by Hannah Herring

On February 27th, Dorman Chorus took part in the District Six Choral Festival, which was themed “Seize the Day” from the hit Broadway Musical The Newsies. This concert entailed chorus members ranging from fifth to twelfth grade students performing together. The opening song was the “Star Spangled Banner,” which was performed by all of the festival participants. Then, chamber singers performed “Alleluia” by Jake Runestad, and they later performed “I Can Tell the World.” The dissonance and wide variety of dynamics in their pieces resulted in standing ovations from the audience.

The middle school honor choir sang “Babethandaza,” which was written by Victor C. Johnson and “Closer to the Flame” by David Lantz III. Even though their choir was composed of three separate middle schools, they sounded very prepared and comfortable on stage. The elementary school choir sang a variety of songs including, “The World is Full of Poetry,” “I Love Chocolate,” and “Feel Good.” Of the pieces, “I Love Chocolate” was definitely an audience favorite. Chamber member Reagan Holmes said, “I thought it was super cute and really enjoyed seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces while they were singing the piece.” Along with singing, the fifth graders incorporated fun hand movements.

Dorman Chorus sang a few more songs, including single-gender pieces, and then, the entire choir performed their last piece “Seize the Day.” Being the theme of the concert, it was enjoyable to hear the entire choir sing “Seize the Day.” From the enthusiastic fifth graders to the more experienced high school students, everyone on stage contributed to the concert and the ultimate goal of creating beautiful music.