Patiently waiting for those favorites.......
Patiently waiting for those favorites.......
How long do we have to be patient?? Asking for a friend…. 😇
Sorry for the wait!
Kiski AreaCan we hear it out loud for the core design group behind Kiski Area right now??? They have been on fire post-covid! Transfering the unfathomable physics of the Eschernian stairs to pageantry arts was always going to be difficult, much less in a niche firmly bounded and emphasized by Earth's physics. Then again, relativity is exactly that- relative to one's own perceptions. There's nothing complex about the stair props beyond the clear ability to rock to and fro, but the context that KA puts them in just lends into shocked astoundness. Never in the show was the ability to control the swings was even implied up until the actual first moment. Just swinging the props alone is one thing;
the props subverting the theme from a physics standpoint to a total subjective one is another! It's All Relative is just design magic here.
In the end, what prevented KA from advancing further up the ranks is one of simply being limited by the props themselves. At a tier where the moments have to be absolutely bombastic and flashy as possible, simply showcasing the ability to rock these stairs along with poses and spins isn't quite enough. I think this was something that the design team was well aware of- it's not really a secret that Kiski Area wasn't quite on level of the upper half of finalists in terms of being able to catch all these tosses confidently and regardless designed well within those limits. It's abundantly clear that the group had experimented and trained on these props for a significant amount of time to know that the kids were able to showcase as well as they did.
After 2022 and 2023 altogether, it's clear this group of kids has been dialed in, focused, and superbly talented for whatever comes next. I really do have to give flowers for the design team for some of the most sophisticated ideas and concepts the arts has seen recently. If the KA arts programs continue to receive the commitment and passion for the next few years, we all will be treated to a very special renaissance of KA glory years.
El DoradoEl Dorado is everything but "somewhat" in "On the Outside Somewhat Elevated". Confident, assertive, dialed in, you name it. There was no question whatsoever in my eyes that El Dorado put themselves decisively within striking distance of Carmel. El Dorado adds so much tiny flairs in the choreography that just really drives the underlying cataclysmic dread. There's a very clear understanding of movement that the El Dorado guard possesses, namely how well all these different sequences lead into each other in very distinct, hypnotizing ways. If anything, the depth of the movement offsets the surprisingly short amount of show time. I really can't praise the unorthodox choice of music and being able to tie in unconventional choreography that just inherently glides aside.
What kept Carmel ahead in the end was Carmel had a significant amount of difficult tosses; again, going back to the apparent split between the veterans and newbies where the veterans handled noticeably more responsibility. It was not a clean run for Carmel (which left the door open for El Dorado to pass), but the quantity of the equipment work against the entirety of El Dorado's was quite clear (Carmel's 18.55 vs. ED's 18.40 in EA). However... El Dorado's movement score completely outclassed Carmel's (18.20 vs 18.75). In the end, I believe it was G. Ouellette's GE scores that dropped El Dorado down (18.70 vs. 18.10 with a 4/5 vs. 7/8 split, which.... i'm side-eyeing that). Either way, I can't help but feel satisfied with the placement for El Dorado for showing up finals night.
Tarpon SpringsI'm left with my jaw agape once again how much Tarpon Springs jams so much into 6 minutes and still never feel like nothing is out of place. Tarpon Springs has figured out how to go for the maximalist effect where every aspect matters in the grand scheme of the whole show and even those components are bombastic as hell. This slides riiiight into my wheelhouse with this show being just a touch less of a winter guard show and more of a "complete experience" package; TS takes just about everything pageantry arts: winds, prop staging, music, and guard into something that feels not out-of-place of a stadium with a heavy guard emphasis. There's only a few that have the vision, fortitude, and skills to make the magic happen like the Fords.
In fact, one of the worst things about this section is me essentially praising the live musicians because that means the stellar equipment work gets ignored in my puny band-oriented brain. I've gone back and watched the videos several times to catch some of the incredible guard work on par with Arcadia and TWHS. The catches are strong, the tosses in sync, and difficulty way up. Like mentioned beforehabnd, that's where TS falters. The spotlight on the guard just wasn't big enough this time around- the features get swallowed up by the musicians where the guard could've benefited. "The Origin of Cool" did this aspect far better, mostly because the musicians didn't really clash visually compared to the all the props/musicians for "The Times". This was a consistent 7 in Comp. for Design Analysis across both judges and I don't disagree.
