Premiere Receives Superior at State Show Choir

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by Corgan Petersen

On Tuesday, Feb. 17, the State Show Choir Contest was held in Atlantic.  This contest was for the Southwest district of Iowa.  This event included show choirs from Atlantic, Carroll, Denison and Harlan.  It was rescheduled three times with a lot of collaboration and determination between the school athletic directors and choir directors.  This state performance was different from ones in the past because the 1A and 4A schools were moved from Atlantic to Lewis Central.

Unlike many other show choir competitions, state doesn’t have show choirs competing against each other for places.  Instead, each choir competes against themselves to do the best they can.  State also gives ratings based on performance.  The scale is as follows: V=Poor – major fundamental flaws, lack of pride in performance, no concept of good fundamental sound or style, the lowest Rating you can get, IV=Fair – major flaws, slightly below average, III= Good – consistent flaws, average performance, II=Excellent – small imperfections in the performance, and  I= Superior – very minute flaws in the performance.

During the contest four choirs received division I ratings, including Atlantic Premiere and two received division II ratings, including Atlantic Diversity.  After each choir performed they went to a clinician who gave them advice on how to make themselves better.

Choir director Jennifer Gaesser said, “I think the show choirs did a great job on Tuesday.  They did a superb job this time around on diction and cleaning up their choreography.”