By William Soquet, Editor-in-Chief
The ballad’s dramatic bridge reaches its peak.
“And when the angels come, I know that they will pull you through…”
An audience member seated near the top of the bleachers sniffles. A Revolution parent nearby silently offers a tissue, which the audience member graciously refuses.
The closer begins.
“I’ll see you again, this is not where it ends!”
The audience member wipes away the tears and watches the show close.
While a piano is wheeled down from the top riser after the show ends, the parent is questioned.
“Does this happen a lot?” the audience member asked.
“Yes,” the parent responded with a chuckle.
At the end of that night, Revolution put a cap on its undefeated 2024 season, taking one last dance.
The show that took Nebraska show choir by storm in 2024 and captivated the rest of the country will certainly stand the test of time, and what hit the stage is barely the surface of why the group is so special.
For those unfamiliar with Nebraska show choir, it was likely the first time they were hearing Gretna’s name mentioned in household territory alongside more established Midwest giants.
The former small-town school has been a ‘show choir school’ for a while. Online records of Revolution date back to 2001. In that year, a group directed by Shawna Bothwell went to what is now called the FAME National Finals, placing third behind Eisenhower Elite Energy and Sioux City East.
Patrick Ribar came to the helm of the group in 2007 and provided a steady hand, guiding the group through 15 years of competition. His groups were successful: winning many grand championships. At the same time, the program grew, reaching its peak in 2018 with three competitive groups.
At the same time, Gretna High School went from a small-town school to a suburban school. From when Ribar started at Gretna to when he left, the total enrollment of Gretna Public Schools (GPS) more than doubled as suburban sprawl from Omaha filled the district with housing.
In fall 2021, Millard West alum Katelyn Wallace joined the Gretna vocal music department as assistant director, taking the reins of the prep group, Evolution. The following year, she took over the varsity group, Revolution. Results were immediate. The season started with a bang, taking a win over Waukee. Revolution continued its giant-slaying season, beating Millard West, Papillion-La Vista, Norris, and Omaha South, among others, before closing the curtain on 2023.
The 2023 season was the first that Gretna enlisted the services of Stephen Todd for choreography. It was a full-circle moment for Wallace.
“I’m lucky enough to have had Stephen as my choreographer as part of my high school experience,” Wallace said. “Stephen captures every sort of mood, every style of choreography, any and everything that any director could ever want or dream of. He makes my vision for any and every show come to life. He is amazing with the kids. He was such an inspiration to me and getting him to choreograph my kids now is seriously the biggest dream come true.”
It appeared Revolution was in the process of a revolution with 2024 being another step forward.
Remember that growing enrollment? GPS broke ground on a second high school in fall 2020, and it opened in fall 2023. Ribar left Gretna High to build a program at Gretna East, and a sizable portion of Gretna High performers followed him there due to new attendance boundaries.
“It’s obviously taken a toll on the program, we have lower numbers, but we’re trying to make the best of it, and we’re trying to keep kids excited about choir and in the program, so we just hope to keep numbers booming,” Wallace said.
Despite the downtick in overall school enrollment, Gretna still trotted out two mixed groups in 2024. The prep group Evolution was under the new direction of Dakota Mathew, who is no stranger to show choir himself. Mathew is the son of Kip Mathew, the long-tenured director at Harrisonville High School in western Missouri. Before coming to Gretna, Dakota was the assistant director at Lincoln Southwest in 2020, spent a year at Atchison directing Adrenaline, then moved back to Nebraska and spent two years at Elkhorn Middle School.
Perhaps the ingredients were coming together for another step forward as a program.
The 2024 season began in a similar way as 2023 did – taking vocals and choreo from a verified titan. This time, Omaha Westside was the group on the losing end of the battle. Two weeks later, Gretna took down Westside again and beat Hastings Riverside Company, the best Minnesota had to offer in 2024. By the middle of February, Revolution had completed the revolution with wins over Millard North and Papillion-La Vista South.
Gretna had been a giant slayer but turned itself into a giant.
The show that brought Gretna to prominence was intensely personal. Loosely based on the song “One Last Dance” by Us the Duo, the show follows a songwriter as he navigates love and loss throughout his life. From a mood-setting opening number where the songwriter finds love to a joyous wedding scene to a heart-rending ballad where the songwriter sees his wife die, the audience is always in tune with the life of Cameron Bothwell.
Remember the name Bothwell from earlier? Cameron Bothwell was perhaps the perfect choice to play the songwriter. His sister Autumn picked up a pair of Best Soloist awards for Revolution in 2021, and his sister Shiloh was a key piece in Evolution’s 2024 show, claiming a Best Soloist award at Elkhorn South. Cameron also shined on the football field as the kicker for a Dragons team that was the Class A runner-up his junior year. Bothwell was named to the Elite 33 by NEHSFB before his senior season, another testament to his skill. It’s only logical that a football star would have a side hustle as a songwriter, right?