The WoodlandsI suppose it's fair to provide some criticism/commentary as provided forth in other sections. Honest to everyone, every time I return, though, I just can't. This was my undeniably my favorite show of the evening.
"The Light You Cannot See" just soars beyond being a winter guard show. The premise is never detailed in explicit terms beyond something tangibly-related "light". Galaxy-palette colors fly, yellow silks burst, and translucent solids glide all the way through the show against a white-dotted smoothed-brown tarp. One can't help but gasp when a performer seemingly levitates over the floor. The only thing to make of is a feeling of losing oneself to the ebbs and flows of the show. It's these kind of shows that leaves one wonder how dearly wonderful someone must be to inspire such a beautiful imagery, and how blessed they must be to be loved in return through this show.
ArcadiaArcadia has one of the perfect mixes of just the right mix of show design, props, equipment, movement, and the performers to pull this incredible off-kilter "I've Seen It All".
Echoing the similar premise of Carmel 2022, Arcadia goes the distance to explore weapon integration. Rather than invisibly introducing equipment, Arcadia intentionally marks major moments with brief flairs of white from the boards. Watch for moments when rifles and flags float, rifles are spun about, sabres are tossed, and the first few colored silks are brought forth from the back- every instance utilizes those boards to highlight the effect at that particular moment in time. In fact, I'd argue those boards themselves are the main centerpiece of weapon work for the entire show. The mere act of flipping, carrying, and pivoting already itself embodies the clunky, bouncy interludes, yet altogether echoes the gracefulness Bjork song of the same name. Like how the rhythm seemingly disappears into the violins occasionally, the boards disappear into the overwhelming black tarp, only to re-appear seemingly elsewhere. I love that the action of moving these boards elsewhere isn't intentionally hidden and out in the open, just that it is easy to miss these in-between portions if one is not paying attention to every single of the show, again reflecting the song's similarly detailed nature.
I also can't help but praise the meticulously performed choreography. Arcadia had the highest Vocab. scores from both Design Analysis judges (albeit barely over Avon) with fair arguments for. It took me to get to the multi-cam to be able to really flesh out how truly intricate the movements are. My favorite minor moment is when half of the guard is on the floor on top of the boards during the open sequence sitting crab-style - there's a four-count movement where the guard rotate their hands in front of their faces between bringing them out with their legs while on their buttocks before tumbling onto their backs. Like... that's not a hard move to do, but the inclusion of such precise choreography speaks to how minisculely detailed the performers were. And the show is full to the brim of all these atomically precise movements! This was a show that demanded such pinpoint focus and Arcadia had surpassed that exceedingly high bar.
AvonWhat more could be said? Avon was THE guard that evening. This is one of the greatest performances of all time.
GE is such a finicky category. Strength in that category doesn't necessarily denote a perfect show per se, not to mention how difficult a show can graduate beyond being relegated to just a "winter guard" show. 99's are a room of doubt, where yes, a show might hold a short glimpse at the sky-high limits of the activity beyond the present, but fails to silence those shreds of uncertainty. Perfect 100's denote the exact opposite- unquestionable conviction. The magical thing about that number is there is only one way judges will ever award that number is that it is by pure preference only. Judges will never box themselves into a 100 ever. Shows must push judges to the point of hand-over-fist where 100 is the only correct number to give. Avon did exactly that with
12 subcaptions. 7 perfect 100's in GE.
The evening has seen perspective-bending stunts, diligent choreography, non-stop spectacles, poetry in motion, and flittering illusions, but not a show of force yet. Avon lays forward the very premise of the show: themselves bared, tattered, and torn on the floor as is. This perhaps plays into the legend of this show; Avon itself is presenting forth everything on their own standards, which is so obscenely the highest in activity. A stunning sudden transformation into a brilliant gold signifies acceptance of their own passionate selves on their own terms- an absolutely flawless run that showed their true aim: an all-time myth.
Congratulations on the championship. This year was by far the easiest decision yet; not just for the championship, but for all those 100's.
