2024 WGI Discussion Thread

[packwick]

me still no get why miamisburg 3 points over bellbrook in prelims, if u actually watch the guard and not just the pretty lights in the floor. another one of my ideas btw, but id have the lights slowly creep into the floor rather than just turn on sectionally.

[LKendrick]

10 minutes ago, packwick said:

me still no get why miamisburg 3 points over bellbrook in prelims, if u actually watch the guard and not just the pretty lights in the floor. another one of my ideas btw, but id have the lights slowly creep into the floor rather than just turn on sectionally.

I agree, Bellbrook has a lot of potential down the stretch.  

[Tubalord11]

HELLO FISHERS?!?!? WOW, I'm speechless right now....

[Origin]

Fishers is so good. Proving that last year was just a fluke.

[Tubalord11]

1 minute ago, Origin said:

Fishers is so good. Proving that last year was just a fluke.

RIGHT!! That performance was CRAZY GOOD 

[Tubalord11]

CARMEL, SO beautiful, WOW 

[Tubalord11]

I want to talk about Avon, but I can't. 

It's a monster of a show that's gonna probably win it all. Oh and btw, their performers are some of the best in the nation, I'm just at a loss of words. 

[jmartin1056]

The emotional payoff in Avon’s show is something I don’t think anyone has achieved in MANY years. That is such a special show. Has the potential to get a monumental score down the stretch.

[Origin]

Carmel and Avon were both shakier than prelims, but obviously still incredible. This is the most I’ve connected with a Carmel show in the post-Rosie Queen era, and I really liked last year’s. I find it really moving and more interesting and risk-taking thematically. Avon’s show is definitely special, but I also think TWHS’ is pretty special too. Excited to see how things play out in Dayton!

[JazzRun]

3 hours ago, Tubalord11 said:

Garland- the sound of rain: Great opening with some dance work leading into a rifle solo. Really love the storm effects going on in the background with more rifle solos and some flag work in the background. Love the purple flags against the black uniforms; my goodness these kids are so together, coordination is very good, really enjoy the design of this show. Big flag moment at the end that follows so well with the music. Lacks any sabers which isn't bad, but I feel like the weapon presence could have been stronger, but regardless great job Garland! 

Mckinney Boyd-how long before I'm dust: Amazing dance to start us off as we move into some very difficult rifle solo moments that they absolutely killed with some nice flag work in the background to add some color to this dark world. Love the uniform variations, helps each individual stand out, great prop usage. One of their soloists had some nerves which did cause some pretty big drops, I think yesterday may have been a cleaner run, but still amazing job Boyd! 

Wylie-on the rooftops of London: @JazzRunanother amazing performance by this super talented group! Love the red umbrella opening, great body work to go with them, and they go well with the black uniforms and blue tarp/backdrops. Great saber soloist as we move into a small group saber moment and a uniform change from our chimney girls that I didn't even notice the first time around, adds great affect! Such pretty blue flag work in line with some challenging saber work. Love how they so seamlessly introduce the rifles as we move into some very difficult rifle work they killed. Probably my favorite SA show here, though I haven't seen Rock Hill yet, but an incredible performance from Wylie! 

@Tubalord11 You rock!! I wasn’t able to get out to Coppell today for finals, so I extra-appreciate your commentary. Thanks a million! 

[Tubalord11]

Avon with an 86, wow 

[packwick]

vids of pretttty much everything you'd wanna see are uploading to the drive!!

[Origin]

Lots of huge scores in Indiana finals. I wonder if Centerville will be promoted like Bellbrook was last year. Noblesville wouldn’t look out of place in world class either, and apparently they started the season in A class 🫣. Also nice to Brownsburg shoot way up and break 80.

I don’t think I would agree with Avon being quite that high because there were a good amount of uncharacteristic mistakes compare to prelims, but I DO agree with Fishers jumping way up. 

[LeanderMomma]

2 hours ago, packwick said:

vids of pretttty much everything you'd wanna see are uploading to the drive!!

You weren’t kidding!!!!  😳🥹🤩

[packwick]

45 minutes ago, LeanderMomma said:

You weren’t kidding!!!!  😳🥹🤩

yahhh too bad the screen captures don't seem to be HD. i'll have to download the Flo app to see if that gives me the option to improve the quality.

also am i the only one who hates the 50 bodies on the floor rule change??? Lol. interesting experiment but the IW guards using it this yr look so busy and cluttered to me. they need to find ways to hide some of the bodies some of the time. doesn't look as dynamic otherwise.

flag feature at the end of mirage's show excepted. admittedly pretty cool when those flags all swirl together making like a giant stormcloud of flags.

