Middle school show choirs win awards

• Maximum Velocity

The Maximum Velocity show choir took home the top prize March 9 during the annual Best of Show competition in Sioux Falls.

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More than 60 Mitchell sixth- through eighth-graders in the Maximum Velocity show choir took home the top prize March 9 during the annual Best of Show competition in Sioux Falls.

Allen Remily, director of vocal music, said the group scored 12 points higher than the second-place group, which was close compared to 2012.

“Last year, my kids won by 40 points,” Remily said. “This year was close. But the kids are a lot younger this year.”

Eleven groups competed during last Saturday’s event at Sioux Falls Washington.

Maximum Velocity is split evenly into thirds -- one-third sixth-graders, one-third seventh-graders and one-third eighth-graders.

Remily also has a less experienced group called Exclamation, which is made up mostly of sixth-graders this year. Exclamation took seventh place Saturday and received the Outstanding Showmanship award, for having a good stage presence. Of the 50 students in Exclamation, four were in show choir last year.

“I’m very pleased with their performance,” Remily said.

The Best of Show competition is the only one the middle school show choirs attend each year, Remily added. However, the groups will perform during the Show Choir Classic in Mitchell today and during Mitchell High School’s Dinner Theater this week.

Members of the high school show choir, Friend de Coup, do choreography for the middle school show choirs. Molly Cahoy and Jake Louder choreograph Maximum Velocity’s programs and Haley Muth and Brady Farnham choreograph Exclamation’s programs.

The students audition to be in show choir, just as the high school students do for Friend de Coup, Remily said.

“This is where they get their teeth, so to speak, because they learn from the high school chorus members,” he said. “Their moves are inspired by what the kids learn at the high school.”

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