DURANT – More than 100 students from high schools around the area travelled to Durant to participate in the Chorvette Honor Show Choir at Southeastern on Monday and Tuesday.
The event started in 1989 and this is the 35th season to hold the clinic and performance.
Deborah Clements, an adjunct professor in the Theatre and Music department of SE, talked about the student-led event.
“The Chorvettes put this together,” Clements said.
“The (high school) kids send in a taped or a YouTube video of their audition. They have to sing a song of their choice that would be entertaining – up to a minute. And then the Chorvettes listen to all of the videos and we decide who is a ‘Yes’ and who is a ‘No.’
The amount of participants varies from year to year.
“We take whoever is good, those who are a ‘Yes.’ We don’t really have a cap.
“We try not to go over 140. This year, we have 109, but 170 auditioned, so we don’t say Yes to everyone.”
There was a full day of learning songs and choreography on Monday throughout the day. On Monday evening, some of the students performed songs and numbers they already knew to showcase their gifts and abilities in a talent show.
More rehearsal took place during the day on Tuesday and then the group performed before a crowd on Tuesday evening in Montgomery Auditorium. Winners of the talent show were also highlighted in the Tuesday show.
“I am just super proud of the Chorvettes, because this is completely student led as far as all the teaching,” Clements said. “I am the organizational person behind the scenes that gets music to all the teachers. But the Southeastern students are the ones who actually do the choreography. They teach the choreography. It’s their responsibility to get them onstage. I am just the facilitator.”
There were 15 local high schools that were represented in this year’s Honor Show Choir.