[Tubalord11]

38 minutes ago, packwick said:

yahhh too bad the screen captures don't seem to be HD. i'll have to download the Flo app to see if that gives me the option to improve the quality.

also am i the only one who hates the 50 bodies on the floor rule change??? Lol. interesting experiment but the IW guards using it this yr look so busy and cluttered to me. they need to find ways to hide some of the bodies some of the time. doesn't look as dynamic otherwise.

flag feature at the end of mirage's show excepted. admittedly pretty cool when those flags all swirl together making like a giant stormcloud of flags.

Just curious as to what your thoughts were on the Avon regional scores. Avon was very good, but an 86, idk. LOVE the show but Carmel felt like they wouldn’t be to far behind imo. 

[LeanderMomma]

1 hour ago, packwick said:

also am i the only one who hates the 50 bodies on the floor rule change??? Lol. interesting experiment but the IW guards using it this yr look so busy and cluttered to me. they need to find ways to hide some of the bodies some of the time. doesn't look as dynamic otherwise.

I was just re-watching Mirage and thinking this exact same thing. Do we really need 50 bodies on the freakin floor?!?!  lol I’m picturing Invictus with that many members creating their serpentine sculptures all over the floor. 🤣🤣

[packwick]

44 minutes ago, Tubalord11 said:

Just curious as to what your thoughts were on the Avon regional scores. Avon was very good, but an 86, idk. LOVE the show but Carmel felt like they wouldn’t be to far behind imo. 

well i was thrilled w/ twhs' 83 score (which exactly matched my thoughts for them after prelims) until the ones from the Avon contest popped up LOL. apparently tw's only a fraction of a pt ahead of fishers, who's admittedly much much better this yr than last. yeaaaah yeah i know diff panels + vastly diff competitive environment w/ the bazillion world class guards at Avon. but still!!!

since u seem to care: 84.5 matches my thoughts seeing Avon today. so like how Mike scored them for Effect. an 86 is prooob the highest score ever this point in the season in SW. i think Avon's show is fab, super expressive, great climax at the end, fun little visuals w/ the fabric. verrry smart about featuring their strongest members, like those insanely talented dancers they open with. that's what i want tw to look like!!! buuuut overall not quite an 86.

the gap b/w Carmel and Avon seems pretttty accurate to me in GE mainly bc Avon has that emotional impact/contour w/o sacrificing the intellectual/aesthetic side of things, whereas Carmel's show is drier... and uhhh... chattier... and waaay more depressing LOL. it's like the B side to tw's show this year. "It's hopeless! You're all gonna die!!!" paraphrasing ofc. i liked when the river of time drags the girl, that was pretty awesome. every show needs a truly clever moment like that.

[Tubalord11]

49 minutes ago, packwick said:

well i was thrilled w/ twhs' 83 score (which exactly matched my thoughts for them after prelims) until the ones from the Avon contest popped up LOL. apparently tw's only a fraction of a pt ahead of fishers, who's admittedly much much better this yr than last. yeaaaah yeah i know diff panels + vastly diff competitive environment w/ the bazillion world class guards at Avon. but still!!!

since u seem to care: 84.5 matches my thoughts seeing Avon today. so like how Mike scored them for Effect. an 86 is prooob the highest score ever this point in the season in SW. i think Avon's show is fab, super expressive, great climax at the end, fun little visuals w/ the fabric. verrry smart about featuring their strongest members, like those insanely talented dancers they open with. that's what i want tw to look like!!! buuuut overall not quite an 86.

the gap b/w Carmel and Avon seems pretttty accurate to me in GE mainly bc Avon has that emotional impact/contour w/o sacrificing the intellectual/aesthetic side of things, whereas Carmel's show is drier... and uhhh... chattier... and waaay more depressing LOL. it's like the B side to tw's show this year. "It's hopeless! You're all gonna die!!!" paraphrasing ofc. i liked when the river of time drags the girl, that was pretty awesome. every show needs a truly clever moment like that.

Thanks so much for the insight! This is my only 2nd year in the WGI world so I’m trying to learn from the best 🙃

[Rubisco]

I wouldn't focus on scores all that much, especially at the beginning of the season when judges have pretty limited knowledge of what the overall competition looks like for each class nation-wide. It wouldn't surprise me at all if judges were trying to catch some of the other streamed events during their breaks this weekend! 👁️👁️

I'm typing up my guard thoughts, but I'm trying to be a little more concise, which is hard for me. 😄

[Rubisco]

First of all, thank you so much @Tubalord11 for providing commentary on nearly all of the guards at Dallas. All those kids and staff members really appreciate your kind thoughts. TXBands should recruit you for their live blogs for sure!

