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2023 WGI: The Slay All Day Thread


Rubisco

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yaassss. slaaaaay. the return of the sport of the ga... errr, ARTS, i mean ARTS!

the 2023 wgi drinking game 4 those of us of age watching at home and not at risk of being expelled from a live event

drinking to guard tropes, drink whenever:

there's a full ensemble flag feature

the one boy in the guard does the difficult solo rifle toss(es)

you hear a saccharine pop ballad

you see a show with a theme that has anything to do with empowerment

u hear a voiceover 

the one girl who actually knows how to dance does 5 turns in a row and the audience screams wildly bc they can barely do a single turn

the guard lightly jazz runs to the edge of the floor to pick up other equipment usually while raising arms into 5th position and lowering them

the guard spells something on the floor

the guard makes a recognizable shape on the floor besides the basic geometric ones, say like a heart

there is a clear display of sassiness

ohhhh these r just a few. even so they'll be wheeling u out on a stretcher by the end of the A class.

not 4 kids, obviously

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11 hours ago, LeanderMomma said:

That list of Texas guards headed to Dayton for WGI Worlds in April is quite exciting!!  Have we EVER seen even close to this many Texas groups at Worlds before?!  I’m planning on being there for it and it looks like I sure picked the best year to do so!!

I'm not sure. It's harder to check now that the older results have been removed from the main WGI site!

5 hours ago, Zil said:

Just curious and willing to learn...

What are the different classifications? (ie. Scholastic A, Independent A, etc) do the schools choose which classification to enter? 

Regional A = beginner; A = intermediate; Open = intermediate to some advanced; World = advanced/virtuosic to standard setting.

Schools typically start out in regional A or A and get promoted at the end of the season if they place within the top few groups in their class at the World Championships. The Steering Committee, which reviews videos of the top few guards at each regional, can also promote a unit into a higher class midseason if they think the unit is misclassed -- really to maintain the integrity of the competition within the class. Individual units can choose to self-promote as well, but they'll typically choose the class in which they'll have the best chance of achieving success. Also, there are minimum cutoff scores to make finals at regionals/worlds in the open and world classes to maintain a baseline level of quality.

Scholastic = all members from the same school, i.e. high schools; Independent = not all from the same school, typically older -- think college age and beyond. Judges understand that Independent guard members are typically more physically developed. Hence why they compete against each other and not the Scholastics!

Independent World is the tippy top and has a separate paradigm the judges use when rating the units.

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23 hours ago, packwick said:

the 2023 wgi drinking game 4 those of us of age watching at home and not at risk of being expelled from a live event

drinking to guard tropes, drink whenever:

I have one to add for this season. Drink whenever you hear Deep in the Heart of Texas. That'll be at least a few per Texas guard. ;)

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16 hours ago, Rubisco said:

Regional A = beginner; A = intermediate; Open = intermediate to some advanced; World = advanced/virtuosic to standard setting.

Schools typically start out in regional A or A and get promoted at the end of the season if they place within the top few groups in their class at the World Championships. The Steering Committee, which reviews videos of the top few guards at each regional, can also promote a unit into a higher class midseason if they think the unit is misclassed -- really to maintain the integrity of the competition within the class. Individual units can choose to self-promote as well, but they'll typically choose the class in which they'll have the best chance of achieving success. Also, there are minimum cutoff scores to make finals at regionals/worlds in the open and world classes to maintain a baseline level of quality.

Scholastic = all members from the same school, i.e. high schools; Independent = not all from the same school, typically older -- think college age and beyond. Judges understand that Independent guard members are typically more physically developed. Hence why they compete against each other and not the Scholastics!

Independent World is the tippy top and has a separate paradigm the judges use when rating the units.

Thank you! This is very helpful.

So I take it, M&G Johnson and The Woodlands have been involved with WGI for awhile (and have been excelling at it)? Is that why they are already at World? That's awesome.

Are the competitions streamed? Any "must watch" performance vids on youtube that you would recommend? 

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We're less than a month away from the start of the season! Both NTCA and TCGC have local shows starting on January 21st. Those of us who are able to attend will be able to get a first look at some (likely) unfinished shows. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll be getting any of these local contests streamed on FloMarching this year. I don't see anything listed on Flo's schedule, except for the end of the season NTCA championships.

