Bright red lipstick and colorful eye shadow is scattered across the bathroom counter. Millions of frantic girls are running all around the miniscule bathroom trying to find the perfect spot to look in the mirror. This is the world of “Show Choir”, and the crazy things we deal with to get that fabulous “stage appropriate” look.
The first step to a perfect show choir look is a clean palette. Therefore, the first thing I do to prepare for a show choir competition is I use make-up remover to remove previous make-up. I then exfoliate and cleanse to perfection and apply all sorts of lotions to my face. Then the make-up begins. I usually apply my show choir make-up at home before we go to a competition, but if the competition is out of town, I usually complete it there. I begin with foundation to remove shine and then I use concealer to make my skin glow. Next, I use liquid eyeliner on the top of my eyes, and pencil eyeliner for the bottom. Bright red lipstick or lip gloss is next, then comes eye shadow. Generally, I have a friend do this for me, because I am not the best at eye shadow. The first color I use is white, which goes on my eyelids, and then I use pink and silver and mix these together, to get the ideal color. This process usually takes an hour, because I am a perfectionist when it comes to hair and make-up for show choir. After my make-up is flawless, I move to the most dreaded, terrifying thing for show choir girls, hair. This year, we straighten our hair, part it to the right, and poof it in the front. I begin this process, by washing my hair, and then straightening it. Subsequent to straightening, I separate my hair into four portions. One for the side part, one for the hair put in the ponytail, one for the hair left down, and one for the hair that will be back combed. I begin by taking separate strands from the portion of my hair that will be back combed. I back comb these strands and put them in the front, until the whole section is back combed. Then, I put the hair back and hairspray it. For extra lift and better hold, I place a “bump it” (an item used to help poof your hair) and place it under the crown of my hair. I put it in a super tight ponytail and hairspray it some more and adjust the poof, so that it looks more polished. After this, I take the second portion for the side part and part it to the right, and put three to four bobby pins in there, so that it is secure. I straighten my hair again, and then put more hairspray in. Hairspray is the key to this process, and I can go through a whole bottle for one competition! Less is never more in show choir! After this process, my hair is a hard and sticky mess from all the hairspray, but the poof is colossal and I am almost ready to hit the stage.
Before we can perform, we have to put our lovely costumes on! This year, we have gorgeous purple dresses for our opener and ballad (slow song), and white shorts and a black halter for our novelty (comical song), and closer. We put on our uncomfortable strapless bras, panty hose, and purple spankies, and then put our black halters on over that. The black halters usually slide down during performances, so we use double stick tape to make sure that they stay up. After this, we put our purple dresses, earrings, and shoes on. We take our white shorts and place them on the costume rack in numerical order, so that we can find them for our costume change. Finally, we are ready to perform, but we still have to warm up! Mr. Sands, our director, usually gives us a certain time to be ready; and ready or not, we have to start warming up at that time. We stand in a circle, with Mr. Sands in the middle playing the piano, and run through our warm-ups. If we have time, we may even practice a few trouble spots that take place during our show. After this is done, we line up and link arms with our ballad partners. We are told to be silent, and we walk to the warm-up room. This dreadful walk is filled with nervous emotions and looks of excitement. It seems to last forever, and by the time we arrive at the warm-up room, we are about to burst with energy. In the warm up room, we run through our show, and quickly do what we can to fix our trouble spots. We work on vocals, choreography, and energy, and then finally we get the call to go to the stage.
Squeals of excitement and nervous laughter can be heard from all around. Darrius leads the Protégé cheer that is as follows: “Alright, Alright, Alright!” “Okay Okay Okay!” Alright! Okay! Get down Protégé! We are full of energy, excitement, and nerves after this cheer, and we just can’t wait to take the stage and perform an incredible show. But first, we go to a storage room, and grab the millions of props that we use. I take the stairs for the soloists onto the stage, and place them behind the stage. Then, I grab my white shorts from the costume rack and place them in the changing areas. Then, I grab my sign for the novelty and place it by my shorts. People are frantically placing desks (for our novelty) on the sides of stage, and screaming out words of encouragement. At some competitions, we are timed, and at those competitions we are even more stressed out about getting all of our props ready. Finally, we are ready to take the stage, and we line up on the sides. Hugs and nervous smiles are shared with the people that stand nearest to me. We hear the drum that cues us to go on, and it is time to go on stage, and perform our hearts out.
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