Finalist order is reverse order of placements. You can also click "expand" on Mixed Division (Prelims) to see daytime placements for the mixed groups. We are still missing women's division awards, though.
Wild prelims placements!
I have to agree with the previous comments regarding Ankeny Centennial. They are so ambitious that I don't think you can expect each year's show to play out 100% in execution. But this year, you all really knocked it out of the park.
Wow. What a great bunch of choirs. It’s really going to be a close one. Here’s my commentary on the open division groups:
Broken Arrow “Tiger Rhythm”
Excellent soloists and nice overall choral sound. The story was effective and well-portrayed. I noticed several times in the show (particularly during the ballad), your band is amazing. Incredible depth of instruments and combinations that were truly moving. The show seemed to end abruptly to me, but I guess I was so engaged I really just wanted there to be more!
Millard North “Infinity”
Such an interesting show concept—I had to research the two queens in order to understand more of the story. Very effective transitions, with Mary being dragged off stage and her son taking over the throne. It was also nice to hear the acapella sections of the ballad. Really some beautiful moments. The microphone/feedback issues were unfortunate, but the performers were professional and stayed in character.
Waukee “Nova”
Why is this group not in the single-gender division? The choreography was ON POINT. Visuals were executed very well and were pleasing to the eye. And when the vocals locked into chords, the sound was full of vitality. The strength of sound is supported by the huge amount of singers. Very impressive.
Wheaton North “Flight”
Year after year, I am impressed by the design of your shows. Such a beautiful continuity of song-selection and story-telling. Shout out to the guys dancing on the desks—that was impressive and a little bit terrifying. All of the costumes were stunning. Moving ballad. Great high-energy closer.
Norwalk “Sound Revolution”
Wow, it’s like your performance embodied the show choir handbook. No props or backdrops—just really well-executed singing and dancing. Your VISUALS are everything. I appreciated how tight and effective the opener and closer were. In particular, the overall male sound was very nice, and the unisons between male and female parts were excellently balanced. The “Goodbye” trio was great—nice to see some small group singing.
Indianola “Side One”
The ladies’ capes at the beginning were a cool effect, and it was cool that their removal was gave a costume change feel. Female soloist in the ballad and the male soloist in the boys number were both GREAT. The women were fierce in their number—so much attitude! Nice to see something different, with the bow being a seamless part of the closer.
Ankeny Centennial “Spectrum”
Stunning opener. The ballet duet pair was incredible. Is everyone wearing socks (or ballet slippers)? Nice incorporation of acapella moments throughout. Ballad had excellent dynamic contrasts. Voice parts balanced well. The drama was portrayed in such a tasteful way. Masterpiece. I would say “I can’t wait to see it again,” but I have to recover first.
Waukee “Millennium”
Happy to hear a little Latin in the opener. Vocal fireworks. The ladies’ quick change was incredibly fast! Challenging divisi in the vocal parts. Overall desirable tone quality, even while doing difficult choreography. Definitely some “wow” moments visually. Loved the sax and guitar soloists featured.
Urbandale “Studio”
Such a *fun* and *play*ful show. Clever use of colors to highlight the sharp choreography. Very clean overall. The closer was SO clean. Some nice vocal moments, particularly in the ballad. The band was really jamming! Loved it.
Ankeny Centennial Spectrum..... You just made me feel things. And I cried???!!!! What a story.
Can't even imagine what it's like live instead of via livefeed.
Should be a really great finals to watch, especially the Urbandale/Wheaton North rematch. They, along with Spectrum, have shows that are usually great fun to watch. Thanks to all @ Johnston for the livestream.
GC: Wheaton North Flight
1RU: Waukee Millennium
2RU: Urbandle Studio
3RU: Ankeney Centential Spectrum
4RU: Millard North Infinity
5RU: Broken Arrow Tiger Rhythm
Pretty stacked competiion and depends if the weather holds off and all the choirs are able to come. Been a tough first two weeks due to weather in Iowa this year.
You've mentioned their size a couple of times now, and I'm just curious, but I assume that nobody in Eternal Rush is in any of the school's other choirs, right?
No, I don’t believe so, as I believe that would be against the rules in Iowa. It’s just a huge program! I don’t think anything shady is going on. It’s just a REALLY huge sound. Like, maybe one of the biggest sounds I’ve ever heard. And when they announced that number in their introduction, I pulled a scooby doo double take lol. And hey, they are also super clean and they have really good choreo, too. So props to them! I was unsurprised with their result on Saturday. I wouldn’t have been surprised if they were First Runner-Up.
There are a few choirs out here that are fairly large - Los Al has pretty healthy numbers (especially their guys' group which is bigger than many mixed choirs!) and Brea, which has always had really high numbers. But Ankeny Centennial actually added a whole new group in recent years (they are the only school in our entire database that I am aware of with 4 separate mixed show choirs - in fact, I had to create a completely new category just to be able to display them properly)! If each choir is indeed comprised of unique members, then all I can say is that's awesome. What a blessing for the kids to have such an outlet, and props to their director for creating a program that clearly makes it exciting enough for students to want to enroll in these kinds of numbers. The fact that multiple groups are also competitive also speaks to the care they put in the department as a whole... it's all just really impressive. I am sure that a group of far fewer students must feel like it's an uphill battle trying to compete with such a large group, but it's not like they've taken every student at their school and crammed them into one choir. Quite the contrary; it seems like they are exploding at the seams even after adding more and more groups! What a terrific problem to have, and what a testament to how incredible the program is there. I think it's all just really great.
I don’t disagree, though I would love to hear a more choral tone from ER, if anyone cares hahah. Let me tell you though, Spectrum has a really beautiful show this year!
I may be wrong about this, but I remember hearing from someone at SCA somewhere between 1/4 - 1/3 of kids in the school are part of the show choir program.
Johnston Showzam 2020
*faints*
What a terrific problem to have, and what a testament to how incredible the program is there. I think it's all just really great.