Divisi, the University’s all-female a cappella singing group, marked the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella’s first Eugene event Saturday night with a first place quarterfinals finish and numerous other awards in front of an oversold auditorium at South Eugene High School. Divisi and the three runners-up will travel to Stanford University next weekend to compete in the
ICCA semifinals.
Because Divisi placed first in its division, the group will go straight to the finals, while the three runners-up, Six in the City from the University of California, Berkeley, Everyday People from Stanford University and Outspoken from Oregon State University, will have to participate in semifinals earlier that day. The winner of the regional competition will move on to the national ICCA competition in New York City.
The ICCA holds competitions all over the country. Producer Julia Hoffman said ICCA decided this year to replace Salt Lake City with Eugene in the list of host cities.
“I’m glad that we did, because there’s a lot of energy here,” Hoffman said.
Hoffman said that ICCA tries to pick locations with clusters of popular a cappella groups, while also trying to keep travel distances fair for all groups involved.
In the past, Divisi has had to travel to California to compete in ICCA events. This year, four groups from California came to Eugene: Six in the City, Cal Jazz Choir and DeCadence from UC Berkeley and Everyday People.
Kyle Davis of Everyday People described the trip to Eugene
as “long.”
“We were kind of surprised because four-sixths of the competitors were from the same area,” Davis said, suggesting that Yreka, Calif., would have been a more geographically equitable location for
the event.
The event’s venue, South Eugene High School, is the alma mater of Divisi music director Lisa Forkish. South Eugene High School’s jazz choir performed while the ICCA judges deliberated.
“We were trying to find a venue that was bigger than Beall,” Forkish said. “South held the most people, and I was familiar with it.”
On The Rocks, Divisi’s male counterpart at the University, emceed the event and provided musical entertainment between groups.
On The Rocks has competed in events similar to the ICCA competition, but the group is taking this year off from competing to work on a compact disc that will be released either at the end of this school year or early next year.
“It’s tough because when you do a competition, you spend two months focusing on three songs,” On The Rocks member Jeremy Davidson said.
Divisi went into the competition hopeful and confident, member Suzie Day said.
“You never know what will happen because the three judges — it’s just three people’s opinions,” Divisi member Joanne Caputo said.
Groups at the competition were judged on blend, arrangements, rhythmic accuracy, interpretation, intonation, solos, dynamics, visual effects and stage presence.
“We’re constantly critiquing ourselves, so I do think we come with a full package,” Forkish said. She added that Divisi’s choreography has become stronger over the
past year.
Divisi member Erica Barkett, who is also the captain of the University’s dance team, is in charge of the group’s choreography.
“Teaching singers to dance is different from teaching dancers to dance,” she said, explaining that the dance movements accompanying songs are smaller and more confined than most but are still an important part of the Divisi package.
“It makes it visually appealing, so there’s something to go along with the singing,” Barkett said. “It gives the singers energy.”
Divisi won awards for outstanding choreography, outstanding arrangement for Sarah Klein’s adaptation of the Joni Mitchell song “Woodstock” and outstanding solo by Evynne Smith for the same song.
Divisi also performed original arrangements of “Walking on Broken Glass” by Annie Lennox and “Yeah!” by Usher.
Many of the groups at the competition worked with material outside the spectrum of traditional a cappella music. “Yeah!,” a rap song Smith arranged for Divisi, was innovative for the group.
“It’s a fun song,” Divisi member Megan McCornack said. “It’s different from anything else we sing.”
Outspoken opened the show with a cover of “Don’t Whiz on the Electric Fence” from “The Ren and Stimpy Show.”
“It’s a really tight song for us,” Outspoken member Jacob LaCombe said. “We decided to go with it, have a little fun. We knew it wasn’t going to be copied.”
Divisi will be commuting by van to the semifinals at Stanford this coming Friday. On all other Fridays they perform free concerts in the EMU Amphitheater at 4 p.m.
