I wish I could be at Waukee today!! Unfortunately I am not able to attend, so if you all could keep me and others updated, that would be awesome! I have a feeling that this is going to be an extremely difficult competition, and placements from day rounds to night rounds will change significantly. Good luck to the groups and have fun!
After the first day of competitions, it looks like there will be a blood bath next weekend. I'm very excited to be able to attend. Today i witnessed Spectrum and it was simply amazing. The choreo was very clean and the vocals were spot on. I heard that Johnston is very good, so im intrigued to watch them. Urbandale is also very talented again this year. Should be a good battle....
Predictions:
GC: Ankeny Centennial(BV)
1RU: Johnston(BC)
2RU: Urbandale(BB)
3RU: Valley
4RU: Sioux City Easy
5RU: Iowa City West
PREDICTION:
GC: Ankeny Centennial "Spectrum"
1st RU:Johnston "Innovation"
2nd RU:Urbandale "Studio 2015"
3rd RU:Valley "Choralation"
4th RU:Iowa City West "Good Time Company"
5th RU:Sioux City East "The Headliners"
Southeast Polk "RAMification"
Not completely true. The choreographers this season are NOT new to Johnston. Kevin Chase choreographed Innovation's full show in 2013. Alex Hall and Stephen Todd split Inno's show in 2014 as Kevin continued to do "Synergy". Now, Kevin Chase and Alex Hall split Innovation's 2015 show.
Vocally- I've never heard Johnston produce the level of sound that they did last week at Cedar Rapids Prairie. Ms. Hannah Ryan is off to a bright future at Johnston High School!
I stand corrected- however my original comment intention of a new choreographer "team" and director stand. Johnston shouldn't be judged based off of previous years vocally or visually.
Predictions, good luck to everyone, I'll be down to watch finals!
GC: Ankeny Centennial (BC)
1RU: Johnston (BV)
2RU: Urbandale (BB)
3RU: Valley
4RU: Iowa City West
5RU: Sioux City East
Since I graduated in 2004 Johnston has had Andy Haines, Randy Sage, Stephen Todd, Linda McEachran and now they are onto new choreographers for this season. I wouldn't make judgement on a choreography basis from previous years given this news. Also, they have a new director this year so vocals is pretty much not able to be determined from previous years either.
Not completely true. The choreographers this season are NOT new to Johnston. Kevin Chase choreographed Innovation's full show in 2013. Alex Hall and Stephen Todd split Inno's show in 2014 as Kevin continued to do "Synergy". Now, Kevin Chase and Alex Hall split Innovation's 2015 show.
Vocally- I've never heard Johnston produce the level of sound that they did last week at Cedar Rapids Prairie. Ms. Hannah Ryan is off to a bright future at Johnston High School!
I'm not expecting it to be that much better than what we've seen in the past.
Since I graduated in 2004 Johnston has had Andy Haines, Randy Sage, Stephen Todd, Linda McEachran and now they are onto new choreographers for this season. I wouldn't make judgement on a choreography basis from previous years given this news. Also, they have a new director this year so vocals is pretty much not able to be determined from previous years either.
I agree that Centennial will be well matched with Johnston but really BC and BV could go either way. When I saw Johnston at prairie their vocals were very comparable to Waukee's this year. Also Ankeny tends to dance VERY well and is really clean
Predictions
GC: Ankeny Centennial (BC, BB)
1RU: Iowa City West (BV)
2RU: Johnston
3RU: Urbandale
4RU: Valley
5RU: SC East
I wouldn't underestimate IC West... Last year at this competition, they placed 1st in day rounds and 2nd in finals; I have seen their 2015 show and it is absolutely stellar, though Ankeny is quite good too... It'll be interesting to see Urbandale and Valley battle it out. I guess we'll just have to wait and see on Saturday.
Predictions
GC: Ankeny Centennial (BV)
1RU: Johnston (BC)
2RU: Valley (BB)
3RU: Urbandale
4RU: SC East
5RU: IC West
Ah yes, I am not one who has 100% bought into the idea of Johnston being the new Waukee. Honestly, based on historical strength, I'm expecting "Spectrum" to match whatever Johnston puts out there. At this point, I pretty easily give Ankeny Best Vocals. Ankeny's vocals are pretty comparable to Waukee's and Johnston didn't beat Waukee in vocals. Next, it's easy for me to give best choreo to Johnston; however, I'm not expecting it to be that much better than what we've seen in the past. Using Waukee for base comparison, choreography wasn't Waukee's strong suit -look to Davenport Central's capturing on BC from Waukee last year. (At this point) I put a lot of weight on vocals and not very much on choreography. Also, I'm kind of surprised there isn't more spread for the best band selection. Three stick out to me: Valley, Urbandale, and Sioux City East (Yes, I do mean them). Valley and Urbandale have had historically strong bands, so I don't feel compelled to need to defend them, but I am (somewhat) surprised that no one has considered SC East for best band. Looking to their recent history, they won four best bands last year over some great groups (Mitchell FDC, Papio South, Kennedy Senior, LSW). They could potentially be in the running for a BB, given that ye transition hasn't hurt them (Hey -maybe it did). Ultimately, I give BB to Valley
BC they beat East's band here last year and my gut tells me they'll edge out Urbandale.
Waukee Starstruck (Day Two) 2015