Revolution's leadership and members alike prioritized fostering a strong connection with the audience—a quality that Wallace accounts for making the group special.
“From the day that I revealed this show, they have bought in at 110 percent,” Wallace explained. “They’ve been super committed, they get along, they’re great kids, but honestly the commitment to the show and the theme has been the thing that I am most proud of. They’ve given 100 percent of themselves, and I think it’s paying off.”
Class of 2025 Revolution member Nathan Sheldon echoed that sentiment.
“Going into every rehearsal and every single competition with the mindset of wanting to move everyone in the audience is what brings us together,” Sheldon said. “Being so close and having that be our mindset instead of going out to get the biggest trophy. [We’re] trying to move people with our show.”
By the time Gretna traveled to Grand Island at the end of February, the buzz was real. A crew from Nebraska News Service documented the experience, putting together a three-minute package about a competition that ended in yet another Revolution victory.
The season concluded with a trip to Minnesota’s Twin Cities, where Gretna saw a handful of new challengers from Minnesota and Wisconsin.
“We try to choose competition where we would see a wide variety of groups,” Wallace noted. “It’s really important to me that the kids are going to see different styles of show choir and grow to love and appreciate the wide variety of the art form. Truly, every time we leave a contest, the kids have fallen in love with a new group and that’s the coolest thing.”
Even when asked about the future of the group, Sheldon stayed planted where he was.
“I do really think that there’s power in living in the present moment,” he said. “Not taking these little things for granted, coming to Minnesota, we really want to enjoy that group that we have.”
The competition at Totino-Grace ended with Revolution taking another win, capping off an undefeated season.
When reflecting on the season, everybody in the program expressed a common sense of blessing.
“I couldn’t be more thankful for [Wallace and Todd] and everything they’ve done for us,” Sheldon said. “They’ve given us the best show ever, and we just gotta run with it.”
“My job every day is seriously my dream job come true,” Wallace exclaimed. “The pros are endless - the kids are hungry, they want to work hard, they want to do well, they want to make a great name for themselves.”
“I’m really thankful to be where I am now, getting to teach with one of my best friends in a district that supports us so well,” Matthew noted. “The parents and the family and community of Gretna is just so supportive and so accommodating to the things that we want to do and the vision that we have for the program. I genuinely could not be more grateful to be where I am.”
By the time the dust settled on the 2024 season, Gretna was one of a handful of groups throughout the country to go undefeated. While the rise was sudden, the group’s standing atop the mountain of show choir contenders was firm.
With Revolution’s newfound identity as a Midwest titan, does Wallace feel any pressure to keep it up?
“We love to be up there with those amazing legacy groups like the Westsides, the Papio Souths, but truly I just want my kids to keep growing in their own way and forming their own identity,” Wallace explained. “I also don’t want us to fall into a trap of becoming too predictable with shows. I want to keep people on the edge of their seats. We’re lucky that Nebraska show choir is thriving, so I am inspired all the time by Omaha Westside, Papio South, Millard West, Elkhorn South: all those awesome people. They keep this fresh and fun, and we are just excited to be up there with the big dogs.”
The school split that would’ve perhaps cast a cloud over the 2024 season was much more considered an occasion of joy, as one thriving vocal music program gained a sibling that will, with time, acquire a shine of its own.
“We are absolutely huge fans of Equinox, their show choir, and the people over there,” Matthew said. “We’re hoping to create a big community of support for each other. We want both programs to thrive and do well. The excitement of show choir is there and palpable at Gretna, and we’re hoping to ride that for both schools.”
Gretna show choir is now a family affair for Wallace.
“My husband is going to Gretna East to teach there [in fall 2024],” Wallace said.
Nathan Wallace already has a stacked resume, leading Elkhorn North Ridge Middle to a three-win season last year and having choreography credits at Westside and Millard North, among other schools.
Equinox, after competing in lower divisions last season, will compete in the marquee mixed division this year. Nathan Wallace's first show is centered around Thomas Edison’s invention of the lightbulb.
Gretna's show choirs have already moved forward from spectacular seasons and will take the competition stage for the first time this weekend, performing in exhibition at Gretna’s Primetime event. Revolution’s 2025 show is based on the Robert Frost poem The Road Not Taken. Evolution will perform a prom show.
The show choir community will continue to hold a special place in its heart for Revolution’s 2024 show and season.
“Not take anything for granted, celebrate the little moments, and enjoy the season that we’ve had,” Sheldon reflected.
“Don’t take your li-ife for granted!”
The choir belts out the last line of the closer before taking a bow and leaving the stage.
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