Lip singing and dancing

RONAN — The first ‘R’ Gobbler Lip Sync-Dance contest got rave reviews last week, as groups of Ronan seventh graders brought Elvis, Weird Al Yankovic and “High School Musical” to the Ronan Event Center auditorium stage.

As a part of a physical education class assignment, groups of students used props, back-up singers and dancers to recreate their favorite songs.

Sharpay, the singing mean girl from “High School Musical” made an appearance, disguised as seventh grader Joann Yonkin. Yonkin and the rest of RMS Musical performed “Fabulous.” Unique choreography, by Shyann Brum, Lindsay Barnes, Rachel Cordis and Jasmine Bocksnick, and a convincing “vocal” performance by Yonkin earned The Girls the first place lip sync prize.

Yonkin said the other girls picked the song, about a girl not getting treatment that was quite fabulous enough, and asked her to “sing” it.

The Hounds Dogs, Cody Mock, Alex Killian and Josh Middleton, grabbed two guitars and a microphone and reached back for an oldie and a goodie, singing Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog.” The Hound Dogs got the third place lip sync award.

But in a crowd of middle schoolers, Elvis couldn’t hold a candle to Weird Al Yankovic, a popular singer who takes chart toppers and adds his own, hilarious lyrics. Two groups performed Weird Al songs.

Brandon DuMont, speaking as himself after the win, said he was surprised with the win, and didn’t prepare much for his group’s rendition of “Amish Paradise.” The group won first in audience participation.

“I thought it would be fun. I didn’t really care about winning as much, I just wanted to have fun,” DuMont said.

DuMont was Weird Al sporting an “Amish” beard he got from a friend for the performance. The group used five backup, or interpretive, dancers to get the win.

There’s nothing like a parody of a parody.

The second Weird Al performance featured Tommy Oschmann at the helm. He had his pants pulled up and his socks showing, as he busted out “White and Nerdy,” a song that claims to lay out everything one needs to love to be classified as nerdy. Background dancers Tyrel Miller and Bradley Findely helped show exactly what being nerdy meant. The crowd loved this one. But as the encore performance, Tommy and The Boys didn’t claim a prize.

Seven acts performed chosen pieces in the Ronan Event Center auditorium. Preliminary contests took place on Monday and Tuesday, with groups auditioning during physical education classes. Practice time was set up on the stage for the groups during lunchtime throughout the previous week.

Five judges ranked the performances based on teamwork, performance reality and audience appeal.