I'm just going to say, regarding Hastings Riverside that they were amazing. But, my director and other Minnesota choirs have seen that when we go to Iowa we don't normally do as well. Riverside Company and Urbandale were both amazing (although I did prefer Hastings show). I don't know why Minnesota groups don't always do as well in Iowa but, I wish Riverside Company an amazing rest of the season! Hopefully, you don't have the same experience again.
Along with the other groups mentioned your own group, Jefferson Connection, won at CR Washington "Mo-Show" in 2000. And Totino also placed really well at a very competitive Mo-Show in 2005. Totino has won at Davenport North "Big Dance" before. Just because you guys didn't make finals at an Iowa competition this year doesn't mean Iowa competitions are specifically biased against Minnesota schools.
Totino Grace does well in Iowa. And I felt Waconia placed well when the came to Great River last year...
And Bemidji constantly places well at Linn Mar's competition.
You have to remember that Totino Grace is (I think) number 2 in the country and last I checked, Bemidji wasn't far behind them. I'm talking about schools like Hastings, Bloomington Jefferson and Kennedy, and even Waconia that are at different levels that Bemidji and Totino.
and once again.....cheating via the judging panel resurfaces. how am i not surprised?
Viterbo: riverside demolishes Xavier
Waukee: Xavier demolishes Urbandale
Johnston: riverside loses to urbandale?
something fishy is stirring about here.....CHEATING AS USUAL.
goddamn mofos.
For the record....
Urbandale and Xavier tied in finals at Waukee. The tie was broken using daytime vocal scores.
and once again.....cheating via the judging panel resurfaces. how am i not surprised?
Viterbo: riverside demolishes Xavier
Waukee: Xavier demolishes Urbandale
Johnston: riverside loses to urbandale?
something fishy is stirring about here.....CHEATING AS USUAL.
goddamn mofos.
To start off if you have omaha westside as your affiliated school be careful with what you say because it shines a bad light on all of us. Next with the competitions you talked about.....Viterbo Hastings DID NOT demolish Xavier. I was there and the top FOUR groups were seperated by 15 points. Next up is Waukee again xavier did not demolish urbandale. I don't get how this is cheating within the judging panel. PLEASE make sure that your arguements are CORRECT when you are argueing about something. Also please don't shine a bad light on Westside with what you post on here
I'm just going to say, regarding Hastings Riverside that they were amazing. But, my director and other Minnesota choirs have seen that when we go to Iowa we don't normally do as well. Riverside Company and Urbandale were both amazing (although I did prefer Hastings show). I don't know why Minnesota groups don't always do as well in Iowa but, I wish Riverside Company an amazing rest of the season! Hopefully, you don't have the same experience again.
Totino Grace does well in Iowa. And I felt Waconia placed well when the came to Great River last year...
And Bemidji constantly places well at Linn Mar's competition.
I'm just going to say, regarding Hastings Riverside that they were amazing. But, my director and other Minnesota choirs have seen that when we go to Iowa we don't normally do as well. Riverside Company and Urbandale were both amazing (although I did prefer Hastings show). I don't know why Minnesota groups don't always do as well in Iowa but, I wish Riverside Company an amazing rest of the season! Hopefully, you don't have the same experience again.
and once again.....cheating via the judging panel resurfaces. how am i not surprised?
Viterbo: riverside demolishes Xavier
Waukee: Xavier demolishes Urbandale
Johnston: riverside loses to urbandale?
something fishy is stirring about here.....CHEATING AS USUAL.
goddamn mofos.
I'm not sure referring to a judging panel as "goddamn mofos" is such a wise choice of words.
and once again.....cheating via the judging panel resurfaces. how am i not surprised?
Viterbo: riverside demolishes Xavier
Waukee: Xavier demolishes Urbandale
Johnston: riverside loses to urbandale?
something fishy is stirring about here.....CHEATING AS USUAL.
goddamn mofos.
OR-
Could it actually have been that Xavier didn't DEMOLISH Urbandale... that it was pretty close?
OR- Urbandale really stepped up their game weeks later to beat Hastings?
You have now posted in three different topics... and your posts seem to be in defense of Hastings... we're not morons on this website.
and once again.....cheating via the judging panel resurfaces. how am i not surprised?
Viterbo: riverside demolishes Xavier
Waukee: Xavier demolishes Urbandale
Johnston: riverside loses to urbandale?
something fishy is stirring about here.....CHEATING AS USUAL.
goddamn mofos.
Well, I did dance quite a bit in Los Angeles, but ultimately came back to Omaha. With any luck, I'll be on the stage again soon. I sat in on one of ATSC's rehearsals a few weeks ago and the guest critique spoke about Intention vs Action. It really effected me, so I've been trying to apply the art of "actions speak louder than words."
Despite your disclaimers, your post strongly implies that at least one of the top 3 groups was more bells, whistles, loud props and theatrics than talent. Mr. Temple's posts have all been absolutely correct and justified.
Did you even take the time to read all of what he said and the comments of Haakon? I have a difficult time understanding the logic of this comment as even a member of showchoir.com's staff pointed the obvious contradictions with Mr. Temple's post.
It may be absolutely correct and justified to you, but considering the amount of messages I've received in support of my comments from other members unrelated to my respective school, I'll continue to think otherwise.
Thank you though, if I ever say anything on this site with the slightest negative implications I will gladly be sure to phrase it so that people can discuss what I'm actually saying, not how it was said.
p.s. How is what I said any different from the thousands of comments that say what people think a group is doing wrong, what they must improve on, who they thought should win, or how THEY think the competition should and or will turn out? It's not and this is getting a bit ridiculous. PLEASE, let it go. Urbandale is actually my favorite show choir from Iowa and I don't want to have to keep unnecessarily defending myself when I wasn't even speaking of them to begin with. They don't need to be defended so heavily on showchoir.com for people to know how excellent they are.
p.s. Jorge I love you, I can't believe you're still here!!! Way to represent.
