8 Things About IHSA State 2021: How It All Went Down
by Norm Ramil, 8CA main person and dance team fan
3/11/21 9:15pm
1: The livestream: smoother than last year’s marley surface
Only 4 weeks after the first weekend of multiple streamed competitions, we all pulled off a virtual IHSA state contest. Pretty amazing. For the 90 contending teams and their fans, the only blips were the very occasional streaming hiccups (I counted only 1), the kind of thing we were used to even before the pandemic put incredible strains on our network infrastructure. So join me in raising a bottle of store-bought and overly-sweetened Starbucks Frappucino to Minooka’s Coach Melissa Wallace for ably hosting virtual state! That lady (and my good friend) knows how to work a cursor.
And wasn’t it pretty cool to have Tracie Henry announcing the results? Something seemed really right about that, like we should’ve been doing that all along.
2: No big shakeups up top
We ran polls on Twitter and Instagram during state week asking you how different you thought this year’s top 3 in 2A and 3A would be (we left out 1A since they were guaranteed to have a new champion) (and with LZ not in the field, 2A would definitely look at least a little different).
For 2A, 74% of the Insta voters thought that 7 or fewer of last year’s top 10 teams would be back in the top 10 this year. The rest opted for 8 or 9 to come back. Most Twitter votes (44%) thought that 2 of last year’s top 3 teams in 3A would be back (and 26% of voters predicted all 3 of last year’s top 3 would go top 3 this time). A bold 30% of voters thought we’d get a mostly or even entirely new top 3! In both polls, the most popular pick turned out to come true.
In our sport, successful teams hang out at the top for long, long stretches. But with all the new variables of this season, would the top level get a shakeup?
Not really. A virtual format all season didn’t seem to remix the top crust of each division.
That doesn’t mean we didn’t have some shakeups lower in the field (we did, and they were awesome! See below). But up top, teams that are used to hoisting large trophies got to do that again in 2021.
Zooming out a little farther, your 1A top 5 looks like the contenders we had our eyes on all throughout February, and really, all throughout most of the last several winters . Top 10? Also no surprises.
2A is another story. That top 10 was as shaken up as when your Grubhub driver drops your Coke bottle and you have no idea until you untwist the cap. Only 4 of last year’s top 10 teams repeated a top 10 in 2021.
In contrast, 7 of last year’s 3A top 10 finishers were back in the top ⅓ of the field last Saturday.
3: Scores down from a year ago
COVID-19’s yearlong strain on dance teams showed up in the scores. Teams didn’t have much time to nail down technique last summer, and choreo sessions were a mess. Then came months on standby, and suddenly a quick-hitting season where there wasn’t enough time for adjustments or state-quality synchro.
This time let’s start with 2A. Last year’s top 10 on Day 2 ranged from a 94.50 to an 88.08, for an average of 90.45. If you’re looking at day 1, the average for the top 10 was 90.49.
This year, the 2A champions scored a 94.32 and 10th earned an 84.32 (average = 88.58).
In 1A, this year’s winners ran a 91.34 and 10th got a 78.24 (average = 85.16). The top 10 on Day 2 a year ago ranged from 97.10 to 82.35 (average = 88.27), while Day 1’s top 10 spanned a 95.82-81.94 range (average = 87.91).
This year’s top 10 in 3A averaged a 91.57, ranging from 95.64 to 87.50. A year ago these 10 spots averaged a 93.40 (range = 99.24 to 88.36) on Day 2; for Day 1, the average was 93.12 (range = 97.36 – 89.30).
So in all 3 divisions, this year’s top 10 routines were significantly down from a year ago, whether you’re looking at averages or the highest scores.
4: The optics looked better
Uggh, that buzzword…optics. It’s another case of stylish blog slang that you roll your eyes at but then think, “Yeah, it really does fit what I’m trying to say, unfortunately.”
So let me get at it another way: imagine a dancer or coach from another state watching IHSA state online this year (so she’s not swayed by the look of our Bloomington setup–it’s just the routines making the full impression). What does she think of our state’s dance scene?
Not sure. But thankfully she’s not watching in, say, 2017 when so many of the routines looked and sounded alike. It started in the ‘19-’20 season and bloomed in ‘20-’21: a widening view of what kinds of jazz and lyrical pieces teams think will score well. This year’s set of dances overall look like we’ve busted through the imaginary boundaries of the past few years, the leos, the movie trailer-sounding songs. And the teams that still do those things are doing it well and keeping that style pretty fresh. Teams that approached lyrical and jazz a little differently opened the gym doors and brought a fresh breeze to the IL dance scene.
