4th Ave Makes a Wave at Their Last Competition of the Season
February 22, 2019
“I think [the audience] loved it. I think we made a lot of people cry and we helped a lot of people, and I think we changed lives,” Andrew Tribbey ‘19 said after leaving 4th Ave’s critique following its performance.
Making City High show choir history, the critique judges gave no notes to the group. 4th Ave performed at its last competition of the season on Saturday, February 16th. 4th Ave won Grand Champions at the competition at Indianola High School, and Charisma won second in the prep division. Soloist Ingrid Streitz ‘19 won best female soloist and Ian Allen ‘21 won best male soloist for the third competition in a row.
It was an emotional competition for various reasons.The group gave their most emotional performance yet, with judges, audience members, Charisma girls, and 4th Ave members all crying during and after the performance. The theme of the show, the University of Iowa’s “The Wave,” touched the hearts of almost everyone watching. “The Wave” is a fairly recent Hawkeye tradition in which the attendees of Iowa football games wave to the patients in the children’s hospital across the street. During 4th Ave’s ballad, “Tears of an Angel,” Charisma members could be heard in the audience sobbing.
Audience members weren’t the only ones touched. The critique judge had told the students that they had changed her life, according to Veronica Abreu ‘19. After their return from the critique, Charisma members met the varsity show choir with heartfelt hugs and teary eyes.
“It was pretty special,” Tyler Hagy, 4th Ave’s director, said. “I have not [seen a critique judge react in that way]. It’s a pretty new experience for all of us.”
Not only was the storyline of the show emotional, but for many members, it was their last competition after four years of show choir. 4th Ave is mainly made up of juniors and seniors, and it was a very emotional competition for the seniors who’d been competing in show choir since their freshman year.
“I’m overwhelmed. We’re just taking a fun picture and then you look out and everyone’s still crying,” Tommy Brands ‘19, a senior who has been in show choir all four years, said.
4th Ave started off the season by winning fifth place. It ended its season on a high note by winning first place after slowly increasing its ranking throughout each competition. It will be doing a final performance of its show at the Winter Show on Sunday, March 3rd.
