21 teams ready to compete in IU Sing

Six months of planning, singing and spirit fingers will take to the stage this weekend.

Twenty-one teams will compete in the 77th IU Sing, sponsored by the IU Student Foundation, at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the IU Auditorium.

Of the teams competing, 19 are paired fraternities and sororities. The other two teams are from the Korean Student Association and the Christian Student Fellowship.

The event, which helps the IUSF fund student scholarships, is themed “Ever After: A New Twist on an Old Tale.”

Sophomore Annie Baenen, a member of IU Sing’s sponsorship and tickets committee, said groups are taking fairy tales and other well-known stories and twisting segments of them.

“My favorite part is all the creativity,” Baenen said. “It’s not just like a set theme; it’s open-ended. You get to be really creative, and the acts love it and the audience loves it, too.”

Skits range from “Alice in the Big Apple” to “Snow White and the Seven Dorks.”

Tricia Runkel, assistant director of the IUSF and this year’s IU Sing adviser, said 13 acts will perform Friday. Saturday’s performance will feature the remaining eight acts and the awards ceremony.

Acts are evaluated by judges for five categories including musicality, choreography, staging, “twisting” the story and the judges’ overall impressions.

“Judges are looking for creativity and a team that stands out and looks really, really excited to do what they’re doing,” Baenen said.

In addition, Baenen and Runkel said “production points” are subtracted from the teams’ final scores for failing to attend meetings and other infractions.

For the first time, this year’s teams must be capped at 80 participants.

“We hope this will make choreography better,” Runkel said.

Runkel said IUSF members are working non-stop to put on this competition.

“It’s a huge amount of work,” Runkel said. “Our first meeting for this IU Sing was in August. It’s neat to see students working so hard to see this through.”

Senior Haley Reisman, a member of the IU Sing steering committee, said IU Sing is an integral part of IU history.

“It’s an awesome competition,” Reisman said. “It always has been and will continue to be. It’s IU’s longest tradition.”