After retreat, choirs enter busy season
Dessert Cabaret is scheduled for this Friday
The annual Ben Davis choir retreats were last week, signaling the start of the busy season for the choir department.
The choir will host the Dessert Cabaret this Friday in the auditorium. The evening begins with a 6 p.m. silent auction in the cafeteria and the show begins at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. Tickets are $12 for adults and $8 for students and can be purchased in the choir office. Dessert items will be served at intermission.
After the Cabaret, the choirs enter competition season with the first competition Feb. 14 at Pike and the Giant Spectacular scheduled for Feb. 21 at Ben Davis.
“Planning for GS is particularly time consuming in December, January and February,” Giant Spec co-coordinator Marcia Leis said. “However, we start planning in May for the next year. We have a couple of meetings over the summer and have committee chairs assigned by the beginning of the school year. We have monthly meetings with the choir boosters, and Brandon and I meet separately to plan and prepare.
“Starting in November, there are many calls to make, items to order, hundreds of volunteers to secure, packets to prepare, menus to create, food to order, collection of items for the printed program (pictures/bios of participating choirs and judges, ads, etc.). In January and February, we typically have something to take care of 2-3 days a week up until the day of the competition.”
This year’s Giant Spec will feature 52 choirs from 29 schools. Ben Davis students will act as hosts and each choir will be assigned a classroom as its “home” for the day. The event takes more than 100 volunteers.
“We also use rooms for video playback of the performances, hospitality for directors, bus drivers and our volunteers.” Leis said. “We use the media center for headquarters, the cafeteria for meals throughout the day, the gym, auditorium and theatre for performances, and the choir rooms for warm-up prior to performances. We also use the MPA for the choirs’ equipment storage.”
The photo gallery accompanying this article is from the choir retreats last week.