ORIGINSORIGINS. HYPE.
Look, there's not much beyond what Origins had set as the premise: breaking past confinement. The show is pretty literal about this, too- long white poles that the guard can't get past, the "prison hallways" in between Origin's pieces, uniforms literally wrapping the performers. You can't tell me, though, that the bombastic Mission: Impossible and Matrix suspense and stunts in this show is no fun at all! I absolutely love the slightly over-the-top hokiness that the group commits too, because it's never a true action movie if the stars themselves don't believe the world they exist in. That's what drove the show solidly into 6th place, in my opinion. There's a true earnest urgency and intensity that the group performs with in not just the obvious banging on the invisible walls, but also with every single toss and flick in the show. In fact, the show spent significant portions of splitting up the group into their respective weapon sections and they've never really botched any of the choreography (caveat: catches? yes, there were a few bad ones... but no one really dropped their weapons). In the end, "Confined" rested heavily on the shoulders of their performers and those performers broke past those expectations.
Side note: Origins got me listening to Silent Alarm again and daaaaaaaang that is one well-produced album.
EtudeEtude caught lightning in a bottle this year. Like others have said, this is a well-treaded concept, but not the sublime way Etude did. This is plainly Etude's and Etude's only.
Authenticity and sincerity are aplenty in "Those Days Are Gone". The Olde English aesthetic calls back the past in a literal interpretation of "those days" with the medieval casuals, but not a distant one from our present when love seems so far still then. Nakedly lamenting, Etude flails with a sense of genuine anguish to the swirling, swooning "All by Myself". What ties all of this together, though, is the genius use of the rocking benches to accentuate all the fluttering moments. A tiny swing of the bench means beats of a longing heart, unsteadiness of being on one's own, or envy of a brief romance. The contrast only strengthens the impact of a soothed ground that comes with one's partner in the end.
I think that why this show touches so many is that this is not a wholly a show about the literal past- it's a nostalgic look into one's own personal past of a time of similar torment. Everyone has a time when one quick glimpse would send one into a spiral of jealousy. Yet, Etude combats this pessimism with a feeling of hope, because it's only "those days". Like how the ending implies, the pain in the past will come to pass to a point of only being a memory. The show is what the postcard is; a moment marked in time that has long faded. Those Days Are Gone.
ParamountOh, my poor Mounties in 4th. It really does pain me to say that out loud, because I've been steadfast from early January to now (still) in my belief that this had potential to be one of the greatest shows ever. An unfortunate ending of sorts, but all I can do is laud the insanity Paramount chose to take on.
Harbingers. Carriers of an omen to come. That's the soul of this show; the message gets transferred, mutated, conveyed, transformed, all the way to the end. And Paramount does this BRILLANTLY through the pageantry arts meta of weapons. I'm just going to list the ways they do this:
- The "message" (initial silks) is unified, but divided, with the opening silk statement.
- The silks then gets ripped off the poles (!!!).
- The silks are attached to their waists and brought together.
- (Note the pattern on the underside, too!)
- This "message" turns into a huge massive flag, passed around by multiple members in that group.
- That massive flag gets turned into a smaller silk (of which there is only one), but with the pattern of the underside...
- Whilst the metronome begins swinging in the back.
- The entire troupe is tossing poles covered with the pattern (!!!)...
- As the singular silk is swinging on the metronome!
In a vacuum, utilizing the artistic tools that only winter guard has, this show can only exist the way as it is! This can't be a movie, or a poem, or a musical piece, or a marching band show*, or a stationary art piece, or anything. This premise only works with winter guard, and that's
incredible.
I've had roughly a week to think about this and review the judge scores, and honestly, I vehemently disagree still. It's pretty disappointing to see the overall content be a solid 4/5 across the board (Comp DA 5th/5th, Rep GE 5th/4th/5th/4th). Admittedly, this wasn't an easy show to get at all on first glance and it does deviate from a typical winter guard formula significantly, so I understand the drop in the scores regardless.
