First Place
Musicianship
Showmanship
Best Male Sound
Chula Vista Seniors Choice (Requiem For Eleanor)
Show Choir Spirit Award (Sean Stevens)
Best Female Performer (Seychelle Gabriel)
Two things to try if it's not working once you download it: first, try opening it with iTunes. Windows Media Player might not recognize it. If that doesn't work, try renaming the files to .mov instead of .wmv. You may, then, be able to open them with Quicktime or iTunes. If neither of those things work, I apologize; I'm on the road and all I have is a Mac with me... and they work here.
Before I post my opinion, I would like to say that my views are highly biased and should be taken lightly.
I am in powerhouse and performed at SoCal, so I don't have anything to compare the Burbank performance to. However from my observation, the general consensus in the audience was that Burroughs' performance and show was superior to that of Burbank. Burbank's opener was truly amazing, possibly better than that of Powerhouse. However after they concluded their opener, their set went downhill quickly in terms of creativity and showmanship, which after watching Burbank for the past 2 years, is quite typical. That's not to say Burbank wasn't cleaner than us. They worked hours upon hours to prepare their set for SoCal, and their choreography was sharper than ours.
However it would be a sad world if all we valued in a choir is how sharp their moves are. Their show did not compare to Powerhouse's, and I only wish that artistic value, creativity, and intensity were factored into the scoring process as much as cleanliness was. From what I hear, the Burroughs performance was moving. There were people who didn't even know us that were crying in the audience. To the best of my knowledge, not one tear was shed during the performance of Burbank.
What an incredible weekend! I've never seen so much equipment, props, costumes, backdrops, trucks, make-up, hair spray and stage crew strewn across a city block in my LIFE! A beautifully run competition, and Tony Atienza was a fantastic host and ringmaster for the whole event. Sun-burned forehead and all, I felt blessed to be there.
In Sync, your warm-up room last night had an electricity and level of emotion I've rarely felt in almost 30 years doing this. Your show was beyond description and I can't even begin to tell you how proud I was of you all. Burroughs is a true champion group with tremendous direction, artistry and execution and I once again felt their show was magical. Some will agree with results and others won't, but the level of art that BOTH groups bring to the stage is worthy of tremendous respect. For that matter, a special shout out to the artistry of the Rancho Verde group and their number on Darfur,....bravo!
Impressions, OOTB and Sapphire, thank you for your constant improvement over the course of the year. Each time I've seen you guys, it's been as if your show has cleared another hurdle and keeps getting better. Sound Dogs, the trophy you guys gave me last night means more than you'll ever know. Big Yellow Taxi wound up being one of my surprise favorites of the day.
Carlsbad, I'm so happy I finally got to see you do a show live! 6 years, and it finally came to pass. To Sound, your effort was wonderful, and I saw so many of you working hard to fix the points we'd rehearsed, and to Encore, WAY TO GO ladies!!! Ms Owen, Carrie and I are blessed to work with all of you.
Great theater and sound system, good hosts, and a huge shopping mall food court next door,........what a contest! God Bless, Damon Brown
ps: It was great to get a chance to meet Gail Hart, Marie Guitierrez and Jen Porter and spend time catching up with Jen Oundijian on Friday.
hahahahahahahaa soooooooooo true. fortunately, they weren't *******s about their win this year. because techinically we tied last year, so they didn't even win... but the past is past! and they were great :>
Thanks to Haakon for making the live feed available!! The "Competition 2 You" method is truly appreciated and instrumental for feeding the art across the country. You are truly a visionary and I cannot put my thanks into proper words.
Thank you to Mr. Atienza, for putting on a fantastic competition in a gorgeous venue. i truly see why all of California (and most of the US) look to you as the epitome of "show choir nerd for life".
Thanks to all performing groups for putting such heart into everything you do!!
Congrats Burbank and Burroughs!!!! Both of you guys are absolutely amazing. Burroughs watching you live at FAME you guys blew me away completely I am in love with ur set! (I'm always singing/dancing either Vogue, Rock Me Amadeus, or the Pretender cuz those are my favs). Burbank unfortunately i never got 2 watch ur show live since we were always performing right next to each other, but I have no doubt you guys were stunning too. (Requiem 4 Eleanor I love to sing). You guys are both incredible, and I hope you guys can make ur way up 2 Indy 2 compete.
Burbank: I don't care what people say about your show, I really enjoyed it. I'm pretty sure I can't listen/watch lacrymosa the same way anymore haha, my favorite song is Requiem For Elanor."
Every freaken group was crazy out there today, I can't remember all of the groups right but what comes to my mind right now is Rancho Verdes set, their whole set was awesome, especially their soloists.
I am so proud of everyone today. Despite what everyone thinks the placements should have been, it doesn't matter. Every group left their heart on that stage. Competition and trophies are an opinion which cannot measure the amount of passion that was in that theater. It's important to remember that the best part of being a performer is being able to share a passion with everyone which every group this weekend has done fabulously! =>
I just watched Burbank's set again. That was epic. Quite honestly some of the best show choir I have ever seen. Those harmonies are insane. Sharp, on point, and flawless are words i would use to describe what i just witnessed.
Burbank High School - "In Sync" are the new show choir Gods to be reckoned with. I'm in utter shock.
He's implying that Burbank's given the same show year in and year out, and they always win over Burroughs' well thought out shows that portray art.
I'd like to defend my comments briefly before I retire for the evening. While I do think that Burroughs has the better show this year (and gave the better performance tonight), I do not think Burbank performs the same show every year. 2007 and 2008 were very similar shows in some respects, but Burbank has taken risks this year that I find very admirable.
I absolutely love the arrangements of Burbank's opener and the Eminem/West Side Story number, and I think April James's work for Burbank is consistently among her best. What I don't like about the group is a certain flashiness that works against the artistry at the core of their best material. The choreography of the Eminem/West Side Story number is over the top and seems to fight against the song's genre. The flashing lights that started the set were glaring and distracting, as was the inexplicable tap dancing during the closer. These elements were out of place (in my opinion) and distracted from the otherwise exemplary quality of the performance.
Chula Vista SoCal Performance Show Choir Invitational (Day Two) 2009
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