Dgs 2010

[TrueBlue92]

Less than a week away, so excited!!

[TruRavenclaw]

I'm so excited! I love DGS =]

[July-esque]

DGS is just nuts. I wish everyone luck and fervent hope that no one experiences stacked rounds!!

Oh, and by the way, just an extra thing: I have a certain shirt that I wear to every competition, I guess it's a superstition thing, but does anyone else get freaked out about changing outfits for the two days?

[TruRavenclaw]

It doesn't freak me out, but maybe it's only because I only have 1 competition outfit. I got a new suit this year though, and I switched from a white shirt to a blue shirt. I've also kept the same tie from last year. It's kind of weird cuz this is the first year that I've gotten (multiple) compliments on what I wear on ballots.

[invisicloak43]

Haha I love the clothing comments. Personally I am really excited for DGS. It's usually a really good quality competition, and it makes the rounds fun to watch. Although, crazy things usually happen in those finals.

[TrueBlue92]

Oh, and by the way, just an extra thing: I have a certain shirt that I wear to every competition, I guess it's a superstition thing, but does anyone else get freaked out about changing outfits for the two days?

Yes, absolutely I am freaked out by that... It's unnatural to me to wear a different colored shirt but I guess you have to deal with that! It's the way state is... Two days of continuous speech events though with excellent talent in most of the rounds for dgs and definitely when you get to semis and finals, so I would say that's a fair trade for having to switch outfits! Looks like there's stiff competition in every event so it should be amazing

[eaglecats]

So what's everyone's thought on how DGS played out? Some surprising things of course, that really do not mean anything come regionals, but I was impressed with the Southside schools dominance in Final round.

1st and 2nd in dda (Thorton and Thornwood)
2nd, 3rd, and 5th in DI (Thorton, Thornwood, and H.F.)
1st in Extemp (Sandburg)
1st in HI (Thornwood)
1st and 2nd in IS (Marian and Sandburg)
1st in Info (Oak Lawn)
1st and 4th in OD (Thornton and H.F.)
2nd and 3rd in OC (Oak Lawn)
1st in OO (Oak Lawn)
1st and 2nd in Poetry (Thorton and Thorwood)
1st and 2nd in Prose (Thorwood and Marian)

That's 9 firsts, and 4 seconds.

Now I'm not saying this will happen at State because we all know things change. Just thought it was interesting to see how dominant the South Side was in finals. I know some of the better Western and Northern suburb stuff didn't break to finals so that accounts for some of it.

I didn't get a chance to see much, but did anyone see anything that really stood out to them?

[abe22]

Yeah, I also thought it was interesting to see some different winners. There was also some controversy, at least that I heard, over stacked rounds in certain events, namely oratory, where a lot of awesome people ended up competing against each other and therefore knocking each other out prior to even semi-finals. I noticed a bunch of kids making semis and even finals who I'd never seen before, and a lot of favorites who missed breaking. It'd be interesting to see what the final round would've looked like had some of these good competitors divided among the rounds. Like obviously nobody but Speechwire can control who ends up in who's rounds, but still...

[jeawagne]

So what's everyone's thought on how DGS played out? Some surprising things of course, that really do not mean anything come regionals, but I was impressed with the Southside schools dominance in Final round.

Now I'm not saying this will happen at State because we all know things change. Just thought it was interesting to see how dominant the South Side was in finals. I know some of the better Western and Northern suburb stuff didn't break to finals so that accounts for some of it.

I didn't get a chance to see much, but did anyone see anything that really stood out to them?

You should probably factor in DGS, since as host they take themselves out of team sweeps. With team sweeps calculated on final round (like at state) they would have finished in third with 25. (Though grain of salt here since they can have unlimited entries and statistically that skews things slightly.)

Yes, the 'south schools' did well -- second, fourth, and fifth w/ DGS in the mix. It's also telling that the Thorns scored these team points with only one in those finals, as it would be at state. WWS had a couple of finals with two, so if you take out the lower ranked in those their team score would drop to 26. Still a win but just by one point. DGS' 25 would also drop to 19 after factoring this in, with three in the HDA round. (Wanna bet these kids get rearranged into other funny events?) Oaklawn would drop only 4 points.

I saw the DDA final and thought the top three were pretty close. Interesting that the top two did the same thing. Sawa poetry semi and was a little surprised at what got through from it, and what didn't.