Alas, I cannot sit through an entire event anymore. It's almost disrespectful to the hard work all the kids put in. 😭

Also, I think I failed at being concise.

The fight for A at Avon was between Carmel and Carroll. I've already touched a bit on both. Carmel A is one of Carmel's JV guards; I believe they have another one actually called Carmel JV, which is like middle school. 

Anyway, Carmel A's show was called Chopinesque. The purple lounge aesthetic, black benches, and baby grand piano were taken straight from their world guard's show from last year. It's Chopin music, but filled with lots of jazzy, blue scale riffs. I'm guessing Gaines does the staging for Carmel's A, it has a pretty consistent formal clarity. The benches and piano are moved around in similar ways to the world show, as when the benches encircle the piano or are lined up diagonally across the stage. At one point, they're in a sinusoidal curve, which is a very Gainesian thing. This is another one of those guards where it's hard to believe it's a JV group, with unusually dense phrasing and the girls doing tosses off the benches and while atop the piano.

Carroll ended up coming out on top in finals, squeaking out the only 80 in Scholastic A this weekend. I've already talked about this one. It's the one about the Dash between the dates on the tombstone, which represents the life a person lived. (We are reminded over and over that it's the most important part!) The floor is like white clouds in a light purple sky, and the performers are in sleek purple unitards that really pop against the white. It's a sentimental show for sure, but the performers elevate the material with their skills and expressive qualities. The stage is slyly reconfigured throughout using large white blocks. They're usually pretty smart about using equipment work to draw our eyes away from the moving of the blocks.

Centerville was by far my favorite in Open. The show is called Irresistible and is a fun twist on the moth drawn to the light concept. They're really forging a willfully and imaginatively weird style for themselves. The performers start out almost camouflaged in the corners of the stage with lampshades on their heads, mixed among actual lamps. It has a rather antique store look, like if you were shopping for lamps. The top right corner of the stage has a large upright window with a patch of light shining through it onto the floor. There's an upward piano flourish, and a girl clicks on the lamp in the lower left corner of the stage. Suddenly a double bass enters in the music, very dry and expressionist sounding, like you're watching an art house movie. A few members with lampshades on their heads tiptoe out of the corners curiously, humorously. Amazing opening solo sabre toss with an attitude turn underneath it. Really all the sabres here are fantastic, wonderfully expressive -- keeping good time during what seems like an extended, free-flowing cadenza in the double bass. Suddenly a giant moth flies through the window and the music is an exciting, thumping, highly syncopated tango between the double bass and piano. This music is definitely Piazzolla. (Let me look it up. I believe it's Kicho for double bass and piano.) Everything about this show rocks: the performers, the staging, the choreography, the aesthetic. I'm wondering if it remains in Open. With a couple demotions recently, there's some space in World Class prelims. I could definitely see Centerville sneaking into World Class finals.

Speaking of World class, the word on the street about Fishers is accurate. They are much improved over last year. It's a baseball show called The Great American Game. You'd probably imagine something a little more upbeat knowing that it's a show about baseball, but really it's more of an expressive love letter to the baseball of the first half of the 20th century, when it was at peak popularity. If you've seen the movie, A League of Their Own, you'll pick up on the aesthetic pretty quickly, with the skirts and whatnot -- also with the shades of sepia, which make the floor look like an old time photo or letter. The members all start out on bleachers, the first one runs out and slides. There's a lot of baseball in the choreo here. The music is a very delicate, sweetly sentimental piano, good for the overall nostalgic feel. I think I've heard this before, but I can't put my finger on it, maybe an arrangement of a piece from a movie? The bleachers are eventually split up and moved around (while the members are on it) to reshape the stage. I'm actually squinting right now to try to see if the rifles have a baseball bat appearance, because at times it looks like they're holding them like bats. Absolutely wonderful performance from those kids. Lots of difficult trick tosses and spinning phrases. Seeing Fishers place so close to Carmel is exciting, and probably indicates they'll be a lock for top 6 at Dayton. After missing finals last year, that's QUITE an improvement.

