Show Choir hosted a competition Saturday, Jan. 13 where they invited. The students were in charge of running the event, but while the final results were being tallied, City Lights performed for the crowd. Here is a look at what the day was like.
In the Hall
In the atrium two high school age boys wearing Carthage Soundwave shirts have an epic lightsaber duel. They look slightly abashed as onlookers film them on their phones, but proceed anyway with an epic battle that is complete with high-kicking leaps.
Nearby a boy from the same choir yells at one of the girls “Your makeup looked horrible before I hit you in the face!”
A clump of girls in floral collared knee length dresses reminiscent of 50’s eras housewives stand in the hallway quietly going over choreography. Elsewhere a girl in the same dress pulls on a boy’s eyelid as she does his eyeliner for him while her friends stand by watching and giggling.
Somewhere in the distance someone plays quiet scales and arpeggios on a trumpet.
Back in the atrium one of the previous girl’s friends continues to do the boys makeup, this time mascara. “It looks fine” she assures him as he marches toward the bathroom to check.
“Flip it up. Spray. Flip it down. Spray. If it feels clean you did it wrong. Yes? Yes?” asks an overbearing director, instructing her girls on the correct method of hairspray application. She checks all the girls and clucks “yes this is good” or, most often “it needs more hairspray.”
The ’50’s housewives form a conglomerate outside of the classroom that serves as their homeroom, grabbing at costumes that consist of shiny black leggings and an asymmetrical black and glimmery cranberry geometrically designed tank top, a far cry from their ’50’s get ups.
The Carthage girls are all lined up and ready to go. They huddle in for their director to get a picture. “Where’s the energy?” she yells. The girls smile and cheer. They are ready.
Warrensburg Soundwave
“Everyone got their bandannas and thrift shop items?” Whitney Andersen, the director of Warrensburg Soundwave, asks her choir before they leave their room.
In the cheer room they warm up. They do a series of exercises, stretching their arms, legs, and even faces with a facial expression exercise.
“Booties up in the air” the director yells as they stretch. “Energy energy energy!” yells Andersen at which many of the boys give strong grunts. She runs to the other side of the room where there is a keyboard to start vocal warm-ups.
They practice their choreography, music and tumbling. There are aerials and toe touches; two boys lift a girl up and flip her backwards.
“Go to the end of “Man in the Mirror.” They amble to their spots joking, laughing, and chest-bumping all the way.
“All right boys, don’t break character as you come.”
As they sing “Thriftshop” she yells, “Everybody stop singing!” They look mildly confused before she says, “Guys, that was so good. I just got chills.”
“Get into a very big circle,” she call to loud whoops from the crowd. They perform a pre-show ritual of crescendo-ing tongue twisters as they move in and out of the circle.
“Seniors, remember this is your last first show” to which the seniors scream “no” and “excuse me while I cry myself to sleep.”
“It’s time to go”, one of the Rock Bridge hosts comes in to tell them. They are in their lines ready to go, but they have one more thing to do before they leave. An older member comes to the front of the line and yells “We’re going to go out there and do our thing!”
“YEAHHHHHHH!” the choir cheers. “We’re going to have fun!” “YEAHHHHHHH!” “And we’re going to do this thing!” “YEAHHHHHHH!”
Pre-Show Pep Talk
“I know your dead. But you’ve got to find enough energy for one performance.” Mike Pierson, the Rock Bridge show choir director says to his performers who are gathered in a circle.
They are preparing for their exhibition performance, the last show of the night set for 10 p.m. He sounds exhausted as he runs through the post-performance procedure.
“This is a long day. This has been a long day for… – a long time”, interjects Victoria, City Lights’ costume designer. “You guys have absolutely knocked today and last night out of the park.”
“So many people love this competition. They love our performance they love our food they love our venues. I don’t expect you to be perfect. I don’t want you to try to be perfect. I want you to put all the heart you can into it. If something goes wrong, something goes wrong. This is not the end of the world. This is about having fun. Engaging the people in the audience. Go and show that to them.THE FACIAL IS A BYPRODUCT OF WHAT IS IN YOUR HEART. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE IT IN YOUR HEART WHATEVER COME OUT [on your face] IS JUST FAKE!”
Waiting for results
The gym is a packed tighter than a sardine can. Everyone has been corralled in for the awards ceremony. Someone starts applause that moves through the gym. City Lights kids stand in front of the gym stage, waiting to announce the winners of and hand out trophies.
Two show choirs have started a chant. “P-A-R-T-Y, party party’s on this side, yeah a party, a party’s over here.” They scream it at each other back and forth. The chanting gets louder as more and more kids rise up onto shoulder. The schools start to jump closer to each other until they are one homogeneous clump. There is no sign of the end. They’re tired, but no one wants to give in.
Suddenly, the chant is dead. They applaud as a formality but some look dejected as they sit down. They had felt some sense of community, of joy as they chanted their ridiculous chant, and now it was over and time to head to the bus.
By Amanda Kurukulesuraya
