Berkley High School has always had a taste for the arts, with a variety of music, theater, dance, and design classes that expose students to the vast culture of the arts. These various aspects are perfectly blended in Berkley High School’s Encore show choir.
With an emphasis on dance and vocalization, Encore is an integral part of the Berkley Arts. This was reflected on their recent trip to the Norwell Show Choir Invitational. On March 13-15, the show choir made its way to Norwell, Indiana, for the second time and achieved some great successes!
The competition had a total of 18 choirs split into three categories: small group, medium group, and large group. Berkley was placed in the small group division, where they had a very successful run, winning two group awards and multiple individual awards. The group awards won were “Tech and Crew Award” as well as what is lovingly known as “The Grandma’s Choir Award.” This was a special honor that was awarded to the choir that best represented the heart and family connections that the show choir is rooted in.
Furthermore, Sophomore James Newall received the “Outstanding Performer” award, which is presented to one member per choir. The choir also had soloist opportunities for many students, with Berkley sending six soloists: Heiress Brame, Alise Herron, Angelina Sehi, Maddie Avery, and Anna Harthan. Out of the group, Harthan placed the highest, at sixth out of all the soloists at the invitational.
The performance that Encore cultivated for this competition was a set list specifically curated to tell a story as the songs progress. The theme this year was “Urban Legends Unleashed,” and it followed the Encore Show Choir on a trip to a spooky haunted house.
Throughout the story, they encounter “monsters” that come to life, enticing the choir to join them. Ultimately, the choir does, and they all become a ‘family.” This storyline was achieved through the choreography and vocals of five songs: “Little Shop of Horrors” from Little Shop of Horrors the Musical, “Help” by The Beatles, “Thriller” by Michael Jackson, “No Time to Die” by Billie Eilish, and “Move Towards the Darkness” from the Addams Family Musical.
It is not only music that is used to convey the storyline, but the set design, costumes, and choreography as well. The set pieces consisted of faux stone archways that were created with the help of many students in the choir, including Assistant Zachary Guerra, who was in charge of tech and crew.
To convey the idea of a haunted house, the story featured scary characters: Newall played Frankenstein, Brame played Frankenstein’s wife, Sehi played the vampire, and Harthan played the werewolf. Overall, this culminated into a beautiful, cohesive piece. Making the set come to life took many months. At the end of the 2024-2025 school year, students in Encore make presentations with their ideas for the next year’s set. They pitch their presentations to the students in the class and vote.
The set for the 2025-2026 school year was created by senior dance captain for Encore, Heiress Brame. She put a lot of time and effort into it, stating, “I got my personal set chosen, and I got the creative liberty of choreographing, so it felt very personal to me because I got to see my idea come to life and I got to have a huge hand in it.”
Because Brame is also the dance captain, she had the special experience of making her whole image come to life.
Brame highlights this when stating, “I get to be very intentional about every move and what I want each move to be, and how that looks as a greater picture was very special for me to see come to life.” It was a great opportunity for Brame, which does not happen for many.
From the selection of the sets, the group moved into learning vocals and harmonies for each song under the direction of conductor Sarah Noble, at the beginning of this school year. They then moved to choreography and specifically honed in on each song at a time, learning them until the early second semester. From there, they focused on the little details of the whole set, perfecting it all.
Newall touches on this point, stating, “We got it all ready, and it’s just been month after month of reviewing and sharpening and improving and nitpicking the tiniest little details to make it better and better. It was a lot of hard work and dedication, and we got it to where we wanted to be.”
Because Encore attended this competition once before, they were able to use their prior knowledge to best prepare and match the energy and levels of the event.
Brame mentions this when claiming, “We went to the Norwell Show Choir, and we had to up our game. We used that year to study what was going to happen, but we weren’t very sure. We felt out of place at first, but this year we felt very comfortable because over half the ensemble had been there the year prior, and we also knew what to expect there, so it was very chill this year, and it was a nice fruition of things.”
They look to up the stakes each year, with so much in store for the future.
Overall, the competition was very successful for the Berkley group, and there were many highlights for the students. Newall, who is new to the class this year, felt as though the community was remarkably embracing and loving. He put a large emphasis on the encouragement and support of the choirs there and the overall environment.
Newall went on to explain, “even if your name wasn’t called to be a finalist or if your name wasn’t called to win an award, the amount of applause you received not just from the people in your group but the surrounding choirs too was astounding.”
Specifically within Encore, there was an enormous amount of support and community. They have a process called Snaps, where they write inspirational messages and words of encouragement to each other. Newall mentions that, “there were so many Snaps and we had so many words of encouragement and a lot of love and community during competition.” The inviting environment of the competition is something the choir will carry with them through this year and hopefully onto the next, with great things to come!
