Seen At The Andrew Comp…
It’s really happening, the first story post on The Ready Line blog! Let’s go (and yeah I’m figuring it out along the way).
GOOD TO BE BACK
+ The IL-DTC (the unofficial 8CA shorthand for Illinois Dance Team Community) has been WAITING and HYPED for this weekend. I liked the experience of getting into the Andrew gym early and just taking in the scene — the early crowd, the signature floor. You can bet I’ll fill these pages with extensive thoughts about the spectator experience throughout the winter, but for now, let’s just say there’s nowhere I’d rather be on a late fall weekend.
+ And a bonus for me this year: no scheduling conflict for Comp Weekend 1! Andrew and Wheaton North have often been on the same day in recent years, but this time I got to go to both.
+ Thanks goes out to all the Andrew volunteers and staff and of course to Coach Mattix and her assistants (yes, including her superstar kid) and dancers. The schedule was on the petite side, which is fine with me (and probably everyone else, too) — I got to ease in to the flow of what I do at competitions. My plan was to shake off the rust and also try out some new ideas, and then I could tweak these for tomorrow at Wheaton North (another short-ish comp). I’m all for the casual acceleration instead of mashing the accelerator.
THE COMP FLOW AND FLO’
+ Can we talk about that Andrew floor again? When college hoops took a step toward the trend of busy floor graphics, say, 10-15 years ago, I wondered which high school gyms might join in. In the Chicago area it didn’t exactly catch on (costs?), which is kind of good because Andrew’s floor remains a fun quirk on the dance comp schedule.
+ I’ve always enjoyed Andrew’s female P.A. announcer over the years. We’ve come a long way — more women ADs, for example — but gym announcers still are overwhelmingly male. She always does a great job: professional and steady.
+ SOMEONE had their fingerprints all over the music playlist…someone with a love of late’80s classics and deep tracks (or forgotten hits). Back in my radio career I had some programming experience, so this stuff is super interesting to me. Once in awhile I can get the Double B Entertainment DJs to throw on an obscure classic. But this time (no outside DJ), someone on the inside of Andrew’s comp staff had the guts to let a classic like this go out over the speakers:
+ Another aspect of Andrew’s comps is their one-sided schedule—meaning that all dances faced the same way. It creates a longer wait between performances (since there aren’t two separate judge panels), but this was fine for me since, as mentioned above, I was still in season-warmup-mode.
NOTES, NUGGETS, IMPRESSIONS
+ (for specifics be sure to check out our dance-by-dance story posts, archived in Insta highlights)
+ If you invited dance teams to a mega-Thanksgiving feast, it now looks like Marist belongs at the big table. Pom work in their first routine was not only crisp but a tantalizing preview of their second dance, a lyrical-contemporary piece that I think we’re going to be talking about throughout the winter. Just a new level for them that I was happy to see the start of.
+ New look, new vibes at Minooka — but without rewriting the program’s identity. Their two dances were still very THEM, but with a fresh edge. As usual, their JV comes at ya.
+ Hosts Andrew sets the early 3A tone every year. I’ve come to expect a polish from them that doesn’t reveal any November rust–they’re just ready to gooooo. Their 2nd dance had everything I was looking for in terms of musicality, expression, craftiness, floor vibes…
+ Good to see Elmwood Park out there. This program’s shown some life, on-and-off during the recent IHSA era. I’m always a fan of these close-to-Chicago teams and what they can do.
+ You all know I love dances that you can (and must) count in some multiple of three—usually sixes or twelves. More on that in a future (probably several) posts about musicality. I loved hearing Plainfield North count out their dance at the key spots. Good visuals with dynamic staging that keeps those formations moving.
+ Thornwood is coming off a strong IDTA state appearance (both in the AAA pom and hip hop categories). Dancing as 2A in IHSA, they brought vibrant, sharp pom work and floor-shaking hip hop. I felt like they were the most well-rounded dance team today.
+ Nazareth made a statement with a skills-heavy piece. After a super-strong fall on 8CA’s Top 25 rankings, they continue to put out a bold presence when they dance.
+ I feel like Lemont is back on track. Elegant and pretty and had me convinced as soon as they hit their first quick full-team turn.
+ Joliet West let me know in the hallway that they’ve been putting in the work, and it showed during their performance. Taking home a 2nd in this compact but intimidating 3A field is just the start that the Varsity Tiger Dance Team was looking for.
+ Props to Fieldcrest with the longest drive of any of today’s teams. Over the years they’ve built a solid identity as a lyrical team, and it was nice to see them mixed into this heavily suburban-Chicago field.
+ Sandburg is a feel-good watch. I was at the very top of the balcony and I picked up the vibe that they really enjoy this style of lyrical—definitely their jam.
+ Tinley Park with a good start and a hint of freshness, kind of like a spritz of spring/summer fragrance in the middle of the cold season. Something could be cookin’.
+ Today’s announced placements — for the purposes of recognition at awards and the actual plaques — were by program. For the newbie fans and dancers out there, each contest host (in the IHSA ecosystem) has leeway over how they want to distribute trophies. Many do it by routine, but you can also do it by team. So for trophies at THIS comp, teams were ranked by their higher-scoring dance (if they brought more than one). I like this method of sending home hardware with more teams than usual. For bragging rights in terms of how each dance scored, we’ve got the scoresheet for that.