Photos submitted by Suneja.

While most students are taking an opportunity to sleep in and relish in the warmth of their beds on a cold January morning, Hamilton Synergy members are waking up early to compete. This article looks at a deep dive of what it takes to compete as a singer/dancer on Hamilton Synergy.

The Night Before

The first part of competition prep actually starts the night before. Many Synergy members have sleepovers the night before in order to help each other prepare for competition the next day. The biggest part for all of the girls on the team is their hair. Most years, Synergy has done classic show choir roller curls which require rollers to be in the hair overnight. While they look beautiful and voluptuous on stage, they are a nightmare to put in yourself. That is why it is so helpful to put the rollers in with another person.

The Morning of: 7:30 - 9:10 a.m.

After dragging ourselves out of bed and stopping for a quick coffee run, Synergy members have to be at school at 7:30 a.m. in order to make it to Milton at the right time. While the bus actually leaves Hamilton at 8:00 a.m., that doesn’t mean students have a free half an hour to talk with friends before the bus leaves. Usually all of Synergy, including crew and combo, help to load a van with all of our equipment: instruments, lights, and all of our technical equipment. This van will be driven by one of the directors or a parent volunteer.

But that isn’t all, singer/dancers also have to make sure their garment bags are ready. What are garment bags? These are bags that hold both costumes. Having a costume change during the middle of the set means that students not only have to ensure one costume is clean and ready, but two entire costumes with multiple layers. Needless to say, these bags are very important to the performance.

The bus finally leaves after packing everything up. Synergy usually takes two buses to and from each competition. The buses are split up by grade level: freshman and juniors, and sophomores and seniors, and are definitely packed with all of our bags. Show choir bags are usually filled to the brim with everything students will need for an entire day at a competition: tights, shoes, makeup, hair products, curling irons, snacks, medicine, etc. These bags definitely take up space but can also be nice to use as a pillow during a long bus ride.

After an hour, the bus finally arrives at Milton High School.

Before the Performance: 9:10 - 11:50 a.m.

The first matter of business is being shown to our room by our room host. The room host is a member of the home school’s show choir that has been assigned to help us get everywhere we need to go throughout the day. Our room host will take the entire group to our room which usually has been decorated by the host team. The decorations are a little touch that really shows how much the host school loves to support other show choirs.

After finding a space to get ready, the first job of Synergy members is to unload the van with all of the equipment. Most years the members are given specific tasks that they are responsible for completing throughout the day. Examples of this would be helping with the drum kit, bringing the costume racks to the host room, or bringing the technical equipment to the loading area backstage. This needs to be done first and foremost so that throughout the rest of the day, everything is taken care of and we don’t have to worry about losing any pieces of equipment or not being prepared by the time of our performance.

Once everything is set up this is a period of free time. The members have time to grab food from the cafeteria and watch other groups perform. Synergy members are encouraged to go into the gym and watch as many performances as possible. One way Synergy spreads positivity at competitions is by yelling “Synergy loves you!” after every group performs and invites other groups to play games or dance with us when there is a pause in the schedule.

During this time is also when solo competitions take place. Solo competitions are when members can compete with a solo song and get one-on-one feedback from a judge at the competition. Synergy auditions their songs for our director and only 3-4 people get the opportunity at each competition. All of the solo competitors are able to win the best solo of the night. Some competitions do best tenor/bass solo and best treble solo and some do top three overall solo competition winners. The top three members get the opportunity to perform their solo in the gym for anyone who wants to watch before finals begin.

Performance Preparation: 11:50 - 1:00 p.m.

Performance preparation is arguably the most stressful part of a competition day. The preparation includes hair, makeup, and costumes. When 30 kids are sharing one room and stressing to get all of their costume pieces ready, it can get chaotic quickly.

This is all possible because of our amazing parent volunteers that are there to help with last minute costume hiccups and anything we need. The costumes need to be steamed and cleaned before we go on stage, and the only reason that happens is because of the parent volunteers that stay all day in order to help us get ready.

