On May 19th and 20th, the SWHS choral department participated in their annual “POPS” concert. This performance is not only a fan favorite, but also an important celebration of the group’s involvement, as well as one final goodbye for the seniors.
Both nights began with the Star Spangled Banner, performed by the all girls acapella group, Treble Choir. The group sang a piece called ‘Time’, followed by ‘Dynamite’, featuring performances by soloists Jasmine Vannasouk, Kaitlyn Roy, Debduti Chatterjee and Anagha Josyula.
Throughout both shows audiences also got to enjoy “spotlight solos”, which allow students to showcase a song or dance number. Soloists in this category gave a wide variety of performances, including vocal performances, instrumental performances, and dance numbers like hip-hop and Irish dance.
SWHS junior, Jane Carty, attended the Wednesday night POPS concert, and said, “I always love to see the spotlight solos and watch my classmates show off a favorite song or dance that they have prepared specifically for the concert.”
The all boys acapella group, Understaffed, had their moment at POPS too. Their take on the 2015 hit “Cheerleader”, and the pom-pom prop they snuck into the performance, had the whole crowd cackling in their seats.
The final performance before intermission included The Lid, (AKA Spectrum Band), where band members could be seen wearing Hawaiian shirts. The band performed “Jump, Jive and Wail” by L. Prima, and featured lead vocalist, sophomore Keshav Prem.
During the intermission, many audience members took a break in the lobby where they could purchase a variety of snacks, candies, and drinks. Audience members could also purchase rubber ducks, accompanied by a snack and note, to be delivered to a student in one of the musical acts. ‘Ducks’ can be found at all choral concerts at South Windsor High School, and give parents, families, and friends an opportunity to celebrate their performer,
After the intermission, the audience eagerly returned to their seats, to see the final performance of the night. The combined choirs put on a show called “Journey through Oz,” including songs from The Wizard of Oz, Wicked, and The Wiz, and featuring dance performances by the “Ozians”, and characters like Glinda, Elphaba, Dorthy, the Tin Man, the Lion, the Scarecrow, the Wizard and more.
Members of the Pops Dance Team danced through the aisles of the auditorium, moving towards the stage. Treble Choir, Understaffed, and concert choir members stood behind the dancers on the risers where they harmonized and sang.
To put an end to the night, the groups came together to sing one final song, leaving family members in the audience in tears. The final goodbye of the choral department’s senior class every year, is celebrated through the song “Showing Us The Way.” The song has been sung every year at POPS since Choir Director, Jereme Martineau, first started teaching at South Windsor. The song features lyrics like “Here we are tying up the loose ends/and saying last goodbyes to all our friends,” and “Where we’re going to it’s still hard to say/But I know we’ll come back someday,” making it even more meaningful and relevant to the senior class, and all they have contributed to the school during the last 4 years.
SWHS senior and Choral Spectrum student leader Kaleigh Aparo shared with The Prowl, “POPS has always been a bittersweet moment for me, and will continue to have that impact, especially since my sister will continue that legacy next year.
