Bring on the show

Medford will host its first show choir competition Saturday, Feb. 22 as 21 different choirs gather to perform and compete for top honors at the Red White Spotlight.

In addition to the Momentum show choir of Medford Area Senior High School and In Motion of Medford Area Middle School, there will be choirs from Altoona, Ashland, Bay Port, Chippewa Falls, Colby, DeForest, DePere, Eau Claire Memorial, Eau Claire North, Hamilton, La Crosse, Mayville, North St. Paul, Tomah and Washburn participating. There will be competitions in the middle school division, a Prep/ Univoice Division and the open class division.

Performances for the day-long event will take place at Raider Hall at the Medford Area Senior High School. Performances begin at 8 a.m. with each performance followed by a critique session from the panel of judges. The Middle School competition is scheduled to run from 8 to 9:20 a.m. with the Crew II from Colby starting the line-up at 8

See RED on page 3 a.m. and the Medford In Motion finishing the division with an exhibition performance scheduled to begin at 9:20 a.m.

The Prep/Univoice Division will begin at 9:30 a.m. with The Coalition from Colby. Competition in that division will continue until 11:35 a.m.

Open class division will begin at 11:35 a.m., and will break for lunch at noon taking up again at 1p.m. and run until 5:30 p.m. Medford’s Momentum show choir will have an exhibition performance at 5:20 p.m. on Saturday afternoon.

Afternoon awards will take place at 6 p.m..

The top six finalists will perform Saturday evening. Doors open at Raider Hall at 6:30 p.m., with the first finalists to perform at 7:30 p.m. The awards ceremony will take place at 10:15 p.m.

About the judges

Judges for Red White Spotlight include Kym Chambers Otto, Lora-Jean M. Jones, Todd Krueger, Matt Buhr, Mark Traynor Quamme, and Kyle Aiden.

Aiden is an international awardwinning stage director and choreographer. He works with dancers, singers and actors of all ages throughout the world. He is heavily involved in the show choir community, having groups receive grand championships, best choreography and best show design in competitions nationwide.

Quamme is a freelance choreographer and clinician who is thrilled to be supporting students across the county since 2010. He has a Masters of Arts from Viterbo University and has choreographed with show choir programs in the Chippewa Valley. He currently lives in Detroit Lakes, Minn.

Krueger was the head of vocal music at Mayville High School for 29 years. He has degrees from UW-Stevens Point, UWOshkosh and UW-Madison. He directed 9 choirs while at Mayville including a competitive concert choir that won 17 grand championships including a national grand championship in Branson Mo., as well as numerous other awards.

Jones is a freelance choreographer who has adjudicated show choir competitions across the nation for over 30 years. Recently she joined the faculty at Dorian Summer Camps, Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

Kym Chambers Otto works as a professional performer and has toured with the Broadway Tours Cats, Cinderella and The Wizard of Oz. She is the owner of Twin Cities Musical Theater Training, a program for humans hoping to pursue careers in Musical Theater and Professionals for continued education.

Buhr is currently a band director in the Quincy Public Schools System and is a graduate of the University of Iowa in Trumpet Performance and Music Education. While in college he served as the trumpet section leader for the Hawkeye Marching Band as well as a choreography captain for the University of Iowa Dance Club and a member of the Intersection a cappella group. He has more than a decade of experience as a show choir choreographer, clinician and judge at the middle and high school level.

Admission price for the Preliminary Competition $15. For the Medford Performance and Finals Competition it is $10 and all day passes are $20.