One Family

               When you walk into the front doors of Kennedy High School, you have to make a choice to go left or right. If you go left, you will find yourself venturing towards the athletic wing of the school. If you go right, you will find yourself going towards the performing arts wing. This is where I spend up to eleven hours a day and at the least, five. Sounds crazy right? If you think about it, that is the equivalent to and entire school day. When you love something like performing arts as much as I do, it isn’t crazy. It’s passion.

            Within the performing arts department, there are multiple societies. There is band, orchestra, theatre, choir, and show choir. I am involved with show choir, choir, and theatre. The members of show choir are chosen based on auditions. Anyone can be a part of the regular choirs, but the choir you are in is based on your vocal audition you do for the directors. For those who think show choir is easy, or for sissies, all I have to say is, “Don’t make your opinion until you’ve tried it.”

            For show choir, we practice for three hours, two nights a week. We have nine hour choreography retreats two weekends out of the month and rehearse with coreography our songs in class every other day. It is very intense. To have a good group you need to have dedicated members who can handle whatever is thrown their way. Like all societies, we do have our problems once in a while. There is the occasional arguing and disputes, but in the end we are a family and that is what matters.

            At Kennedy there are three show choirs, Chanteurs, Protégé, and Happiness Inc. The rules are that students who are in grades 9 or 10 are not allowed to be in Happiness, unless the director sees extreme talent over upperclassmen. This is a rule that I wish would change. I believe that if a student has more talent than an upperclassman it should not matter on the age, but solely on the talent. In every sport it is like this, and yes I did just say that show choir is a sport. Take softball for example, if the coach sees talent in a younger player, enough talent to play on the varsity level, then the coach will move that player up. Unfortunately in show choir you are not given an entire season to impress or catch the directors eye. You have one shot and that is it.

            In theatre it is kind of the same way. There are different opportunities to show your talents in theatre. If you are good at building things, controlling lights, or giving direction, the behind the scenes work is for you. If you like to be up in front of people strutting your stuff, then the performance part of theatre is for you. Within the performing part you can be in speech, the musicals, and plays. All of the performing group members are chosen based off of audition. In the audition you read part of the script, sometimes you sing, and sometimes you dance. Depending on what show it is will determine the audition material.

            The rules in theatre are that you have fun! There are a lot of different personalities that are involved with theatre so naturally there is sometimes conflict. Once again what it comes down to is that spending time with these people creates a family, and that is the most rewarding thing.

            Some groups we are a part of are athletic, some involve performing in front of thousands of people, and some groups we are a part of, but don’t even know it. No matter what kind of group or association, I believe that they all share one thing in common, the idea of unity and family. When you are a part of a team or a group you are one. You all love to do the same thing, and that is what is most important.