Watched a couple of rounds today… was impressed by a few… 

The two that really stood out:

“Charlie Parker's Traveling Minstrel Show”- Pough/Williams- wow. lol. I can tell they're not NATIONALS ready, but they are definitely impressive. 

“Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks”- Schmitto/Rocero- Dude. On any given day, these could be your national champions. no joke. 

The two I liked a lot, but were mis-matched for the above two:

“Return to Me”- Some school in CO. I was seriously impressed by them. Their blocking was impressive, and their teaser was intense. 

“Company- don't know. A sondheim musical about marriage and friends- pretty clean and funny. 

So I can't say for finals, because I left after semis (was just tired ad wanted to get home)… so i'll give my opinions on the round I saw. 

(in order of speaking position, I will italicize my rank I give at the end)

1- Coraline. Uhm, they were clean. Hated the cut. Hated the piece. But with that said, they were good. I just feel there isn't any depth to this piece, whatsoever. I would have given it the 6

2- End Days. I really, really enjoyed this piece. I thought it was cute, funny, and really well cut. HOWEVER, I thought that Shakir made the piece- he is the reason they got to semis. Not to knock on the girl, just thought that she was very weak, and seemed very forced in a lot of spots. Her emotion didn't fit with certain scenes. Liked it, though. ranked it 5th, though with her improvement, could have gone up

3- Gypsy. This… I… just didn't like. They had their moments, and it was well blocked, but I can't see them past octos at nats. Not past semis at State (CA). I just didn't connect with it. I would have ranked 7th

4- Secret Life of Bees. Dude. I just hands-down loved it. I saw these two white girls get up and expect to see something very… not good. Wrong. Their blocking, transitions, characters and cut was fantastic. There was almost nothing that I disliked about their performance. I would have given this the 3rd, barely.

5- Anon(ymous). One half of the “Same Difference” duo from last year. This was by far the most unique duo I have seen in… years. I didn't know what to feel about it at first, but after just getting into the performance, I fell in love with it. In it's unique style of performance, and their message, I was won over. I would have given this a very difficult 1st

6- Reasons to be Pretty. Funny. Witty. Quick. However, what would have been an easy top three in my books, turned out to be a 4th because of A) the tough competition and B) because the ending seemed very weak compared to the rest of their performance. I would have loved a more impactful or humorous ending. Still very, very solid. I ranked 4th

7- The Little Tommy Parker Celebrated Colored Minstrel Show. Nat champs from last year. I feel like they will be amazing come nationals. They are still a little shaky with some parts, but no where near noticeably so. Their blocking is great, their emotion is better than last year's, and they have another show-stopping scene that makes you want to clap. This was a difficult 2nd, but they earned it