Even beyond that genre, these 90 teams collectively brought an eye-pleasing range of styles to state. Up top in 3A, you have strong modern vibes and a hyped pom. Hip hop and pom continue to thrive in 2A (as much as they can in the IHSA ecosystem). 1A is a little tech-heavy at the top end, but through the field of 30, you see a decent range of styles.
On the other hand, taking all 90 together, the overwhelming vibe is still the same as it’s been since IHSA’s arrival in 2012–Illinois dance teams tend to go for a lyrical / jazz piece.
And you knew I’d throw this in, right? Our imaginary out-of-state dancer / coach watches our IHSA virtual state thinking, “Wait, they don’t have categories?”
5: Extra-lit for state weekend? Not so much
You know how state generates enough adrenaline to bring your performance a few ticks higher, along with probably over-rotating a turn? That’s hard to do on tape and at home. And with a little less time to both prepare and to use the feedback from sectionals, chances at a suddenly spectacular performance were slimmer than in a usual year.
Score-wise or visually, it didn’t seem like most teams were able to appreciably “up” their performances for state. Sometimes I even wondered, “Is this state routine the same vid as what they submitted for sectionals?”
Looking at scores seems to back this up. In past years we often see the top teams match or even pass their season highs on Day 1, and then gain a little more on Day 2. This time in 1A’s top 10, a couple teams picked up several points over what they did at sectionals (and their performances showed this), one team took a substantial dip, and the others seemed to hover around or even drop a bit from where they were at sectionals.
2A was the other way around. Geneva was the favorite going in and scored the best at sectionals, and those dancers looked like they poured a little more fire into their video (and gained 2+ points over the previous weekend). Montini and Mundelein both clearly worked hard during the week to earn serious points increases. Elsewhere in 2A you had a mix of teams that maintained, dropped, and gained points…which is odd, considering these were recorded performances and, if anything, should have gained just a little over the sectional score.
These differences might have a lot to do with the old, old problem of different scoring mindsets at different sectionals, leading to a different score range at state.
But getting back to #5 in our top 8…did the 3A teams struggle to deliver a hyped state performance over what they did at sectionals? Seems like it. Maine South experienced the most gain in points, though the rest of the top 10 was either flat or lost points compared to sectionals. Again, judging variability comes into play here, but my impression was that the 3A state performances were a smidge cleaner than sectionals, rather than the beast mode we often see at state.
6: Top 3s we can all celebrate
Providence Catholic has had a successful program for as long as I can remember. They enjoyed strong, sometimes dominant seasons in IDTA and TDI, and went to IHSA state 5 times before this year. The Celtics put all the pieces together this winter with their beautifully ambitious routine, outdancing a strong and balanced 1A field. They join names like Naperville North, Deerfield, and York, all teams that nibbled at the edges of greatness for years and then finally broke through to the very top.
Every year, it just feels like and looks like Stevenson and Geneva will be your 3A and 2A champions. They’re usually the frontrunners starting early in the season. Sometimes other teams catch up and we get a spicier outcome at state, but these two are the fan faves all winter, every winter. This time, like in 2017, both programs came out on top, with Stevenson going back-to-back with a dance that’s so different from last year’s routine.
Maine South is a permanent dance community favorite, seen by many as the state’s premier program through the decades. So it’s quite ironic that the IHSA scene isn’t exactly a hotbed for their preferred style (kick). COVID-19 policies ruled out traditional kick elements, so we got to see Maine South excel at pom and bring it nearly to the top. Again, it’s a style that our hypothetical out-of-state viewer (see #4 above) didn’t see much of while watching IHSA state, but their performance said so much about their chilling mastery of different dance styles.
And Minooka. A few years ago they took big steps toward that top tier, gradually becoming legit top 5 contenders, and finally a dangerous threat to win it all a year ago. Getting 3rd in 2020 was a breakthrough, and this year’s 3rd is just as much of a breakthrough; their stay at the most elite levels of 3A looks to be a long-term thing.
In 2A it only took a couple seasons for Montini to figure out how to take on the other programs in that division after years of 1A success. Last year was a learning experience, and this time, these legendary pom experts take the runner-up spot with a lyrical piece.
And after years of lurking inside (and sometimes just outside) the top level of 2A, Mundelein erupts and takes 3rd. Like Providence Catholic this year, Minooka a year ago, and Deerfield in ‘19, Mundelein is the newest of the old, established programs to finally reach the top 3 after so many years of state success.