Carmel World's show, Memento Mori, was my pick for most intriguing theme heading into the season. Memento Mori is a phrase essentially reminding you that you're going to die, so really a death motif. This is weighty stuff! It's a little reminiscent in tone to Carmel's 2022 production, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The floor is a sort of solid desert color, but a little orangish, like a terracotta orange. Blue fabric is stretched across it, like a river flowing through the desert. Actually, this aesthetic is extremely reminiscent of Spring's 2014 Open Class gold medal show, the Malala one. They use the blue fabric in similar ways, making shapes on the stage. I recognize this music right away as Max Richter, reminded me of Wayne McGregor's ballet Woolf Works. Very desolate and sad sounding, but also with great expressive qualities that of course Carmel takes full advantage of. Perfect front walkover toss to open the show. Look at those hand placements on all these exposed solo tosses. They're just perfect! A narrator tells us not to fight the flow of time but to move with it. It all has a little bit of a dry lecture feel to it. I think I would have preferred a little less exposition, especially because they're already communicating much of the theme pretty clearly visually. But then the performers are just undeniable, not really that far off Avon from an equipment perspective.

And then there's Avon, performing Voila, which is an absolute earworm of a song. I've been humming it in my head ALL day, it has such an infectious lilt. When I heard that Avon was doing Voila, I could tell from the graphic that there were gonna be fabric reveals, but I was expecting something cutesier and more like a magic show. Of course they do lots of cutesy tricks with the fabric, lots of ambidextrous things, but overall this show is way more serious than expected. It has more of an elegiac, heartbreaking kind of feel. Voila is a pretty repetitive song, but thankfully there's just enough of a build up that we get the variations we need to make a show that feels complete. Of course, the highlight is the climax of that build up at the end, one of two goosebump moments so far this year. It's almost orgiastic, with the fabric flung around and all the daredevil tricks, which they're already executing quite cleanly. There are a few points in the staging that look a little cluttered because of the fabric, but it's a minor complaint. Actually, it's one of the main reasons I like to avoid fabric.

[packwick]

ok @Rubisco now do TX lol. do u know what website you're on??

17 hours ago, Tubalord11 said:

Thanks so much for the insight! This is my only 2nd year in the WGI world so I’m trying to learn from the best 🙃

LOL u are much too kind.

[packwick]

1 hour ago, Rubisco said:

I recognize this music right away as Max Richter, reminded me of Wayne McGregor's ballet Woolf Works.

it's on the nature of daylight, one of his most famous.

[Tubalord11]

2 hours ago, Rubisco said:

First of all, thank you so much @Tubalord11 for providing commentary on nearly all of the guards at Dallas. All those kids and staff members really appreciate your kind thoughts. TXBands should recruit you for their live blogs for sure!

Alas, I cannot sit through an entire event anymore. It's almost disrespectful to the hard work all the kids put in. 😭

Also, I think I failed at being concise.

The fight for A at Avon was between Carmel and Carroll. I've already touched a bit on both. Carmel A is one of Carmel's JV guards; I believe they have another one actually called Carmel JV, which is like middle school. 

Anyway, Carmel A's show was called Chopinesque. The purple lounge aesthetic, black benches, and baby grand piano were taken straight from their world guard's show from last year. It's Chopin music, but filled with lots of jazzy, blue scale riffs. I'm guessing Gaines does the staging for Carmel's A, it has a pretty consistent formal clarity. The benches and piano are moved around in similar ways to the world show, as when the benches encircle the piano or are lined up diagonally across the stage. At one point, they're in a sinusoidal curve, which is a very Gainesian thing. This is another one of those guards where it's hard to believe it's a JV group, with unusually dense phrasing and the girls doing tosses off the benches and while atop the piano.

Carroll ended up coming out on top in finals, squeaking out the only 80 in Scholastic A this weekend. I've already talked about this one. It's the one about the Dash between the dates on the tombstone, which represents the life a person lived. (We are reminded over and over that it's the most important part!) The floor is like white clouds in a light purple sky, and the performers are in sleek purple unitards that really pop against the white. It's a sentimental show for sure, but the performers elevate the material with their skills and expressive qualities. The stage is slyly reconfigured throughout using large white blocks. They're usually pretty smart about using equipment work to draw our eyes away from the moving of the blocks.

