Students sing & dance with the pros

High school students got a chance to sing and dance with the best of them today at Northern Michigan University.

NMU’s Music Department hosted the event, which featured show choir and chorale members from high schools across the U.P.

“We’re here for the sing dance workshop at NMU,” Gwinn student Bobby Proulx said.  “Basically the different school districts and NMU’s Superior Select Choir and we’re going to be learning new choreography and different songs, and we’re just going to have a grand old time.”

“I would really enjoy coming to NMU for musical education, how to each music at a middle school or high school.  The music program at Gwinn is really awesome, we have a lot of dedicated people.  Our director is really awesome, he always does hands on stuff and he’s always getting us involved in things like this.  It’s just really fun, I like to do it a lot.”

Students first performed as individuals before going back into small groups where they discussed ways to improve their craft with theater professor Paul Truckey and clinician Lora-jean Jones. Then, students broke into groups and presented select pieces for a panel of judges.

The day-long workshop will conclude later tonight when the high school show choirs perform alongside their professional counterparts at Reynolds Recital Hall.

Showtime starts at 6:30 p.m., and is free and open to the public.