, and Miamisburg and Tarpon both got 72-somethings. Local results are notoriously unreliable, however, so we'll have to wait for the WGI contests to arrive. Hopefully the shows will all be complete by then.

[Rubisco]

I stumbled across a video of Rock Hill from the Coppell preview a couple weeks ago. They look fabulous! Look at that floor! 😍

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YsS6FtUi_Ik

They're going to have a great season.

[Rubisco]

And Rock Hill is indeed off to a great start. They won in National A last night at their NTCA regional with a great score. Not at all surprising.

[Rubisco]

I just watched Kiski Area's world guard for free over at Flo as part of the virtual preview. Beware the Poisoned Poppy. The soundtrack is an assortment of playful, chirpy winds, with some legato strings as well. It's very reminiscent of their soundtrack from last year, and it makes me wonder if it's by the same group of composers, that New York group associated with the Now Ensemble. It's definitely contemporary classical. Kiski's floor is red and maybe a little earthy with the green stems of towering red poppies emerging from it. This is a very striking set design. The video seems to be from last weekend's TRWEA premiere and features the full show, around 5 and a half minutes, although parts toward the end don't seem fully choreographed yet. Overall, it's a mightily impressive first outing in the world class. Lots of toss-turn-catch variations in the rifles. There's an absolutely amazing group of 6 rifles doing a double turn under their tosses. I do wish there was a little bit more shape and interesting movement in the composition. Sometimes the environment seems to just swallow them up and there's not much to draw the eye upstairs, besides the set and costuming. Some of the looser looking parts will be fixed by a cleaner performance, but some of it does seem to be missed opportunities in the staging. But overall very impressive.

[Rubisco]

WGI starts tomorrow for real with a contest at Avon High School that will be streamed on FloMarching. There will finally be something for us to watch! I'll be busy most of the weekend but will try to catch some of the shows on my phone throughout the day.