 October and November have been busy, busy months here at Vista Hills Chorus HQ. We bid our dual members Cherie, Debra, Denise, Diane, Melanie, and Sue the very best of luck and love as they took International stage and they gave two spellbinding performances, bringing home lovely seventh place medals that we continue to admire. They really do inspire us, and we could not be prouder of all of our friends who crossed International stage this year.
One very short week later, we had our first all-day rehearsal with Melanie and "busy" doesn't begin to describe it. Setup crew showed up at 8 with caffeine in hand and at 830, we all got started on our Mission: Retention challenge for November, a neat exercise about recognizing each others' strengths and contributions. This was a great way to start our day on a positive note and with a little bit of good cheer, energy that was put to good use as we worked on our contest music and learned about Visual Communication from Ann Grannan and Jan Pruett. Over lunch, we did some talking about the chorus image and mission statement; we even had some creative ideas going for a potential new logo. This has been a particularly interesting project for our chorus as we learn and grow under our new musical leadership and start to establish ourselves within our community. After lunch, Jan got us all moving with a new choreo plan for one of our favorite songs, a hybrid plan built on what Jennifer put together with a little bit of updated flair. With all of that going on, you might think we had enough moving pieces for one day. But wait, there's more! We had to add just a little bit of extra shine to our day by announcing the holiday show theme and doing a full read of our script with emcee Nilene Thompson-Finn and a surprise character played by yours truly (for now). This year has been a wild ride and we will continue to work hard as we prepare for our holiday show on December 14th. Of course, we owe a great big shout-out to our very own Melanie Jewell, who shows us every week what it means to lead with grace and enthusiasm. Thank you, Mel! - Kaidee Metcalfe |