But here is the caveat emptor for this tournament -- semis are a weird thing with only one judge. Though they try to make the judges as qualified as possible, one judge not liking you or your piece or whatever and it's game over. Even more so with the events that had three semi sections where only the top two advanced. I think I would feel weird judging a semi because of that.

[jeawagne]

Yeah, I also thought it was interesting to see some different winners. There was also some controversy, at least that I heard, over stacked rounds in certain events, namely oratory, where a lot of awesome people ended up competing against each other and therefore knocking each other out prior to even semi-finals. I noticed a bunch of kids making semis and even finals who I'd never seen before, and a lot of favorites who missed breaking. It'd be interesting to see what the final round would've looked like had some of these good competitors divided among the rounds. Like obviously nobody but Speechwire can control who ends up in who's rounds, but still...

The tournament is so big there really are no 'stacked' rounds. Or you could look at it this way, the tournament has such good competition that EVERY round is stacked. The fact that there are so many in each event, the scores need to break get tougher. One bad round and that's it.

The prelims are random; I don't know about the semis except that I think they try to avoid kids from the same school hitting each other.

[jayman]

Saw the Drama Finals. I'll just say this- the girl who won- pretty impressive. Not from a 'big' school, yet, she clearly dominated that round. Most honest performance I can remember in quite some time. Also found it interesting to see Thorton changed Nora's piece. Poor choice in my opinion. There's not a whole lot of difference between her cut and the one from National final rounds.

What were the two dda's that finished 1-2?

I also thought it was interesting that semis were 14 instead of 12, this decision was made only after the first events had been posted. All for including extra people as long as the motivation is pure. Looking forward to see how it all unfolds in the next few weeks. Expect the unexpected.

Congrats to all who participated and those who advanced out of prelims.

[TruRavenclaw]

The tournament is so big there really are no 'stacked' rounds. Or you could look at it this way, the tournament has such good competition that EVERY round is stacked. The fact that there are so many in each event, the scores need to break get tougher. One bad round and that's it.

The prelims are random; I don't know about the semis except that I think they try to avoid kids from the same school hitting each other.

I kind of agree. Just something I noticed offhand, while most other tournaments I've been to this year have tried to mix up the code system (ex: Having the code FF9 even if your school only has 3 competitors), DGS did it old school. The first entered (oftentimes the strongest competitors from that school) would get the code 1 i.e. FF1. And just looking at the schematic, the 1's seemed to be distributed equally among the sections. [weird note though... Kelly Sarenko was ZZ5 or ZZ4... I thought that was strange... since she's their top Orator.]. At the same time, I definitely understand what abe22 is talking about because the best from one school definitely can vary greatly from school to school. But I mean, isn't it just like any other tournament? It's luck of the draw.

[aqua4n6]

Saw the Drama Finals. I'll just say this- the girl who won- pretty impressive. Not from a 'big' school, yet, she clearly dominated that round. Most honest performance I can remember in quite some time. Also found it interesting to see Thorton changed Nora's piece. Poor choice in my opinion. There's not a whole lot of difference between her cut and the one from National final rounds.

What were the two dda's that finished 1-2?

I also thought it was interesting that semis were 14 instead of 12, this decision was made only after the first events had been posted. All for including extra people as long as the motivation is pure. Looking forward to see how it all unfolds in the next few weeks. Expect the unexpected.

Congrats to all who participated and those who advanced out of prelims.

Do you remember what pieces were in finals?

the DDAs in 1st and 2nd are doing, "Ruined. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruined_(play))"

[abe22]

oh yea i totally agree that it's the luck of the draw! and with a tournament like DGS, as jeawagne mentioned, you could consider every round "stacked" with great competition. i just meant that i noticed people who have been repeatedly competing against each other in finals having to face each other in prelims (annie houghton-larsen versus suzy oskouie, for example). but as you said that could def. happen in any tournament, i guess i just noticed it this weekend? haha.

i saw DI finals and LOVEDDDD both nora and laura! i wouldn't have wanted to choose between them, haha. laura was super natural, very believable too, and i absolutely loved the fact that she had so many different levels-- the fact that it wasn't a completely melodramatic script really worked in her favor. and nora is just phenomenal as well-- i know she's had at least 3 different DI's so far this year and has done very well at each, so it'll be interesting to see what she chooses at state. i also saw SOS semi's and adored DGN's Elizabeth McKay, though I was surprised that Mitch Bley didn't break finals along with her.

