Crescendo!!!! Pivot turn, 3, 4, Jazz hands, 6, 7, 8!!!

So I know I haven't posted in quite a while. Sorry. I have a life. But I have things to say, so here we are.



I also know that I have written a bit about show choir in the past, and this post is going to be sort of a show choir 101.



But first, some exciting news! (Those of you who know all about this, please bear with me. I know there are some people who read my blog who don't live in Delaware, so the explanation is for them.) The Delaware Gazette has this cool thing called Teen of the Week. Every Saturday a local teenager from Delaware county is chosen for this minor - but still pretty awesome - title. In September, seniors from all over Delaware county fill out an application and write two short essays to submit to the Gazette for Teen of the Week. Then, each week of the school year a new student is chosen, interviewed, photographed, and the article appears in that Saturday's Gazette. At the end of the year there is a ceremony where all the "Teens of the Week" are invited and honored. Also at this ceremony the "Teen of the Year" is chosen and given a scholarship that is sometimes up to several thousand dollars. Last Monday I received a call from a woman at the Gazette telling me that I had been chosen for this week's Teen of the Week! She came and interviewed me at school on Wednesday and the article comes out tomorrow. I'll try to link it to a post on here if I can.



Okay now onto the main point of this post. Show choir.



Glee's got it all wrong. While I like the show, Hollywood is Hollywood and they haven't done all their research. No show choir has like five new songs every week. Also, competitions would never have just three schools, nor would they be judged by popular vote. Don't get me wrong though, I really do like the show, but it's interesting to see Hollywood's fairly unrealistic take on it all.



Show choirs tend to have very "visionary" names, the irony of this being that our show choir is called the Visions. Other popular names include things like, Sound Sensations, Vocal Intensity, Accents, Classics, Illuminations, First Edition, Premiere, Dynamics, etc. The most popular name - in many different combinations mind you - is probably Express. ie. Express Varsity, Sound Express, [insert name of school here] Express. There's a million of 'em.



Show choir is also very expensive and a lot of work. The fees for our two different costumes, shoes, tights, shorts, earrings, makeup, t-shirts, and  pay-to-play adds up to a decent chunk of money. Our costumes are custom made, and custom does not come cheap. Show choir hair is straight up ridiculous. Think Irish dancer curls, and runway-model bouffant.

All the choir reps in their costumes, waiting to accept awards. The Buckeye Valley Visions reps (Austin and Kaitlyn) are the two on the far right in the silver vest and the turquoise dress.

We work just as hard, and probably harder than any other sports team. We work in class everyday, after school for three hours at least once a week, and usually have a practice the day before a competition. We sing, dance, sweat, yell, and obsess over tiny details until it seems like we can't anymore. Sometimes, we get so obsessive over the process that we get seriously on edge. This week's practice was really intense. Last Saturday we went to a competition and didn't do too well. We got fourth place in our division....not so good. So this week the pressure's on. And we certainly felt the pressure on Wednesday at practice. There was quite a bit of drama, but it wound up helping us in the long run I think. We are feeling much better about things and we hope to to well tomorrow.

Cross your fingers for us!