Show choir competition season, a period of time that involves many months of practice for only five competitions, spans from the end of January through the beginning of March. Each weekend, members of both Impact and Impulse wake up before the crack of dawn to begin the 20+ hour days of show choir.

    Alarms ring as early as 3:30 a.m., curling irons get turned on, makeup gets applied, and all the members of both show choirs head to Wahlert to load busses with equipment.

    My morning routine, along with seniors Annie Hingtgen and Katy Fricano and junior Caroline Igo’s  is a little more relaxed than the choir members. We get ourselves ready for the day, but not until the actual  show, is the pressure on us.

    We make up the stage crew for Impulse, Wahlert’s varsity show choir. Since we do not have to curl our hair or apply the makeup that the choir members are required to do, we spend our early mornings making sure all of the equipment makes it on to the bus. We  assure that all of the instruments, clothing racks, storage containers, soloists’ stand, mirrors, and much more make it on to the bus before we depart.

    Once at the competition, the four of us assist in anything that the choir or band members need. If someone needs hair curled, help with makeup, food/water, or anything else, we help to the best of our ability.

    We spend hours in a classroom with hairspray-filled air, flying costumes, and frantic high schoolers preparing themselves to perform. We don’t have much to do until performance time unless approached by a choir member, band member, or director.

    Before performing, the entire team (choir, band, crew, and directors) meets back in the classroom for a pre-warm up meeting. At this point, we four crew members begin to make sure that all of the costumes are correctly placed on the costume racks and everything is in place for performance. Once we get the “go” from Mr. Behnke, we roll our costume racks and storage bins to the warm up room.

    Here, the choir and band members run through a vocal, sound and dance warmup to get ready for the performance. At this point, the crew double checks to make sure everyone has everything they need for the performance.

    Once warm ups are completed, everyone splits into groups of guys, girls, band, and crew to “break it down.”  Once each separate group is finished, the choir gathers together to recite the Impulse chant just before the performance. Then, we head backstage, and it’s go time.

    Annie and Katy roll their clothing rack to stage left, and Caroline and I roll our clothing rack to stage right. Simultaneously, the band begins to set up behind the stage, and the choir makes their way backstage. As crew members, this is our time to both calm nerves and pump up the choir members. With the two clicks of the drum, the choir gracefully makes its way on stage.

    During the first two songs, “Chasing Twisters” and “I’m All Over It,” the crew once again checks to make sure everything is ready for when the choir members change. At the end of the ballad, “Echo,” the girls run off the stage to the changing area. This is what the crew likes to call “our time to shine.”

    For several minutes, dresses are flying, heels are thrown, clothes are grabbed off the racks, and outfits are changed. The crew members remove all of the clothes and shoes off the ground, place them in storage containers, and assist any choir members who need help with their outfits. Once they are dressed, the girls take the stage in their second outfits while the guys run off stage to quickly change into another outfit.

    Once again, jackets are flying, shoes are thrown, and we assist anyone who needs help. When everyone has his outfit, the guys wait for their cue and take the stage for the closing song, a mashup of “DJ Got Us Fallin’ in Love” and “Strobe Light.” If everyone makes it on stage in time, the four crew members sigh in relief and celebrate.

    As the show closes, the choir bows, runs off stage, and everyone packs up to leave the stage. Immediately after the performance, all Impulse choir, band, crew and directors head to critique, which is when a judge from the competition states what the judges liked about the performance, as well as areas in which we can improve.

    Later during the day, awards occur, and if we are lucky enough, we perform once again in night finals. Then, final awards roll around, and we find out how well we placed in the competition. After this, we pack everything back on to the busses and head home.

    Most competitions, we do not arrive back to school until almost 2 in the morning, which makes for roughly a 21-23 hour day together. Even though it seems crazy to spend over 20 hours with your team for five Saturdays in a row, all of the members of Impact and Impulse grow so close that the time seems to fly by.

    I am glad that I got the chance to be a part of Impulse’s crew this year. Through all the cold weather, long bus rides, hairspray-filled rooms, missing shoes, and 22-hour Saturdays, I got the chance to become friends with so many people and realized that the people in show choir are some of the hardest working people out there.

    Whether it’s on stage or back stage, at practice or in the classroom, the members of show choir must work hard in everything in order to keep balanced lives.