As far as the competition itself though, I would have to agree with all the comments about "judge shows". As a performer at one of the "out of the box" schools, it gets frustrating to have an awesome performance, and not make finals. I'm not whining about not making finals either though; to be honest, I don't want to perform in that gym again.
Please explain to me how your show is "out of the box"?
I can't help but feel confused about where the judging of show choir is headed. It seems to be less about the talent and more about the bells and whistles or how loud a group is. I've experienced this at just about all of the competitions I've been to in the last 2 years. All of the finalists from Johnston are incredible groups, all of them deserve to be highly praised, but I have to give a shout out to Omaha Westside for earning their placements on awe-inspiring vocals and show execution rather than loud props and theatrics.
Despite your disclaimers, your post strongly implies that at least one of the top 3 groups was more bells, whistles, loud props and theatrics than talent. Mr. Temple's posts have all been absolutely correct and justified.
Personally, I didn't like the stage setup in the gym at all. For the first half of our show, I'm on the front row, far stage left. I had the tiniest amount of space to dance in, and felt kind of cramped. I miss the middle school auditorium .
As far as the competition itself though, I would have to agree with all the comments about "judge shows". As a performer at one of the "out of the box" schools, it gets frustrating to have an awesome performance, and not make finals. I'm not whining about not making finals either though; to be honest, I don't want to perform in that gym again.
It's a shame to go to a competition and see the same stuff, but for me, groups like Hastings make competitions fun. I walked down the hall after Riverside's daytime performance, telling them all "good job" and stuff like that, and almost every single one said "thanks!". The same goes for Urbandale. However, some other unnamed schools I've done the same to, and not gotten a single "thanks!". The best part of show choir competitions (besides performance(s)), is expressing, and receiving, gratitude to other groups. The amount of time groups spend perfecting every single little detail is sometimes overlooked. I mean a lot of people look at some school's show, and all they can think of is "I don't like the costumes", or "I don't like the choreography". We should all appreciate EVERY group's effort.
You know the more I think about it, the more this post feels like it was probably made by another Omaha Westside student or parent and not a member of ATSC.
Doran Johnson is a class act and his attention to detail doesn't begin and end on the stage. I'm sure he has discussed with the members of his group how they should comport themselves on this site. I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and assume this was not an ATSC member, but rather a frustrated fan.
QUOTE (Mr. Temple @ Jan 24 2011, 01:12 AM)
Are you saying that Urbandale uses props and theatrics? Because unless you count putting a couple of boxes on the stage for about 12 measures we don't use a single prop in our show.
Wow, this is disappointing. I had no idea my comment would be so blown out of proportion. Especially on an online forum meant for discussion. I had no intention on offending anyone, that's not how I work. Forgive me for not being more specific. I can see how you could misconstrue my comment as a criticism of the 3 top placing groups, but it was not. I probably could have worded it differently, but I think that's kind of silly. I never said Urbandale didn't deserve to win and seeing how they don't have a single prop in their show...If I was bashing groups, I wouldn't have been talking about them anyway. I've seen comments on this website that were far more critical and actually called out specific groups in a negative light. I did not do this. I said nothing of the groups at Johnston but that they all deserved to be highly praised and that they were incredible. My original post was also not "gushing" about my own group. It was a simple shout out and a concern I had. I don't appreciate being accused of something I didn't say Mr. Temple. I feel you created more drama than anything In my short post. If you noticed, my post got an honest discussion rolling, what I feel the point of this site should be. I don't feel I've done or said anything wrong. Why were you so defensive and over analytical of my original post? My comment was towards the overall judging of show choir competitions and how it is different now from when I was on stage. I am sorry that I chose to post that here and not in a different forum. I am an alumni yes, and as with all alumni, none of our views represent that of the director or group. Most of us live in a different city anyway and haven't connected with them for years. I do not speak on their behalf and I thought that was to be assumed.
Let's be fair. Sometimes opinions aren't going to always be in everyone's favor especially on a forum and for those who actually speak out for what they believe in rather than keeping quiet, I think that deserves respect. This is just me, like all of you, sharing an opinion. Don't take away from the groups and put words in my mouth. There are a great many groups that use "bells and whistles" most of them are phenomenal and don't even need them to be amazing, that was kind of the point I was trying to make. In my opinion vocals and show execution should be the most important thing on a ballad and overall, what should win the competition. Before posting this I made sure I was being respectful. I feel, if anything, the comments following my post were more disrespectful than anything that I had said. You actually condemned my character. Urbandale, Hastings, and Ankeny are all reputable powerhouse groups. They are known far and wide. I have seen them all multiple times through the years and very much appreciate what they do. When I was in show choir, I was obsessed with other groups. My comments do not take away from anything they've accomplished. I know better than to speak poorly of other groups, I learned that from my old choir director. You're correct, he is a class act. As I said before, ALL the groups at Johnston deserve to be highly praised. I was JUST trying to shine light on a group I felt to be underrated, and not just at Johnston. Congrats to all the groups who competed. I respect you and think you are very important. Please let my post go if it offended you. Have fun, be merry, and celebrate performing arts.
Just so I am clear. Anything I have said in no way, shape, or form, represents the opinions of any groups, schools, parents, or their directors including my show choir Alma mater.
Good luck to everyone. This has been a big couple of years for show choir and I sincerely hope that as many groups as possible reach their goals. Bells, whistles...or otherwise.
Johnston Showzam 2011
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