Southlake Showdown Draws the DFW Competition Season to a Close

By Kortney Minnick, Texas contributor

The inaugural Southlake Carroll Showdown took the stage on March 6 and 7, bringing in the nationally-renowned Broken Arrow Tiger Rhythm. Tiger Rhythm continued their winning streak at Southlake by taking home Grand Champion, Best Vocals, Best Choreography and Best Band. 

Right behind Broken Arrow was Keller Blue Lights. Although this competition broke Blue Lights' winning streak, they are still the top ensemble in the state of Texas this year. Blue Lights completed their season, coming in first at Cowtown Classic and Keller Central Lone Star Invitational, sixth at the Omaha South Classic and now second at Southlake Showdown. 

Bell System from LD Bell High School took home second runner-up to finish out their season. Their show, “The Mark of Zorro,” was third place at every competition, leaving Bell System with a solid base but also room to improve next season. 

Coming in fourth and finishing their Texas competition season was Voices of Central.  VOC has one competition left, at Millard North Galaxy of the Stars in Nebraska on March 15. They will be competing against Spectrum from Ankeny Centennial, West in the Groove from Millard West and others. Similar to Fort Worth Southwest and Keller earlier this season, they now have a chance to represent Texas on the national stage.

Pantheon finished out their season placing fifth at the Southlake Carroll Showdown, which was their lowest placement of the season. This was a very strong season for this group, placing first, second, third and now fifth. Next season they will be a group to keep an eye on as they continue to grow. 

In sixth was Southwest Effect, which is their lowest placement of the season. Coming off of two consecutive second place finishes, the sixth place placement was a rough hit to Southwest Effect. Southwest has one more competition this year, that the Rouse Capital City Showcase in the Austin area. Last season, Effect placed second behind Blue Lights but since Blue Lights won’t be competing at Capital City this year, it may be Effect’s time to shine.

The seventh finalist was Burleson Centennial Shades of Blue. Shades of Blue is under new direction this year. Voices of Central's previous director, Nick Chabot, is their leader. This was Shades of Blue’s first placement of the season after not placing at Cowtown Classic. The ensemble has one more competition this year, at Brandon Show Choir ELITE March 29th. Centennial will be competing in small mixed while its crosstown rival, Burleson Breakaway, will be competing in middle mixed. This will be a good chance to expose these choirs to other southern groups outside of the Texas circuit.

Texas competition season is coming to an end with the only competition remaining being Capital City on April 5. As no schedule or lineup has been released yet, it will be interesting to see which groups take the late-season opportunity to shine.