This comp deserves some more thoughts, sorry for the spam on this thread.
Eternal Rush - Wow. This is a VARSITY show choir. The soloist is top notch (the best of the day in my opinion), the selections are mature and difficult, and they dance with such sincerity that I can’t help but feel chills during pretty much the entire show.
Prairie - I love myself a good Halloween theme and this is executed very well. This group had the best facials of the day. Every single performer on that stage was completely engaged with the show which is so so impressive to me.
SF Roosevelt - I feel required to say that they had one of the worst possible things happen, when an entire row of their added risers decided to slip down a level resulting in a slanted surface to dance on. They quite literally did not miss a beat while flying all over the stage and then the dancers on the floor did the wildest lift I’ve ever seen in my entire life. Just great composure.
Urbandale - Tap. The a capella tap section during the final number is one of my favorite dance breaks of the year. It’s just so clean and fun to watch. The vocals are sublime with awesome selection of music (Linkin Park <333). I cannot say enough good things about this group.
Ankeny Centennial Spectrum - This show is designed perfectly and performed at an insanely high level. The fact that another year passes by in Iowa where a top 3-5 (in my opinion) show in the country loses an undefeated season to another Iowa group is just crazy to me. Spectrum sings with such sensitivity and they had incredible phrasing. They weren’t sudden, they were warm and beautiful. Incredible show.
Linn-Mar - I feel like I have to comment on this because I heard this a lot today from people at the comp. “It’s a boring show about potatoes”. I just can’t agree. When a show makes the audience experience such a range of emotion I can’t possibly call it boring. I laughed, I got excited, I nearly cried during the ballad. The show elicited such genuine emotion from the audience that I felt at the end of the day, it was a deserving winner. This is the best ballad of the year to this point of the competition season. It is spotless. When you feel the audience collectively hanging on the words of a ballad, it is something special. The dancing was, as usual, incredibly clean. I just loved this show.
The level of competition here was unbelievable. West Side Delegation and Titan Fever should feel EXCELLENT about what they put on stage today, even though I’m sure they are disappointed.
Linn-Mar was an absolutely magical in person experience. The man sitting next to me was crying for the last 5-6 mins of the show. Just awesome performance of a wonderful show.
It makes me incredibly sad that one of Ankeny and Linn-Mar have to lose their undefeated season tonight. I personally though Ankeny Cent was better but they were 1A/1B for me.
Also, shout-out to Urbandale Vitality. They were sitting behind me during Prep Awards, they were extremely kind and cheered for every group that was announced.
GC: Ankeny Centennial "Spectrum" (BV, BC)
1RU: Linn Mar "10th Street Edition"
2RU: Urbandale "Studio"
3RU: Glenwood "Titan Fever"
4RU: SF Roosevelt "Executive Suite"
5RU: Prairie "The Ambassadors"
This is looking to be super stacked, there is a very strong chance that Linn Mar enters this comp still undefeated. Will be yet another year where an Iowa group has a show that deserves to go undefeated and ends up losing to another very strong group. Not really sure what's going to happen in the 4RU/5RU spots, but based on what I've watched online this year this is what I'll hazard a guess at. I think that the top 4 all have shots at GC here if another group has an off day.
Really excited for this to be the first comp I attend in person since 2020!
Regular ticket prices are $19, K-12 students and seniors: $16, children under 5 = free
JUDGES:
Bob Anderson (captions daytime, scoring in finals)
Damon Brown (critique both daytime and finals)
Randy Sage (scoring both daytime and finals)
Anita Cracauer (scoring both daytime and finals)
Ly Wilder (scoring both daytime and finals)
Jared Wacker (critiquing show bands daytime, scoring in finals)
West Liberty Voices Unlimited (3A) - 1:00pm
Prairie The Ambassadors (everything else is open class here down) - 1:30pm
Glenwood Titan Fever - 2:00pm
Sioux Falls Executive Suite - 2:30pm
break
CRJ West Side Delegation - 3:15pm
Urbandale Studio 2022 - 3:45pm
AC Spectrum - 4:15pm
Linn-Mar 10th Street Edition - 4:45pm
CRK Happiness, Inc. (ex) - 5:15pm
Preliminary 3A/Open Daytime Awards Ceremony - 5:45pm
Hello everyone! We hope you can join us at the Alliant Energy Powerhouse in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the 2022 Raise The Roof, brought to you by the students, parents, and staff of Kennedy High School. Check out our website for more information. This is one of the best venues for show choir in the country and we've got some of the best groups in the country performing that day. Hope to see you there!