IDTA Last Chance Weekend 2020

IT’S THE “LAST CHANCE WEEKEND” FOR TEAMS HOPING TO QUALIFY FOR IDTA’S STATE FINALS!

THE WEEK AFTER IHSA STATE: THE TIRED AND THE DETERMINED

FRIDAY 2/7/2020:

Raise your hand if you’ve just spent the past week:

wiped out and exhausted from IHSA state, emotionally and physically
switching to weird, low-energy practices just for basketball or senior night
sick, because your body finally let you come down with a cold after you begged it to stay healthy through IHSA state
OR…practicing with max intensity because you’ve got just one more shot to qualify for IDTA state

That pretty much covers everyone!

Let’s give it up for three overlapping groups of dance teams who are still putting it all on the floor this weekend in the final IDTA competition before IDTA state. Here’s the qualifying situation for each IDTA category headed into tomorrow’s dance action. I’ve listed each team’s routine by category and how that routine did at each competition, with “Q” meaning they hit a qualifying score that day, and “P” meaning they didn’t (“P” meaning “performed”). Qualifying teams are in yellow, and teams that are hoping to qualify tomorrow are in gray. These hopefuls also have tomorrow’s comp highlighted on the right side of the grid.

IDTA QUALIFIERS 19-20 Going Into Last Chance Weekend

1: teams that have already qualified

These dancers and coaches hit their qualifying score already and have two equally nice options for Saturday. Rest up at home (and maybe spend that time with an extra practice as they gear up for IDTA State Finals on February 15), or keep competing hard at one of tomorrow’s 3 IDTA comps to try and further refine their routine. A few of these teams were stellar right away. Many teams didn’t reach a qualifying score until their 2nd or 3rd time, so it’s usually a season-long process.

2: teams that haven’t qualified yet

These are the athletes you can’t help but admire. So many of their counterparts around the state are either all done (IHSA-only teams) or get to take the weekend off (IDTA qualifiers who are staying home), a fact that’s all too clear on Instagram and Snapchat. But these yet-to-qualify dancers fight on. They spent this week intensely preparing for their last chance at getting into the IDTA State Finals field.

3: teams that have been busy in both IHSA and IDTA

Check out the qualifiers / non-qualifiers grid (scroll up for the link) and you’ll see teams that had mentally and physically demanding weekends at IHSA State. All of these amazing dancers navigated that crazy marley in Bloomington: Clinton, St. Joseph-Ogden, Elmwood, Eureka, Gardner-South Wilmington, Seneca, Collinsville, Washington, Mascoutah, Jacksonville, Oak Forest, Dunlap, Quincy Notre Dame, TF South, Highland, Marion, Triad, Murphysboro, Centralia (the 1A champions!), Hinsdale South, Pekin, and Lyons Township. These IDTA teams have mostly qualified for IDTA state at IDTA competitions (often in central and southern Illinois) throughout the winter.

Chicago-area IDTA teams faced the additional challenge of trying to find space on their IHSA-heavy calendars for an IDTA competition. In central and southern Illinois, almost all teams do both IHSA and IDTA, and it’s super convenient because you’ll see your main opponents every weekend whether you’re worried about IHSA sectionals or trying to qualify for IDTA state. Up north, the vast majority of competitions are IHSA-only.

That’s why prestigious teams like Hinsdale South and Oak Forest find themselves maxing the drama this weekend: there hasn’t been room on the calendar to get their dances in front of IDTA judges. And after the intensity of last weekend at IHSA state, these teams may be tired. But they’re definitely conditioned to withstand three or four consecutive pressure cooker weekends (IHSA sectionals, IHSA state, IDTA’s last chance comps, and potentially IDTA state).

By the end of Saturday afternoon at Hononegah (for northern Illinois and Chicago teams), Tuscola (central IL), and Highland (southern Illinois and St. Louis teams), we’ll have the state field set for IDTA’s finals next weekend.