1A’s got a top 3 we can all love, as well. Highland racked up crate-fulls of IHSA and IDTA state championship hardware throughout the 2010s, and then spent the previous 2 seasons in a mini-slump. Yes, I’m being cutely sarcastic, because those 2 “off” years were still Day 2 performances. This year’s 2nd-place finish reminds the entire state of Highland’s brilliance.
And how about this streak for Joliet Catholic over the past 4 years: 4th, 1st, 3rd, and now 3rd again. 5 years ago? Not dancing in IHSA and focused on dancing elsewhere. With this kind of year-to-year dominance in 1A, they’re the upstate / Chicago-area mirror of what Highland’s done since the ‘90s.
Putting the hardware and stats aside, I’d have to say that these 9 teams — the top 3 in each division — looked incredibly amazing at virtual IHSA state!
7: Sectional z-scores were a good predictor of state outcomes…kinda
Yikes, did I word that like I was writing a poli sci or sociology thesis? But it’s true: your top 3 z-scores from 3A sectionals belonged to Stevenson, Maine South, and Minooka, in that order. Further down in the 3A state outcomes, the correlation is a lot looser, with some teams ending up way higher or lower than what their sectional z-score ranking showed.
In 2A the z-scores were far from predictive. Geneva, of course, ranked 1st in both points and z-score rank coming out of sectional weekend. 3rd place Mundelein? They ranked 13th in z-scores at sectionals, while Montini was 6th. Elsewhere in 2A, Libertyville’s sectional z-score ranked 23rd…but they cooked up a 5th place at state.
Z-scores from sectionals ended up nicely matching the 1A outcomes…but only at the very top! It might seem like Providence Catholic came out of nowhere at state (they had only the 3rd highest points among 1A sectional scores, and trailed 1A’s highest sectional score by over 4 points). But their sectional z-score ranked 1st. For 1A’s runner up, z-scores at sectionals didn’t predict the outcome very well: Highland ranked 6th. But z-scores lined up pretty well with JCA’s outcome (3rd at state, 2nd-highest sectional z-score).
8: Refill the hand sanitizer, cuz we’ve got plenty of high fives to go around
1A Eureka has carved out solid success in IDTA, and that crossed over into a 22nd at IHSA state last winter. This time they took home 15th and are heading to IDTA state with multiple routines.
Same score, but two different (and awesome) stories for Murphysboro and Bishop McNamara in 1A. A year ago the Devil Dazzlers of Murphysboro earned an 18th, and then cracked the top 10 last weekend — a major breakthrough for the southern Illinois program under Coach Carleigh Schimpf. Last week I wrote about Bishop Mac sneaking up on 1A at sectionals. After not going to state a year ago, they won their sectional and finished state back in the top 10.
I’m pretty excited for two very impressive state debuts in 2A: Hampshire and Streamwood! A few years ago we featured both programs in our blog after summertime visits. Back then, Hampshire seemed like they were on the verge of figuring things out. You’d get the occasional flash of something good happening, like a sharp-looking but mild-scoring night at conference. Steadily, but also quickly with new coaching, they’ve grown into a state team. Not just a state team, but a top 10 team.
Also in the summer of 2016 came that visit to a Streamwood practice. The girls back then were pouring everything they had into learning ballet and jazz basics with some outside help. That mighty effort, years later, and over an uneven path of ups and downs, has led to their IHSA state debut. I’m a little sentimental because the Sabrettes were IDTA state champs in 2003 and ’05 with me handling the music mixing! So for me, and all the teams out there who spend years in strive mode, a 14th at IHSA state is the feel-good story of last weekend.
More good stuff in 2A: pom experts Montini slay a lyrical for the runner-up spot, Dunlap breaks into the top 10 after 4 IHSA state runs, and Riverside-Brookfield goes top 10 for the first time.
My fave story in 3A is Jacobs. Eighth place is a big milestone for the program; it’s their first IHSA state top 10 after hauling cartloads of state trophies in IDTA and TDI before 2012. Their “look” this winter reminds me of Providence Catholic, where both teams put out super impressive and very difficult choreo early in February and then spent each week getting sharper and sharper.
Also in 3A you’ve got to be impressed by what Waubonsie Valley seems to do every year. They may not have a history of making a run at the top 3, but they live steadily in that 11th-12th area of the rankings. WV just might be the most consistently excellent program of the past 5 – 7 years.
One more high-five has to go to St. Charles East. Here’s their impressive 3-year story arc. Come out of nowhere and win sectionals in 2019. Show up to the ’19-’20 season with, accidentally, the same music and costumes as elite Lake Park; reconstruct the routine over Christmas break and somehow get into the 2020 state field. Then ’20-’21: rock a completely different style and vibe, and reach the number 9 spot in 3A.