Fun Facts About South Dakota Show Choirs

By Quinn Masek, Siouxland contributor

South Dakota is one of the more unique areas for show choir, as it is fairly isolated from the rest of the country's activity. However, there are some things about the groups in the state that fly under the radar. First, take a look at how save for Mitchell, success in the state has been, historically speaking, pretty even:

Group	Number of Wins
Mitchell "Friend de Coup"	43
Sioux Falls Roosevelt "Executive Suite"	14
Sioux Falls Washington "Classic Connection"	12.5
Aberdeen Central "Eagle Express"	12
O'Gorman "Ovation"	6
Vermillion "Rhythm In Red"	6
Sioux Falls Jefferson "Legacy"	5
Groton "Prismatic Sensations"	1
Avon "Unike"	0
Chamberlain "River City Groove"	0
Clark "ICC Show Choir"	0
Dakota Valley "Show Choir"	0
De Smet "Vive Voce"	0
Dell Rapids "Espresso"	0
Elk Point-Jefferson "Momentum"	0
Harrisburg "Eclipse"	0
Hot Springs "Les Chanteurs"	0
Howard "Harmonious Echos"	0
Lake Preston "Gold Xperience"	0
Lennox "S.B.A.T Squad"	0
Leola "Piraticals"	0
Madison "Madtown"	0
Miller Jr/Sr "Millerettes"	0
Parkston "Trojan Blue"	0
Scotland "Show Choir"	0
Sioux Falls Lincoln "Lightwave"	0
Wessington Springs "WS Natural High"	0

*Win totals reflect publicly available data and are not fully representative of all contests throughout history.

Now, for some fun facts about some of the state's more notable groups:

Mitchell “Friend de Coup”

●      All the Sioux Falls groups combined (Jefferson, Washington, Roosevelt, Lincoln, O’Gorman) don't add up to the number of wins FDC has.

●      Mitchell is the only South Dakota group with an undefeated season, albeit it was a pandemic-impacted 2021 season.

●      Mitchell was in first place in prelims at the 2022 Omaha Westside Competition of Excellence, but was beaten by Millard West in finals by half a point.

●     Veteran show choir choreographer Stephen Todd is a Mitchell alumnus.

●      The last time Mitchell competed in South Dakota was the Sioux Falls Washington Best of Show in 2022. They would’ve competed at the 2024 Vermillion Rhythm In Red Invitational had that competition not been canceled.

Sioux Falls Roosevelt “Executive Suite”

●      Roosevelt is the only South Dakota group to have beaten Mitchell in the 2000s. They've done this twice (Vermillion Rhythm In Red Invitational 2017 and Sioux Falls Washington Best of Show 2018).

●      Roosevelt's womens group Capitol Harmony went to Vermillion’s competition in 2019 without Executive Suite and won with Best Vocals and Best Band, making them the only womens group in South Dakota to have won a competition overall.

●      The song “Summertime” by Porgy and Bess has been used as Executive Suite's ballad twice, making appearances in 2018 and 2023.

Sioux Falls Washington “Classic Connection”

● Washington shares a tied win with Gretna Revolution at the 2019 Sioux Falls Roosevelt Executive Showcase. This was due to a scoring error where one judge changed their decision at the last minute, so on one piece of paper it said Washington won and on another it said Gretna won. On the evening of the competition, it was announced that Gretna won but the error wasn’t discovered until the next morning. Directors from both Washington and Gretna decided to share the win, and Gretna even sent Washington a giant stuffed animal dog named Rufus as a trophy.

●      The 2019 Sioux Falls Washington Best of Show competition was canceled due to a blizzard. Saturday's competition featured schools like Sioux Falls Roosevelt, Aberdeen Central, O’Gorman, Bellevue East (Nebraska), North Union (Iowa), Groton, Chamberlain, Harrisburg, Emmetsburg (Iowa), and Omaha North (Nebraska). Instead, they just held their Middle School Night on Friday evening. The competition was also moved from the beginning of March to the middle of February for the years to come.

