Haley Gibbons directs the choral program at West Des Moines Valley High School, where she has taught since 2012. She directs two curricular ensembles, Concert Choir and Valley Singers, as well as award-winning co-curricular groups: Choralation show choir and Vocal Point jazz choir. She has previously directed Vocalese Jazz Choir, A Cappella Choir, and Select Treble Clef Choir. Choirs under her direction have performed at the Luther College Dorian Choral Invitational and with top collegiate ensembles from Iowa State University, Wartburg College, and Drake University. In March 2019, Vocalese under her direction, was selected to perform at the National American Choral Directors Association convention. Ms. Gibbons currently serves as the Iowa All State Jazz Choir Chair for the Iowa Choral Directors Association, and she is a frequent panelist, adjudicator, and clinician for concert, jazz, and show choir ensembles.

Ms. Gibbons earned her Masters of Music Education degree from Florida State University, where she studied with Andre Thomas, Kevin Fenton, and Judy Bowers. She received her undergraduate degree from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.

Nick Quamme is a freelance choreographer, raised and now based back in La Crosse, Wisconsin! Nick has professionally trained and performed for the past 15 years in various areas of the performing arts, including musical theatre, studio dance, and competitive show choir. Nick’s professional work is currently focused on show choir, choreographing for nearly 30 different groups across the US. Nick was honored to be named the Fame Aspire Award’s “Best New Choreographer” in 2017, with nominations in 2016 and 2018. Outside of choreographing, Nick loves spending time with his family + friends, traveling, exploring the outdoors, and spoiling his cat, Fern. Nick is beyond blessed and thankful to call show choir his passion and career. More than ever, he is grateful for the wonderful students and staff he works with. Best of luck to all! 

Abby Thompson is in her tenth year as vocal music teacher at Elkhorn High School. Ms. Thompson attended Augustana College in Sioux Falls, SD where she obtained a B.A. in Vocal Music Education with an emphasis in Sacred Music. Ms. Thompson began her teaching career at Patrick Henry Middle School in Sioux Falls, SD where she taught chorus, general music, speech and drama, and adaptive music for a year. At Elkhorn High, Ms. Thompson currently teaches 3 choirs, music theory, directs both show choirs, is the director of the musical, and directs other small ensembles including Jazz Choir and the school's 4 Barbershop quartets.
Ms. Thompson has found it very rewarding to return to EHS to work with the Elkhorn students and many of the teachers that were influential in her K-12 education in the Elkhorn Public School District. She completed a Master's degree in Music Education from UNL in 2016 and a Master's in Curriculum and Instruction from Peru State College in 2019. Ms. Thompson loves the show choir season for the opportunities it affords to spend time with her students at Elkhorn High and for the chance to watch, work with, and learn from directors and students across the Midwest!

Mike Weaver is an author and award-winning director/choreographer based in Chicago.

He works widely in both conceptual and technical development with a variety of projects ranging from show choir competition programs to concerts and theatrical events. Credits include: Carnival Cruise Lines, Six Flags Discovery Kingdom: Marine World Africa USA, Warner Bros Publishing, Hal Leonard Publishing, and Applause Theatre and Cinema Books. 

As a clinician, Mike has served as adjunct faculty with several U. S. Colleges and headed workshops at numerous performing arts camps, including The Master Class Intensive Series in Ontario, Canada, Show Choir Camps of America, and North Carolina Summer Institute for Choral Arts.

Mike has adjudicator for dozens of local, state, regional and national competition venues, including Fame Show Choir National Championship Series and Show Choir Canada. 

In 2014, Mike was honored with an industry-awarded Aspire Lifetime Achievement presentation for his past and ongoing contributions to the field of show choir. He is co-author of the definitive and internationally acclaimed book -- Sweat, Tears and Jazz Hands: The Official History of Show Choir from Vaudeville to ‘Glee’.  (Amazon.com)

As a member of the American Choral Directors Association, Mike has presented workshops and joined expert panels at several national conferences. In 2016, Mike accepted a service role as National Repertoire and Resource Chair for Commercial and Contemporary choral music.

There’s an app for that! Mike is creator of Show Choir Dance Moves, a video reference app for directors, choreographers and dance educators. (iTunes Store).

He currently serves as Executive Producer for Showchoirlive: The Virtual Tournament. (Showchoirlive.com).

Mike is an alumni of Millikin University School of Music (Piano Jazz performance, BM) and Columbia College Chicago (Film Directing, MFA).

Heath Weber is Dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Morningside University in Sioux City, Iowa. During his tenure at Morningside, he has served as Associate Dean for Performing Arts, Music Department Chair, Director of Choral Activities and artistic director for the Betty Ling Tsang Summer Performance Series. Prior to his appointment at Morningside, Heath Weber worked in public school music education at all levels, K-12.

A South Dakota native, he found his home in Sioux City, Iowa, first teaching at East High School for 10 years before assuming his position at Morningside. His comprehensive choral program at East was the largest student organization in Iowa, engaging one third of the student body at EHS. His competitive show choir, The Headliners, was voted one of America’s top three favorite show choirs in Parade Magazine’s first contest. East was a finalist for the first GRAMMY Signature School Competition; and USA Today named the EHS production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” the Best Musical in Iowa in 2008.

As a performer, Weber has performed as a member of the GRAMMY nominated South Dakota Chorale, an organization for which he has also served as Board President. Additionally, he has performed as a bass/baritone soloist with the South Dakota Symphony, The Sioux City Symphony, and Opera South Dakota. He has been a staff section leader/baritone soloist at Calvary Episcopal Cathedral Choir for over 20 years.

Weber has directed camps for gifted and talented students for 28 years. While the pandemic has put a hold on The Catalyst Collective, a two-week immersive experience at Morningside College in Sioux City. He is eager ot restart these exciting opportunities for young people. The camp offers students an opportunity to learn various academic pursuits from Morningside faculty, receive leadership development opportunities and intense performing arts training for high ability youth from all over the country. During his nearly three decades of working with gifted youth, Weber has led groups on 7 global performance tours reaching 5 continents and 24 countries. The most recent tour explored Germany and Austria; previous tours have included Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Spain, Egypt, Greece, The Netherlands and numerous other countries. Groups under his direction have appeared on two occasions at the World Conference on Gifted Children (Sydney, Australia; and The Hague, Netherlands) and were official state guests on a tour to Taiwan (ROC).
His dissertation work in gifted education has earned him appearances at the National Conference on Gifted Children in Minneapolis and numerous state gifted conventions in the upper Midwest. He has made presentations on adapted music education for students with disabilities, and vocal pedagogy and performance based show choir at the Iowa Music Educators convention and the South Dakota Summer ACDA convention. Weber has also made presentations at the North Central ACDA convention on Assessment in the choral classroom. His most recent presentation,
“Building Creativity-A Do-It-Yourself Guide” was delivered to the Iowa Choral Directors Association Summer Symposium.

As clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor, Weber is in high demand across the Midwest. His work with summer enrichment opportunities, team building and leadership training keeps his schedule full. When time permits, you can find him soaking up the sun by the lake on lazy summer weekends!