By Rachel Vachon
Lights flicker as a five minute warning. The excitement builds. The room finally goes dark and the crowd roars. Taylor's annual lip syncing contest called Airband, the most anticipated event of the year, has begun. But rewind to weeks earlier, when Airband consists of nothing more than ideas, disjointed moves and late night practice sessions. Despite students' anticipation each year, the event wouldn't come together without the work of various organizations and auditions.
In each group's effort to make the cut, they perform their routines for the members of the Inter-Class Council (ICC), which serves as the panel of judges.
According to senior class president Hannah Duncan, judges have a checklist they use during auditions to rate each act on a scale of 1 to 10 based on several criteria, which includes sets, choreography, lip synching, audience appeal and costumes.
Often during the audition process, more than one group auditions with the same song. This year was no exception, as two groups tried out with a song from a memorable 90's movie.
After comparing the two acts, the judges made their decision, leaving one group to watch from the audience.
Some students disagree with how acts are chosen when competing for the same song. Junior Tara Gnagy, the choreographer of a group who auditioned for the same song, wishes there was more openness and communication between groups and judges prior to auditions.
"I just hate the secretive aspect of it," Gnagy said. "I wish that (ICC) would make you state what songs you're doing, at least between the leaders, so there's not this conflict that you find out later, and problems can be solved at the very beginning."
ICC's goal, according to Duncan, is to give each group a fair shot and give them as much room to work as possible.
"I know some of the groups really do like to keep it a secret, and they don't want other people knowing," Duncan said. "So that kind of adds to who they are and their identity, and that's fun for them, so we wouldn't want to be like, 'You have to tell us,' because it's sort of unfair to them."
Gnagy also said that she would have liked to know the reasons behind ICC's decision and get some feedback.
"We did not get a reason for not getting in," said sophomore Jonathan Brooks, who was the first to learn that their group did not get in and agrees with Gnagy. "I think they should send you the critiques of why you didn't get in."
Following auditions, Duncan said the members of ICC meet in the Stuart Room for approximately three hours to discuss, choose and vote on the acts to get in. This year, 10 of the 14 groups will perform.
This year's Airband theme is Pandemic, which Duncan said will be done in a fun and creative fashion.
In addition to Airband being moved up this year due a lack of open Fridays, shows will start at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Tickets are $5 and will be sold at the door before the show from 5:30 p.m.-6:30 p.m. Doors will open at 6:35 p.m.
