Hurricane, Poca Take Honors at State Show Choir Competition
Hurricane High School’s Red Hot show choir and Poca High School’s Visual Volume took the two top spots at the recent annual state show choir competition in Charleston. Nearly 20 choirs performed.
The Red Hot Show Choir was officially declared the top show choir in West Virginia by the WV Music Educators Association, marking the fifth consecutive year that Red Hot has won the state competition.
Red Hot was named Grand Champion of the event and earned a Superior rating from the judges.
Poca High School received first runner-up in the competition for their performance “Good and Evil.” Best performer for Visual Volume was Caitlin Taylor.
On the basis of their performance at WV Music Educators Association festival, Poca’s Visual Volume has been invited to perform at the 2nd Annual Arts Alive: The Best of West Virginia Festival, West Virginia’s signature showcase for the arts in public schools.
The event, which is sponsored by the West Virginia Department of Education and the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. on April 28 at the Clay Center in Charleston.
The event will feature student artists in dance, music, theatre and visual art.
The Hurricane choir also received awards for Best Choral Sound and Best Choreography. In addition, Red Hot members received two of the most prestigious honors of the day. Casey Edwards was named Best Male Vocalist in the state and Rachel Krall was named Best Female Vocalist in the state.
Krall has received the outstanding vocalist award four times during this competition season, which is a new school record.
The Outstanding Individual Performer for Red Hot on Saturday was Jenna DeVoss.
Under the direction of Kimberly Edwards, Red Hot has earned six State Championships and 23 Grand Championship titles since 1999. Five of those state titles have been earned consecutively since 2004.
Although the official competition season has ended, Red Hot will be performing at Magic Music Days at Walt Disney World in April. For further information on Red Hot, log onto www. redhotshowchoir.com.
The final placements of the competition were as follows: Grand Champion, Hurricane; 1st Runner-Up, Poca; 2nd Runner-Up, Martinsburg; 3rd Runner-Up, Nitro; and 4th Runner-Up, St. Albans.
Joe Kincaid, director of Visual Volume at Poca High School, noted that the group’s 40 dancers and singers, 12 instrumentalists, and three stage-crew members competed in six competitions this school year, earning four grand championships in Class C, third runner-up three times, best female soloist three times, and best instrumental soloist.
Heather Gatens has been a winner of best female soloist, while Heather Morgan, a tenor sax player, won for best instrumental solo.
Two years ago, Visual Volume captured two grand championships and first runner-up at the state competition.
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