Congratulations to everyone! Sounds like it was a great competition. I was very happy to hear that Omaha Westside won! (Congrats Austin, Jonathon, Hannah, etc). Good to keep the FAME Orlando trophy in the Midwest (Mitchell last year). Also congrats to Ankeny (Maddy), and Wesetwood (Too many friends to type). Also congratulations to Davenport Central. I'm not friends with anyone in your group, but glad to see another Iowa group get in there! Good luck if you guys accept your invitations!
Or maybe FC just wasn't as good as ATSC and you should just accept that. They don't need to change their show and they should just deal with the cards they've been dealt with. ATSC always sings better than most groups so they deserved this win in my opinion FUIUD. I just wish CSI could have finished in the top 3 because I know the kids really gave a lot during that performance, but in the end that's all that matters.
Or maybe FC just wasn't as good as ATSC and you should just accept that. They don't need to change their show and they should just deal with the cards they've been dealt with. ATSC always sings better than most groups so they deserved this win in my opinion FUIUD. I just wish CSI could have finished in the top 3 because I know the kids really gave a lot during that performance, but in the end that's all that matters.
The musings of two tired college kids. Take it lightly. Please.
Westwood: First off, thanks for being our cheering buddies today. Neither of our groups had huge cheering sections in town, so we decided to team up and cheer for each other. We like the 'magic' theme that you guys had going in your show, though we weren't quite sure how the closer fit in with everything else. You avoided the temptation to do magic tricks, which is something I appreciate (just not my style). It is always impressive to see your show choir, you all are doing some great work at a relatively small school. Your director always puts together a solid group that has all the fundamentals. You definitely deserved to make finals, but just haven't reached the next level that is necessary to compete against some of the other groups that were at this competition.
Davenport Central: I don't think I had ever seen Davenport Central before in person, and I was pleasantly surprised. Your choir pumped out some strong sound that definitely filled the room and you were very energetic. The ballad was very good also. Your choreography wasn't a big plus or minus for us. During the daytime I didn't think you guys were very far behind Ankeny. However I didn't really see anything special at finals that could have pushed you up or down. Solid showing.
Ankeny: During the daytime we felt that you guys had beautiful vowels but tended to be missing the consonants. Diction was far better at night, so we would venture a guess that a point was made of that during warmups. Choreography at times leaned towards 'armography', but it was still clean and effective. We all have different things that we like, so please just take that as a remark on our personal preferences. Band balance was much better at night, during daytime the choir was drowned out at times. Overall it was a well-designed and well-done show. We actually felt that you guys may have moved ahead of Franklin Central at night, so while I haven't seen the results I would guess they were fairly close between you two.
Franklin Central: I had never seen you guys before, with the last time our two schools competed being when ATSC and FC Singers got 4th and 5th at Onalaska back in 2005. We were impressed with your guys' vocals. Defying Gravity ended up being a pretty good ballad (it was sung in a much different fashion than when you hear it performed in New York or Chicago). Congrats to the female soloist who ended up taking home the trophy! We felt there was some regression when it came to your energy between daytime and finals. By the end of the finals show it just kinda seemed like you all were starting to drag up there. Between that and Ankeny's improvement we felt you guys made have slipped to third in finals. However getting second was no accident, you all were worthy of what I had heard about you throughout the season.
Omaha Westside: What can I say ATSC, you guys have improved so much since I last saw you at Lincoln Southwest, especially with the all changes made about a month ago. The tone quality and blend is just phenomenal. Katie Dicicco has slowly and steadily given ATSC more challenging and effective choreography over the years and you guys are definitely stepping up to the challenge. I am still not a huge fan of the closer, but it has gotten much, much better recently. You seem to get better every year, which is a testament to the work Mr. Johnson does with the group. Congrats on a well-deserved win! Also, thank you for being on your best behavior tonight, you are making chaperoning pretty easy.
-Jeff and Jordan
P.S. This competition was tons of fun. I had never been to a Fame event before, as my previous Orlando show choir experience had come at Showstoppers at Epcot. I didn't know what to expect, but by the end of the day there were conga lines going around the auditorium and the show choir kids were having their very own rock concert up by the stage. The sound setup was very good and the staff were all professional. Some great judges were brought in and things seemed to run without a hitch. Thank you to everyone who participated or helped put this on!
I will give thoughts later with waterotter. It was a great competition and I felt there were no grave injustices in the results. If you can call me out on names, ill fix them in my post above. Congrats to all groups involved
GC: Omaha Westside
1RU: Franklin Central
2RU: Ankeny
3RU: Davenport Central
4RU: Westwood
Best Band: Omaha Westside
Best Male Soloist: Omaha Westside, Eli Brown
Best Female Soloist: Franklin Central, Kara Hughes?
Best Male Performer: Davenport Central, Mark Rider?
Best Female Performer: Franklin Central, Mara Coburn?
Best Stage Crew: Franklin Central
Best Show Design: Franklin Central
FAME Award: Manchester
(Awarded earlier)
Best Vocals: Omaha Westside
Best Choreography: Ankeny
Mark Reiter was the best male performer! Go Ginge!
GC: Omaha Westside
1RU: Franklin Central
2RU: Ankeny
3RU: Davenport Central
4RU: Westwood
Best Band: Omaha Westside
Best Male Soloist: Omaha Westside, Eli Brown
Best Female Soloist: Franklin Central, Kara Kearley
Best Male Performer: Davenport Central, Mark Reiter
Best Female Performer: Franklin Central, Mara Cover
Best Stage Crew: Franklin Central
Best Show Design: Franklin Central
FAME Award: Manchester
(Awarded earlier)
Best Vocals: Omaha Westside
Best Choreography: Ankeny
They have a smaller combo this year, only 17 members, but there are strings within the ensemble. Back when we were in school, they ritualistically had 24-27 members in their combo...That's at least tactical support if not the entire army.
FAME Orlando 2011
Good luck if you guys accept your invitations! 