Centerville was by far my favorite in Open. The show is called Irresistible and is a fun twist on the moth drawn to the light concept. They're really forging a willfully and imaginatively weird style for themselves. The performers start out almost camouflaged in the corners of the stage with lampshades on their heads, mixed among actual lamps. It has a rather antique store look, like if you were shopping for lamps. The top right corner of the stage has a large upright window with a patch of light shining through it onto the floor. There's an upward piano flourish, and a girl clicks on the lamp in the lower left corner of the stage. Suddenly a double bass enters in the music, very dry and expressionist sounding, like you're watching an art house movie. A few members with lampshades on their heads tiptoe out of the corners curiously, humorously. Amazing opening solo sabre toss with an attitude turn underneath it. Really all the sabres here are fantastic, wonderfully expressive -- keeping good time during what seems like an extended, free-flowing cadenza in the double bass. Suddenly a giant moth flies through the window and the music is an exciting, thumping, highly syncopated tango between the double bass and piano. This music is definitely Piazzolla. (Let me look it up. I believe it's Kicho for double bass and piano.) Everything about this show rocks: the performers, the staging, the choreography, the aesthetic. I'm wondering if it remains in Open. With a couple demotions recently, there's some space in World Class prelims. I could definitely see Centerville sneaking into World Class finals.

Speaking of World class, the word on the street about Fishers is accurate. They are much improved over last year. It's a baseball show called The Great American Game. You'd probably imagine something a little more upbeat knowing that it's a show about baseball, but really it's more of an expressive love letter to the baseball of the first half of the 20th century, when it was at peak popularity. If you've seen the movie, A League of Their Own, you'll pick up on the aesthetic pretty quickly, with the skirts and whatnot -- also with the shades of sepia, which make the floor look like an old time photo or letter. The members all start out on bleachers, the first one runs out and slides. There's a lot of baseball in the choreo here. The music is a very delicate, sweetly sentimental piano, good for the overall nostalgic feel. I think I've heard this before, but I can't put my finger on it, maybe an arrangement of a piece from a movie? The bleachers are eventually split up and moved around (while the members are on it) to reshape the stage. I'm actually squinting right now to try to see if the rifles have a baseball bat appearance, because at times it looks like they're holding them like bats. Absolutely wonderful performance from those kids. Lots of difficult trick tosses and spinning phrases. Seeing Fishers place so close to Carmel is exciting, and probably indicates they'll be a lock for top 6 at Dayton. After missing finals last year, that's QUITE an improvement.

Carmel World's show, Memento Mori, was my pick for most intriguing theme heading into the season. Memento Mori is a phrase essentially reminding you that you're going to die, so really a death motif. This is weighty stuff! It's a little reminiscent in tone to Carmel's 2022 production, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. The floor is a sort of solid desert color, but a little orangish, like a terracotta orange. Blue fabric is stretched across it, like a river flowing through the desert. Actually, this aesthetic is extremely reminiscent of Spring's 2014 Open Class gold medal show, the Malala one. They use the blue fabric in similar ways, making shapes on the stage. I recognize this music right away as Max Richter, reminded me of Wayne McGregor's ballet Woolf Works. Very desolate and sad sounding, but also with great expressive qualities that of course Carmel takes full advantage of. Perfect front walkover toss to open the show. Look at those hand placements on all these exposed solo tosses. They're just perfect! A narrator tells us not to fight the flow of time but to move with it. It all has a little bit of a dry lecture feel to it. I think I would have preferred a little less exposition, especially because they're already communicating much of the theme pretty clearly visually. But then the performers are just undeniable, not really that far off Avon from an equipment perspective.

And then there's Avon, performing Voila, which is an absolute earworm of a song. I've been humming it in my head ALL day, it has such an infectious lilt. When I heard that Avon was doing Voila, I could tell from the graphic that there were gonna be fabric reveals, but I was expecting something cutesier and more like a magic show. Of course they do lots of cutesy tricks with the fabric, lots of ambidextrous things, but overall this show is way more serious than expected. It has more of an elegiac, heartbreaking kind of feel. Voila is a pretty repetitive song, but thankfully there's just enough of a build up that we get the variations we need to make a show that feels complete. Of course, the highlight is the climax of that build up at the end, one of two goosebump moments so far this year. It's almost orgiastic, with the fabric flung around and all the daredevil tricks, which they're already executing quite cleanly. There are a few points in the staging that look a little cluttered because of the fabric, but it's a minor complaint. Actually, it's one of the main reasons I like to avoid fabric.

Thanks for your kind words and this amazingly written essay to go along with my dinner! Super happy I was able to watch the last couple SW groups at Avon, and Fishers was definitely the big highlight for me. I grew up watching a lot of baseball and still do (My dad is a hard time Yankee fan being from NY so there's that), but they did such a great job brining the story of the olden days when it was just starting to life. Loved the jerseys for uniforms, and they are just SOOOO good for February, will probably be my favorite this year, can't wait to see how they do in Dayton 

[Rubisco]

Some Texas thoughts will follow. 😄