[noralc]

Saw the Drama Finals. I'll just say this- the girl who won- pretty impressive. Not from a 'big' school, yet, she clearly dominated that round. Most honest performance I can remember in quite some time. Also found it interesting to see Thorton changed Nora's piece. Poor choice in my opinion. There's not a whole lot of difference between her cut and the one from National final rounds.

What were the two dda's that finished 1-2?

I also thought it was interesting that semis were 14 instead of 12, this decision was made only after the first events had been posted. All for including extra people as long as the motivation is pure. Looking forward to see how it all unfolds in the next few weeks. Expect the unexpected.

Congrats to all who participated and those who advanced out of prelims.


So I am Nora Carroll and my school is spelled ThorNton not Thorton lol. Pieces get reused all of the time so you cant expect to go into a d.i. round and see something you have never seen from all of the competitors. I trust my coaches choice for my piece poor decision? i think not but that is your opinion. I believe Ms. Winters gave a wonderful and enjoyable piece as always and I am very excited to see how far both of us take it for the state series. Btw thanks for coming to the d.i round i love having an audience!!! See you during the state series!!!

[HCspeech228]

How about that Informative final? Looks like the new event is going to be a real dog fight. I was really suprised by Annie Houghton-Larson taking 3rd. The girl who took 2nd really came out of no where. The winner though was great he really deserved it.

[jayman]

So I am Nora Carroll and my school is spelled ThorNton not Thorton lol. Pieces get reused all of the time so you cant expect to go into a d.i. round and see something you have never seen from all of the competitors. I trust my coaches choice for my piece poor decision? i think not but that is your opinion. I believe Ms. Winters gave a wonderful and enjoyable piece as always and I am very excited to see how far both of us take it for the state series. Btw thanks for coming to the d.i round i love having an audience!!! See you during the state series!!!

Sorry about the mistake with the spelling. Ok, so what I wrote before came out wrong. In my opinion (and that's all it is), I felt that the last piece you were performing prior to this, was stronger,more honest, and allowed me more opportunity for us to really engage with your character. You are an exceptionally talented performer. There is no question. I was disappointed to see that the route they had chosen for you was one that had been traveled before in a very public way (on stage at Nationals). Regardless, which ever piece you all go with, stay true to it and keep looking for new opportunities for moments of discovery.

Best to all during the state series..

[jbf2424]

That informative final was intense! I loved every speech in it; I thought the topics were all fascinating. Sophie Luo delivered an intriguing speech about energy; while Annie Larsen's on the FMRI was amazing as well! And then, of course, Nick Szurgot from Oak Lawn-- hilarious and really made you think. I can't wait to see how this event plays out at state series! Looks to be a promising year for topic selection.

[peacebone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmm5hQHeMHc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufX-3jLVZw4&feature=related

1st Place HI at Nationals in 2008...Charlie the Caterpillar....
1st Place HI at DGS, 2010...Charlie the Caterpillar...

I'll just leave this here.

[TrueBlue92]

I went to the HDA final, and to be completely honest wasn't too impressed with anything that was in it... However, I LOVED Ryan Breig's dancing parts in the piece that won, absolutely hysterical! But what happened to Annie and Mitch? or Jeff Perino and Kevin Zidek? Both of them haven't made finals or semis the past two weeks despite doing really well earlier in the season...

[PaperSlight]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmm5hQHeMHc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufX-3jLVZw4&feature=related

1st Place HI at Nationals in 2008...Charlie the Caterpillar....
1st Place HI at DGS, 2010...Charlie the Caterpillar...

I'll just leave this here.

i've noticed as well... grumblegrumble.

[July-esque]

Yeah, wow, Darius' performance was not that different from that video. Practically the same exact thing. That is just so not okay.

I'm ticked that judges don't seem to be rewarding originality this year.

[jayman]

What bothers me most are patterns that develop with certain schools and National Champion/Finalist pieces. (This is not directed at ThorNton :)).. Love what Thornwood has done over the years. Another brilliant performer. I've judged him over the last few years and always walked away marveling at his talent. I even told someone on Saturday that I really was looking forward to seeing what he's got this year. I haven't seen his piece this year, but would be extremely disappointed if his INTERPRETATION is similiar or the same. Oddly enough, if I understand it correctly, the boy from Nationals was accused of borrowing someone else's interpretation of the same piece. Short cuts are no good.

I guess this is as much about coaching as anything else.

