Quick to get into position, freshman Minha Khan gracefully sprints across the stage, only to get met with another student in the place she is meant to be. Under pressure, Khan did the only thing she saw fit at the moment.
“With about one second to spare, I bodied her, and then had to jump right into a dance move,” said Khan. This is a typical experience for many show choir students, and something Khan has had to embrace in her first year of show choir.
Entering Nouvelles, the junior varsity show choir group, Khan has had to work hard to perform well in concerts and exhibitions, such as the Quaker Classic Invitational, otherwise known as QCI. “Show choir is a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of work," said Khan. “Even in just the JV group, I am expected to come to class familiar with my music, and I should have reviewed the dances a couple of times.” While the workload is a lot to handle, the payoff has expanded beyond being a good performer, giving Khan lessons that she will carry with her for the rest of her life.
“I think it definitely has helped my teamwork abilities because I am a very stubborn person,” said Khan. “Most of the time, I am usually the one leading a group or project, but I think show choir has helped me relax on that need to be in control.” In Khan’s opinion, teamwork is natural in the world of show choir and is often embraced. At competitions especially, Khan participates in various traditions before performing.
“We have a tradition that we just call Circle. All the people in every choir gather around in a circle, and we just get hyped up for the concert. After this, we just wait until we go on,” said Khan. While Khan is in Nouvelles, she constantly finds herself encouraged by the performances from the varsity groups Belles et Beaux and Femme Fatales.
“When I watch them perform, I feel very inspired. Their choreography and their songs are all so intense, but it also just feels very magical watching them perform,” said Khan. “In the future, I would definitely feel very excited if I had the chance to join either of those groups.”
While life itself combined with show choir can be a lot to handle, it is a life Khan believes is more than obtainable, given all of the different factors going into it. “Nouvelles is a very fun class to introduce students to show choir. It can really help with a person’s confidence when performing,” said Khan. “The class is majorly student-led, so the upperclassmen have a chance to understand leadership roles, but the overall director does teach us a lot of our music and fine-tunes everything.”
With Khan being fairly new to the world of show choir, she still has plenty to experience; however, from what she has seen, Khan has a strong love for everything that goes into the competitions. “I really like to go to competitions and watch the other choirs perform their songs, but I also really like it when we host the choirs. It's only my first year, but so far I really like to host the competitions,” said Khan.
While a typical show choir competition from the outside looking in is full of talent and excitement, there is far more constantly happening quietly backstage. “You should always be backstage at least one song before you're going on. You can't make any sound at all. Sound can be heard in the audience, and that is not good,” said Khan. “After you perform, you walk on your toes to avoid making any noise and get back. Depending on how many times you perform, you usually cycle through that.”
Performing has always been a large part of who Khan is, and is something she would love to explore as she grows. However, she understands the risks that come with it, and in the case she does choose to explore a future in entertainment, she would do so cautiously.
“Pursuing music and singing in the future would be a dream come true, and I would love to do music professionally,” said Khan. “Unfortunately, it's a very unpredictable career, and I don't know if I would be ready to take that risk. I would gladly pursue music, but only if I had a back-up plan.”
Story by Braeden Craig