Practicing to make 'legends' a tough task

Kyle Brandle of Kappa Delta Rho has had no social life since early January. The junior has spent most of his time this semester teaching a group of students a song and dance number for this weekend's IU Sing.\n"I don't get to see my friends," he said, but his hectic schedule is nearing its end. \nIUSF's IU Sing takes place Friday and Saturday nights and will be held at the IU Auditorium, bringing weeks worth of hard work to a finale. This year's theme is "Legends: Music that defined a nation."\nThough each act lasts less than seven minutes, participants spent most of the semester preparing for the event, often letting IU Sing take precedent over other aspects of their lives.\n"I've had to put off a lot of other things I'm involved in," Rebecca Robinson of Delta Zeta said, adding that she hasn't been able to attend dance team rehearsals or Dance Marathon committee meetings.\nMost groups began practicing during the first week of classes and rehearsed four days per week for at least two hours. Song leaders -- the directors of each act -- have attended additional weekly meetings since October.\nAbsences at these meetings can penalize the groups' final scores, so there was pressure to attend, Brandle said. \nWhile attendance mattered at the song leader meetings, it wasn't required for full-cast rehearsals. Several people named scheduling difficulties as the most challenging part of IU Sing.\nWith 86 people in Delta Zeta and Phi Kappa Psi's act, Robinson said it was difficult to accommodate everyone's schedules.\nNight exams, essays and social calendars also contributed to people's absences, Brandle said. \nThough there are some solo acts, many entrants are random pairings of sororities and fraternities. Acts with 70 or more people are in Division A, and acts with 69 or fewer people are in Division B, said Brian Mehler, IU Sing steering committee member.\nThe size of the group was just one challenge acts faced.\nSara Kochell of Chi Omega said her biggest challenges were making sure the act turned out how she and her fellow song leaders planned and "making sure the script was perfect." \nFor Alex Conner of Phi Kappa Sigma, nothing came easy.\n"Everything's challenging in its own right because you have so many people in one room," he said.\nThe level of excitement also affected rehearsals.\nKelly Jones of Delta Gamma said it was difficult to get everybody excited at the initial rehearsals because of their repetitiveness, but the energy increased after the act came together.\nFor others, excitement was one thing that song leaders didn't have to teach.\n"Our group has so much energy," Robinson said. "We barely have to tell them to smile or cheer louder."\nWith the end in sight, acts are scrutinizing their routines and ensuring everything is synchronized.\n"The hardest part is transitioning because we're constantly moving around the stage," Brandle said. "It's hard getting everybody to move at the same time without looking \nclumsy. \n"We finally got it down \ntonight."\nJones said Delta Gamma is nitpicking its act, and Robinson said Delta Zeta is focusing more on arm placement and making sure lines are spoken in sync.\nFor most participants the final product is the best part about IU Sing.\n"Seeing everything come together is really rewarding," Conner said.\nThough prizes will be distributed Saturday night, song leaders said it's difficult to know who their biggest competition is because they haven't seen the other acts.\n"Everyone has a good act," Conner said. "Names get thrown around each day, depending on the energy level"