[Speechy1]

I think everyone should be real careful when calling out a performer, or a coach, or a judge about cuttings, interp, etc. First of all, your comment about the judges not rewarding originality is way off base. Most schools in IHSA do not participate or even know anything about NFL, so you cannot expect a judge to say, "oh yeah, this was at NFL 5 years ago." Secondly, go through the list of HDA, DDA, DI, and HI material that has been at the state finals. Many, many, many of them have been done, and overdone, that does not mean that they are not done well. In some instances there is really only 1 good cutting from many of these pieces, so of course they are going to look the same. Just some examples as you look through the years are: Ruthless, The Marriage Counselor, Jerry Finegan's Sister, Live and In Color, etc, etc. Basic Training has been in Final Round 2 out of the last 3 years and the Right Time have been in final round in the last 2.

Now for Interp are there different ways to interp the characters, of course. I doubt that the Thornwood kid has the exact same characteristics as the one from NFL. (although I will admit I haven't seen his, nor the one posted until it was put up yesterday).

Judges have one job to do and that is to rank the competitors that they see in any given round. They are not to compare to others that they have seen anywhere before. How unfair would it be if a student performed a piece that recently won state and the judge ranked the competitor down not because of his or her performance, but because they had seen it done somewhere before and done better. Not fair at all.

Finally, if a coach sees some material that they think would be great for one of their students, isn't it the job of the coach to get that material for their student. What coach worth anything would say, "I found a piece that is perfect for you, that you'd do great with, but I can't tell you about it because it was done at NFL years ago?"

Judges need to rank what they see and leave it at that.

[jayman]

I think everyone should be real careful when calling out a performer, or a coach, or a judge about cuttings, interp, etc. First of all, your comment about the judges not rewarding originality is way off base. Most schools in IHSA do not participate or even know anything about NFL, so you cannot expect a judge to say, "oh yeah, this was at NFL 5 years ago." Secondly, go through the list of HDA, DDA, DI, and HI material that has been at the state finals. Many, many, many of them have been done, and overdone, that does not mean that they are not done well. In some instances there is really only 1 good cutting from many of these pieces, so of course they are going to look the same. Just some examples as you look through the years are: Ruthless, The Marriage Counselor, Jerry Finegan's Sister, Live and In Color, etc, etc. Basic Training has been in Final Round 2 out of the last 3 years and the Right Time have been in final round in the last 2.

Now for Interp are there different ways to interp the characters, of course. I doubt that the Thornwood kid has the exact same characteristics as the one from NFL. (although I will admit I haven't seen his, nor the one posted until it was put up yesterday).

Judges have one job to do and that is to rank the competitors that they see in any given round. They are not to compare to others that they have seen anywhere before. How unfair would it be if a student performed a piece that recently won state and the judge ranked the competitor down not because of his or her performance, but because they had seen it done somewhere before and done better. Not fair at all.

Finally, if a coach sees some material that they think would be great for one of their students, isn't it the job of the coach to get that material for their student. What coach worth anything would say, "I found a piece that is perfect for you, that you'd do great with, but I can't tell you about it because it was done at NFL years ago?"

Judges need to rank what they see and leave it at that.


I agree that finding material and identifying kids to use it is difficult. And I actually see no problem with using titles that have been done in previous years. My problem lies with performances that are too similar to the one's that were seen by the coach/competitor. I'm not even saying that is cheating. I'm saying it's disappointing. We should be encouraging kids to go beyond what is already known to some or lots. Interpretation is about creating something unique to your minds eye. So I'm not seeing anyone saying that if it was done at a tournament it's hands off or shouldn't be done. I'm saying that it should be done originally. I know the caterpillar piece from NFL has one joke strung all the way through. It's the presentation and interpretation that makes it funny, and what most people remember. In my opinion, it would be a real shame to see someone to see someone use it. There's no journey in that.

Here's hoping that all performances are something that the individuals can be proud about.

[aqua4n6]

still curious to know what pieces were in the DI final. anyone? :)

[peacebone]

There is nothing wrong with re-doing pieces...as long as the INTERPRETATION is original.



Zeyne's version of "Controlling Interest" (which took 2nd to Charlie the Caterpillar the same year at Nationals) has a mostly original interpretation, so there isn't as big of a thorn in my side.

[Word]

It was an exact replica of the National performance- real creativity flowing there... NOT TO MENTION there was a third performer doing the Nationals version as well.. Crazy