I just watched the video this afternoon from prelims and Totino-Grace was VERY clean with their choreography. The camera shots show the cleanliness (without a doubt) as they shot the show from the front, sides and overhead. It's a busy show with a lot going on, but the choreography rocked and April did an amazing job with these kids!
All I know is our auditorium at the high school seats around 650 people and we felt that STILL wasn't enough room to host our competition in. Instead of moving it to our gym we moved it to a middle school that has our city's Performing Arts Center attached. It seats 1,200. Obviously, I realize that option isn't available to everyone... but come on- Linn Mar's auditorium seats 340 people.
I don't think this should be a discussion about which group "deserves" to be there more; clearly everyone should have the opportunity to watch the choirs perform. The auditorium sounds like a nice venue, but if it can't accommodate the capacity of everyone who wants to watch (by a good margin, it appears), then they really need to put some time into figuring out how they can make some adjustments to their event. I wasn't there so I have no direct knowledge of the two spaces, but it seems like there are enough people complaining that it's an issue. The entire point of a competition is to showcase all of the talent these different schools have to offer, and if half the people can't get in to watch, then I would say they have failed at meeting the directive.
Like and I agree that in this situation it appears they have; when Ankeny was attending Linn-Mar when I was in school and first year after I don't remember weather there was a problem with seating however my contention with ghunts post was the generalization that some parents have seen their kids show 10 times, and what I interpretated from that was they should not be allowed in, and I disagreed its his opinion he is entitled to it.
but who are the people PAYING the school to come see their child perform, plus not everyone has seen their child perform.
I don't think this should be a discussion about which group "deserves" to be there more; clearly everyone should have the opportunity to watch the choirs perform. The auditorium sounds like a nice venue, but if it can't accommodate the capacity of everyone who wants to watch (by a good margin, it appears), then they really need to put some time into figuring out how they can make some adjustments to their event. I wasn't there so I have no direct knowledge of the two spaces, but it seems like there are enough people complaining that it's an issue. The entire point of a competition is to showcase all of the talent these different schools have to offer, and if half the people can't get in to watch, then I would say they have failed at meeting the directive.
I agree 100% I remember the years we attended Linn Mar that I was able to see one group (Ankeny) and that was only because they were early in the day. It got so bad that the people that stood at the doors were saying to us that only people that were associated to the group were allowed to enter. I just thought that was rediculous. In my opinion one of the main purposes of show choir compititions is for members of other groups to watch and enjoy other's shows. Not for the parents who have seen the show 10 times already to watch.
but who are the people PAYING the school to come see their child perform, plus not everyone has seen their child perform. I.E I am driving from mason city, iowa to des moines this weekend to watch my brother perform for the first time THIS YEAR at johnston. But you feel that a student from a competing school has more of a right than myself who 1. takes time off work to come watch my brother 2. drives two hours to come see him and 3. pays direct admission to come watch him? Now you could argue that students "pay" for admisson through dues paid to the choir which in turn funds the entrance dee for the competition but that is a stretch.
Note:not trying to pick a fight and I understand your point and I feel yes competing choirs should be able to watch them(in fact in recent years I have noticed competing choirs are as supportive if not more of their collegues) however I disagree that competing choirs should take precedence over paying customers.
This does not work for the competing students... who are giving up a Saturday for show choir and do not have the opportunity to learn from seeing other groups live.
I agree 100% I remember the years we attended Linn Mar that I was able to see one group (Ankeny) and that was only because they were early in the day. It got so bad that the people that stood at the doors were saying to us that only people that were associated to the group were allowed to enter. I just thought that was rediculous. In my opinion one of the main purposes of show choir compititions is for members of other groups to watch and enjoy other's shows. Not for the parents who have seen the show 10 times already to watch.
QUOTE (juliofrommississippi @ Jan 20 2011, 02:29 AM)
My suggestion... keep it in the aud. Get there early. Stay.
This does not work for the competing students... who are giving up a Saturday for show choir and do not have the opportunity to learn from seeing other groups live.
Agreed and disagreed. One big reason why groups stopped coming to Big Dance was because the acoustics in the gym were so awful, you never knew if you were having a good or bad performance. Bands were ALWAYS covering up groups. But it is nice to be able to easily fit everyone in.
I love watching groups perform in the auditorium at Linn-Mar. It is a really nice performance venue. And honestly, everyone last Saturday was getting in to see the performances they wanted to see. There were empty seats around the venue... It was just an EXTREME hassle getting everyone in and out.
If you are attending Linn-Mar as a spectator, you just need to know a few things. Get into the auditorium whenever you can, way before your group performs. Camp out. Get comfy in your seat. Go to the bathroom before you come in. Don't drink water. Wait till awards to go eat food. But most importantly NEVER LEAVE YOUR SEAT. It's that simple. I watched groups in the morning, had rehearsal in the afternoon, and came back at the busiest time of the day, in the middle of the varsity groups. Luckilly, was able to find a seat, by my friends even, and there were plenty of seats scattered throughout the auditorium.
It really wasn't that bad, unless you had to go to the bathroom after a performance. Standing in line felt like you were never going to get in, but you did. Everyone got in to see groups, it just took a long time.