Combo, the group of students who play live music with the group, typically get ready before the singer/dancers do so that they can rehearse their music while the singer/dancers get ready. These students are immensely important to the overall success of the team because they are the music. This group is led by director Alex Chanto and has been very successful at every competition we have gone to. During this time crew members, the students who help with all of the back stage and technical tasks, also have the opportunity to get ready. Most crew members like to do some makeup that matches the singer/dancers and combo, but also are prepping all of the equipment to go to the stage. These two groups of students are the reason why this show happens.

Team Talk and Warm Ups: 1:15 - 2:05 p.m.

This is the most nerve wracking part of the day as anticipatory anxiety crawls its way through the team. This is when the hype master, currently senior Sydney Nicholas, works to get the team energized and ready for the performance. The team talk is also the time for the director to talk about what they have noticed throughout the day.

From the time we get off the bus to the time team talk starts, Synergy members typically don’t see much of their director. MC, former director of Synergy Show Choir, used to spend all of her time in the gym where the performances were to take note of the stage, microphones, and what had happened throughout the day. Having this knowledge is critical to the performance of the team because we know whether we need to be careful because the stage is slippery, or if the soloists need to keep the microphone far away from their face since the microphones are “hot.” This means that the microphones soloists use are very loud and soloists don’t need to sing very loud for their voices to be heard.

We then walk to warm ups. Although this may not seem like a very big deal, this is a key part for Synergy members to show off their professionalism. Teams are graded on their professionalism throughout the day which is shown through how they conduct themselves throughout the day in every interaction. One key part is the walk to warm ups. When Synergy members are walking they walk linked arms with another person, silently, with a smile on their faces. This is how the group will walk to and from the performance.

When we get to the warm up room the singer/dancers partake in a combined vocal and physical warm up while combo members are turning their instruments. The team then goes through any part of the set that the directors or student leadership believe need to be worked before going on stage. This could be choreography based, tempo based, or anything else that hasn’t been talked about enough.

Finally, the walk to the performance is afoot.

Performance: 2:10 - 2:35 p.m.

This is the moment we have been waiting for! Time to perform. The set has to be under 25 minutes including setting up any set decorations and tearing them down. After the performance members quickly hurry to take down the set so that we can get to critiques on time.

Critiques: 2:35 - 3:00 p.m.

Immediately after the performance Synergy meets with a judge to give feedback on the performance. The singer/dancers and crew go into one room with a judge to get feedback on the visual, vocal, and dance related performance while combo members go into another room with a band judge to get feedback specifically related to their performance.

While in the critique room this is another chance for Synergy members to show their professionalism. While in the room Synergy members are expected to sit with their legs crossed, smiling, and quiet. The entire time members patiently listen to all of the critiques given by the judge and nod along with them, even if we don’t agree with the feedback we got. After the critique is done a senior yells “3 2 1!” and everyone yells “Synergy Loves You!” to show the judge we appreciate their feedback and time spent at the competition.

After critiques are finished Synergy members must get out of costume, hang their costumes up, and situate their first costume from earlier in the set. Once all of these things are finished, members are encouraged to eat to get more energy and get back into the gym to support more teams until afternoon awards.

Afternoon Awards: 4:45 p.m.

This is the time when all members must be in the gym to hear awards. Awards will be announced for solo competitions, Best Combo, Best Crew, Best Dressed, the Spirit Award, and many other awards. The part that has everyone nervous is the announcement of who made it to finals. Only six teams make it to finals and it is based on the score from the first round.

If we do make it to finals the team will get ready again and perform. That means the departure time from Milton High School is around 10:30—we will get home around midnight.

If we do not make it to finals the team will pack up after afternoon awards and will depart from Milton High School around six and will be back to Hamilton around eight p.m. Either way, the team has had a long but fulfilling day of competition.

*This article follows the actual schedule of going to Milton: Rock the Rock 2024.