Show Choir Season So Far

Northwest High School show choirs Eos and Aurora have had a very successful season so far.

When Northwest opened, the Waukee show choir program had to split, leaving half of the kids at Waukee, and the other half at the new Northwest. That makes Northwest’s show choir program only 2 years old at the time of publication. EOS is Northwest High School’s varsity show choir, their performance this year is called Unbroken Circle. It is meant to portray finding family and moving out of your comfort zone. So far, the only show choir to beat EOS is Linn Mar from Cedar Rapids. Aurora is Northwest High School’s junior varsity show choir, their performance this year is called Vagabond. As of right now, Northwest’s 2 show choirs have competed in 3 competitions. These competitions occur about every other weekend, lasting all day. The performers arrive at the school around 7 am and leave the competition around 10:30 – midnight. They arrive, walk around the school, then start warming up. They put on costumes and prepare to perform. Each performance lasts anywhere from 15-20 minutes.

Sophomore Maren Manning is involved in the show choir band for Aurora. She stated, “It’s important we perform well even though we are not on stage, we still get judged and are part of the final score.” There are around 15 people in Aurora’s show band and around 20 in EOS’s show band. Sophomore Maggie Miller is a part of Aurora this year. She stated, “I know we’ve done a good job when people I have never met before come up to congratulate us on our performance.” The show choir performers are typically judged on four components vocals, visuals, show, and band. Show choirs can not just win the best show choir overall, but also specific awards. At the Johnston Showzam competition, not only did EOS win first prize place but also won best visuals and best performer (Olivia Morgan).

The show choirs have one performance that they learn and then build on throughout the season. Sophomore Greta Paulsen is a part of EOS this year. She stated, “​​Over the summer, we spend the whole day learning the choreography for a whole show. Even though the choreography stays the same, we make tweaks and clean it up throughout the whole year, so the show ends up changing a lot.” Altogether, being involved in show choir is a fun and rewarding experience for anyone who tries it.