So I guess I really can't say moving it to the gym would be better, because I never had a problem actually finding a seat in the aud, the line was just REALLY REALLY long to get in. And the acoustics would have been REALLY REALLY bad in that gym. You could barely hear what the emcee was saying with all the echo during awards. My suggestion... keep it in the aud. Get there early. Stay.
This topic gets brought up each and every year. And every year it seems like more and more people support moving the competition to the gym. And every year, those suggestions go unheeded. Basically a lot of these points are same old, same old.
But one thing you said that I really want to address is about the live feed in the little theatre for performers from other groups. We all know that watching a group live is SO very different from watching a video. We also know that show choir competitions are as much about performing as they are about learning from watching other shows. Frankly, I feel it is a disservice to competitors to not allow them to watch live performances of other groups. The live feed is just not the same whatsoever.
In my years of competing at Linn-Mar Supernova, I was able to get into the auditorium to watch a varsity show a grand total of ONE time. (And not for lack of trying, either.)
It's not like every competition in America is held in an auditorium. The majority of them in the Midwest are held in gymnasiums. Would Linn-Mar's gym really have acoustics that were that much worse than every other gym in Iowa? I really think (as I have felt in every year past) that moving this competition is something that seriously needs to be looked in to.
Just my two cents
Agreed.
Look at it this way, there were a few years in the early 00s that the Davenport North "Big Dance" was one of the most competitive show choir competitions in the midwest. Fantastic groups from all over the midwest came to compete. Did they hold it in their brand new state of the art auditorium? No. They held it in their acoustically horrendous run of the mill "barn" gymnasium. It was not conducive to great acoustics, but the mic system they brought in was perfectly fine and helped the situation. And fantastic groups still came... they knew what they were competing in. Same goes to Dekalb High School in Waterloo, IN. They too hold their competition in their gymnasium (even leaving the lights on). Their sound system also helps out quite a bit to overcome the awful acoustics. I've been to that one twice and was really impressed with it. And, great groups continue to compete there as well.
For the money families pay to get into competitions it is a disservice to not allow them to watch groups all day. Holding it in the gym should be considered. A "viewing room" is just not the same. Its essentially like watching a show choir on YouTube on the big screen- You know thats not really what it sounds like and you definitely don't get the same feelings as you do when viewing something live.
Hey guys! Thanks for your compliments to the hosting! We all work really hard to put this together!
But, I'm telling you, the competition should NOT be in the Gym! The acoustics in the Auditiorium are far better, and we do our best to keep the lines moving. We make a point for supporters of the performing groups to get in, I also think that the Little Theatre Live Feed is really good for performers. The Gym is just NOT a place for performing!
This topic gets brought up each and every year. And every year it seems like more and more people support moving the competition to the gym. And every year, those suggestions go unheeded. Basically a lot of these points are same old, same old.
But one thing you said that I really want to address is about the live feed in the little theatre for performers from other groups. We all know that watching a group live is SO very different from watching a video. We also know that show choir competitions are as much about performing as they are about learning from watching other shows. Frankly, I feel it is a disservice to competitors to not allow them to watch live performances of other groups. The live feed is just not the same whatsoever.
In my years of competing at Linn-Mar Supernova, I was able to get into the auditorium to watch a varsity show a grand total of ONE time. (And not for lack of trying, either.)
It's not like every competition in America is held in an auditorium. The majority of them in the Midwest are held in gymnasiums. Would Linn-Mar's gym really have acoustics that were that much worse than every other gym in Iowa? I really think (as I have felt in every year past) that moving this competition is something that seriously needs to be looked in to.
Hey guys! Thanks for your compliments to the hosting! We all work really hard to put this together!
But, I'm telling you, the competition should NOT be in the Gym! The acoustics in the Auditiorium are far better, and we do our best to keep the lines moving. We make a point for supporters of the performing groups to get in, I also think that the Little Theatre Live Feed is really good for performers. The Gym is just NOT a place for performing!
I saw a few of the groups, and was totally blown away by Totino Grace! I was on a Totino high for like 2 days. CR Kennedy and Jefferson impressed me completely! I thought finals were really intense!
I just watched the video this afternoon from prelims and Totino-Grace was VERY clean with their choreography. The camera shots show the cleanliness (without a doubt) as they shot the show from the front, sides and overhead. It's a busy show with a lot going on, but the choreography rocked and April did an amazing job with these kids!
Please don't think I was Totino bashing. I thought their Grand Championship, Best Vocals award, and Best Band award were all well deserved. I loved the show. And I liked the choreography...April did do a fantastic job for Company this year. However, in my opinion, it was not the cleanest choreography of the day. It by far was no disgrace or anything tragic...just a little messy compared to some of the other choirs. That's all I was saying, and it is just my opinion. I was also just trying to make the point that the caption awards "Best Choreography" and "Best Vocals" can be confusing...
I want to thank everyone for the kind words about CR Jefferson!!
I want to give out a huge CONGRATS to Totino!!! You guys owned that stage and blew me away!!
Them boys can tapp their butts off!! Im so happy for everyone who performed this past weekend!!
You all did amazing
Linn-Mar Supernova 2011