I've updated the World Championship attendance list. Ether Independent appears to have withdrawn from Independent A. They're a new group, and I suspect funding and recruitment issues may have played a role, based on some social media posts. On the flip side, Black Gold is returning in the Independent Open class, so that's exciting.

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On 1/2/2023 at 10:21 PM, Rubisco said:

Here are some Texas Guards to Watch Out For at the World Championships this season in Scholastic A and Open. Note that this is pretty much purely based on the results from last year and aren't necessarily an indication of who will end up on top this season.

Friendswood HS in Scholastic A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGYEFlMXxFc

Last year's show, The Girl With The Weight of the World in Her Hands, ended up 6th in finals in Scholastic A at the World Championships. All the units ahead of them have been promoted into Open class for this season. With this semis performance, they were 4th, and very, very close to the top 3. I think half of the judges had them in the top 3, including a couple first places. I personally would have had them in the top 3. This was a fantastic performance, with beautiful staging and set design. Unfortunately, they had a somewhat rough run in finals, hence the drop in placement. Pre-COVID, this group was in the Open class, and has been in the World class in the past.

Hebron HS in Scholastic A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLMtYclRdpI

This was a fun, fizzy production from a guard that seems to improve every year. They were 2nd to Friendswood at the late WGI Dallas Regional (previously known as the Southwest Power Regional). I think they'll be a strong contender for finals this year. They looked very good on the marching field last fall. Apparently this performance earned them a gold medal at the NTCA championships, although I do see that they were 2nd to Rock Hill in the recap...

Rock Hill HS in Scholastic A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbmAFQt8-j8

which brings us to Rock Hill! They're also attending the World Championships this season. How fortunate we are to have such great representation. The school opened in 2020, and look where they are already! They were turning some heads this marching season, as I recall.

Seven Lakes HS in Scholastic A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mS0kWjDp9M

Now here's a show that's a bit risqué. The opening dancer is absolutely fabulous. If only most guards had most of their members moving that well! Seven Lakes had a somewhat slow start to the season, placing 8th at WGI Houston. But they ended up placing 2nd and breaking a score of 90 in finals at WGI Atlanta. They even beat a couple of guards that went on to make finals at the World Championships. They'll be in the mix this year. Pre-COVID, this guard was in the Open class.

Southlake Carroll HS in Scholastic A

I can't find a video for this one. It was a Barbra Streisand show. SLC was only a few places outside of finals at the World Championships last year. They're coming off their first BOA Grand National Finals performance. Hopefully they can keep up the momentum.

McNeil HS in Scholastic Open

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn0lQc2iy-E

McNeil was a comfortable 3rd place at the late WGI Dallas regional, behind Independence HS and Marcus HS. They were the TCGC State Silver medalists in the Open class, losing to Moe and Gene Johnson. In 2019, this guard placed 4th in the Open class at the WGI World Championships, so they know what it takes to do extremely well in this class.

Coppell HS in Scholastic Open

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVTEiC7zjNw

This show was such a blast last season, an immediate crowd favorite. They brought some high energy, James Logan-style fun. Coppell ended up 3 places outside of finals in Scholastic Open at the World Championships. I think with a cleaner, more uniform performance and some clearer staging, they'll be in finals this year. I was impressed by what I saw from them on the marching field last fall. Plus, I know that their director is the CGT Dallas/Denton founder/director. This team knows what they're doing!

Thanks for posting these! Those yellow “jacks” props in Coppell’s show remind me of Clovis West, CA & the creative genius of Danielle Kline circa 1990 (totally dating myself!)

 

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On 1/4/2023 at 9:31 AM, JazzRun said:

Thanks for posting these! Those yellow “jacks” props in Coppell’s show remind me of Clovis West, CA & the creative genius of Danielle Kline circa 1990 (totally dating myself!)

 

Love it! It's like they asked themselves, "How many different kinds of flags can we bring to the floor?" The answer? ALL of them.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Congrats to the Cy-Woods guard on their victory in the Scholastic National A class at TCGC Willis! Scoring a 72+ at the first contest of the season is very impressive. Alas, I think the only WGI contest they're attending is Austin.

The Sam Houston State University winter guard also achieved a 70+ in Independent A. Both of these units are in the driver's seat right now.

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