●      One of Washington's choir directors, Chris Jacobson, is an Aberdeen Central alumnus.

●      Washington was first in prelims at Papillion-La Vista South's competition in 2018, before moving to third in finals behind Sioux City East and Grand Island Senior.

●      Sioux Falls Washington director Jeff Spencer has regarded Linn Mar’s 2018 show (the Nellie Willhite show) as his all-time favorite after competing against them at the Cedar Rapids Washington Mo Show.

Aberdeen Central “Eagle Express”

●      Ten of Aberdeen's wins have come from the last five years, signaling a rise in competitiveness from the northernmost competitive group in the state.

●      Aberdeen Central won Best Band at the Sioux Falls Roosevelt Executive Showcase in 2023, but it was later revealed that Aberdeen had more adults in their band than allowed, which should’ve made them ineligible for the award. This caption award was never changed. Had this error been caught earlier, Sioux Falls Washington would’ve taken the Best Band award.

●      The last time Aberdeen Central missed out on finals was at Mitchell’s competition in 2018. At the same competition, Sioux Falls Washington also missed out on finals, and Sioux Falls Roosevelt placed fifth in finals, the lowest placement of their season.

Sioux Falls Jefferson “Legacy”

●      At the 2023 Papillion-La Vista South Titan Classic, Legacy's shockingly low fifth place can be attributed to their quick turnaround time. Jefferson performed second to last in prelims, then had to tear down, followed by a trip to prelim awards, and finally performed first in finals without getting a chance to eat dinner. The group's final performance shows visibly exhausted performers after not having time to catch their breath for over two hours. It’s why there is a vast difference between their results at the Titan Classic and Sioux Falls Roosevelt, a few weeks later, where the group won.

●      So far, Jefferson hasn’t gone a year without winning a competition since the group's debut in the 2022 season.

●      Jefferson choir director John Parezo directed Capitol Harmony at Roosevelt and O’Gorman Ovation before moving to Jefferson when the school first opened up in 2021.

●      Since its creation in 2022, no South Dakota groups have won at the Sioux Falls Jefferson Cavalier Classic.

Harrisburg “Eclipse”

●      Eclipse is the only active large school group in South Dakota without a win.

●      Harrisburg started a show choir in 2017. At the time, the group was called Tiger Tones because of the school's mascot before switching the name to Eclipse in 2020.

●      Even though Eclipse is a smaller group, Harrisburg High School has a student body comparable to the Sioux Falls public schools.

O’Gorman “Ovation”

●      The 2022 Sioux Falls Washington Best of Show was the first time Ovation missed out on finals at the competition.

●      Ovation's last win was at Aberdeen Central’s competition in 2017.

●      Ovation's current director Nick Engbers student-taught at Sioux Falls Washington before heading to O’Gorman, is a former contestant on American Idol, and has an EP on Spotify under the name N.W. Engbers.

●      At one point, O’Gorman had a womens group called Knightlights.

Miscellaneous

●      Every group except for Harrisburg and Sioux Falls Lincoln Lightwave (a noncompetitive, unified-ability group) that doesn’t have a win is a group from a smaller town that either doesn’t have the people interested in show choir or the budget for it. Most of these groups have unfortunately only lasted a few years before being disbanded.

●      Groton Prismatic Sensations has one grand champion win. This comes from Aberdeen Central's competition in 2013. Second place went to Chamberlain River City Groove.

●      The group farthest west in South Dakota is Hot Springs Les Chanteurs, located an hour away from South Dakota's western border with Wyoming.

●      The majority of Vermillion Rhythm In Red's wins comes from the University of South Dakota Jazz Festival.

●      According to the South Dakota High School Activities Association, there are nine high schools in the state with average daily memberships over 1,000 students. Six of those schools have show choirs. The three that don't are Rapid City Central, Rapid City Stevens, and Brandon Valley.