The thing about this show, though, is that it's insanely difficult. It was clear early in the season that Paramount would need to let this cook for a while before it would get anywhere of significance, and it would take an all-time performance to cement the win. Finals run was quite good, but just not the powerful run Paramount needed to cement their place at top. With the large group, reducing difficulty of some of the crazier ensemble moments down to lower the odds of possible drops may had been fruitful. I'll also add that the choice of color design (silk/floor patterns) was a bit too busy. When the patterns need to be concise as possible to transmit a delicate theme like this one, simple should be the way to go.
*it could be, but good luck transcripting Kendrick Lamar to winds
FusionFusion started a tad shaky like most groups had, but finished so electrifyingly that winning wasn't in doubt at all.
I'm no artist buff here, so I think it's best to start off with great takes by
srv1084 and
cinnamonpromenade .
I had to go back and watch Fusion's show again after seeing they've popped the highest score so far.
I was curious about the narration. It's from "Her Face" by Arthur Gorges, a contrapuntal poem (a "grid" poem), one that can be read both vertically and horizontally and produce a very different experience depending on which way you read it. Interesting stuff.
It took me until now to realize that this is quite deeper than just a modern day take on a love story with the bells and whistles of a popular Euphoria soundtrack. It's odd, because the performers seem to emote in a way that trends more towards positive emotion, but the often chaotic music and harsh transitions, along with a lot of visual separation between the two performers throughout the show, makes it feel like there's some struggle or conflict preventing the two from being together even though there's an obvious connection. We see this a lot in plays, mythology, etc. - often two lovers separated by other forces, such as parents/family, friends, distance, etc. (Pyramus and Thisbe separated by a their parents, who built a wall between them, while they found ways to briefly connect through a gap in the wall). The two performers occasionally come together in the show, but they're often separated, whether it be by the platforms, individual performers stepping in between them, or the entire ensemble at the end. While still a beautiful and exciting show, the more I watch this the more I sense that it wasn't necessarily meant to be a happy ending as much as an expression of love when there are obstacles in the way.
But maybe I'm just reading into it too much... I just love this damn show. An instant all-time favorite for me.
Does anyone know why Fusion's floor was a Rothko painting (and its significance to the music/concept)?
That being said they had me entranced....... The hype is real!!
I found the Rothko comment to be an interesting observation. Rothkos are very simple color palettes that tend to contrast fairly strongly and his paintings have elicited
very strong responses. The muted pink pastel on the outside against the vivid center blue does seem to be heavily inspired by Rothko, especially with the visible brushes and clear non-conformity of coats. The fashion utilizing a similar muted but more diverse selection also really highlights this contrast also.
Indeed, this contrast seems to be continuously emphasized throughout the show, in not just the color contrasts (there's several) but also like srv1084 had mentioned. The silks brought out into some point of the shows are very clearly distinctive from each other unlike the floor- bright pink against dark purple and yellow against dark purple (we'll get to the white-orange ones in a moment). The main characters constantly seem to be apart then together then apart, etc. The block prop goes from a solid unit into disintegrating into three misaligned portions by show's end. Heck, even the visual aspect clashes with the musical choice quite violently. The initial imagery from the floor and fashion would imply some kind of breezy, laidback vibe, not janky choreography and asynchronous tosses much less the music be one of pure lust (i.e. "Euphoria" soundtrack). I didn't read all of this to be a simple, trite love story on the surface either.
In fact, I read "So Fair, So Sweet, So Sharp" to be about hedonistically losing composure in face of desire. The whole poem is essentially about being overwhelmingly ravished. The music, pumping quickly and never quite settling, sings of "no ordinary love" and spits the verses out coarsely. Even the floor suggests this, clearly deviating from the quiet pink with an uncomfortable blue, when the first few bright-pink-purple silks open the premise that something isn't really quite right- sharp dark triangles reaching into the dense pink. I've actually read the middle portion once the pleasing orange-white silks come out and the music slows to a breathing pace to be a moment of clarity, wresting back a sliver of control, before losing it altogether in the end with the prop splintering and the clashing yellow-purple silks wrapping up the show. Like srv1084, this isn't a happy conclusion either, where the protagonists constantly push and pull each other instead of openly embracing, eventually finishing apart. An electric performance all the way through to guarantee the championship when it counted. Congratulations on the first IW title in the Fusion's history!
Sorry for the wait!