Seminole High School’s chorus has been preparing for their performance in the Festival Disney event at Walt Disney World from March 10- 12. Destiny and Dynamics, Gospel Choir and First Take are performing. Festival Disney is a performing arts section of the Disney Youth Programs that holds annual vocal and instrumental competitions. The vocal competition is open to orchestras, vocal ensembles and show choirs and the events are held in venues across the Walt Disney World Resort.

The chorus groups learn their sets at the beginning of the year and continue to practice their sets until they compete. Sets usually consist of four songs and the chorus’ sponsor Lesa Boettcher creates the choreography.

The chorus members prepare individually in many ways. Senior Cory Martin states, “To prepare for competitions, I usually practice the music given to me and sit down with a piano to practice ear and pitch training in case I need to sight read. Studying music theory usually helps as well.”

On the first day of Festival Disney, each group quickly runs through their songs and positions on stage. They then perform and, after each performance, judges critique each group. Scores are announced the following day.

Describing her experience with chorus, junior Emily Cubero-Moran says, “I’ve competed in chorus competitions before. It’s a lot of fun but also a little scary. I’m looking forward to Festival Disney because we get to perform at one of the theme parks.”

The chorus continues to entertain participants throughout the years. Competitors repeatedly enjoy their performances.

Martin says, “The most recent competition I’ve done for chorus is All-State. I competed against some of the most talented chorus students in the state for a spot in the All-State choir. For me, the experience was very rigorous and new since I had never competed at such a high level before, but I believe that doing All-State really helped to test my singing abilities and ultimately make me a better singer.”

The chorus challenge those who compete and it also provides extensive experiences for its members.

Expressing her content with chorus, Junior Molly Whitehead states, “This has been my second year in chorus so I had the chance to compete with everyone last year. We all had a blast last year and did extremely well with all of our groups earning superior ratings.”

The chorus has prepared extensively for Festival Disney and hopes to perform to their best ability.