Showing Some Hart in the Big Apple

by Stephanie Struyck Elgin

The Hart High Show Choir has a lot to be proud of.  All four show choir groups, Sweetharts, Hart ‘n Soul, Hartbreakers, and Sound Vibrations have been spending their competition season traveling extensively throughout Southern California competing against other top high school show choirs, taking Grand Champions at many of the competitions in California over the last five years. Among the locations they have competed and performed at include:  San Francisco, Orlando, Illinois, and Hawaii.  Hartbreakers, Hart’s advanced women’s group and Sound Vibrations, Hart’s advanced mixed group take it to the next level, competing in yearly national competitions. 
This year, Hartbreakers and Sound Vibrations had the exciting opportunity of competing at the Fame competition at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York City. On the evening of March 22, both groups returned home victorious after having been crowned Grand Champions in their respective divisions while competing against some of the top show choirs in the country. 
Not only did they take first place, the Show Choir also received honors for best choreography for their dance numbers, and two of the Choir’s talented students went on to win individual awards.  Junior Miky Tayoba, was voted most outstanding male performer. I was extremely thrilled because all of my sacrificing and hard work has finally paid off,” stated Miky.  “It was cool!”  Alyssa Adair, a junior at Hart, won most outstanding female vocalist. “I was totally shocked,” says Alyssa.  “I thought they had the wrong name at first, but then I was insanely happy and honored. It was fantastic. I called my mother and was crying.”
“This was a wonderful opportunity for the students to show off their talent and hard work,” stated Jenny Nicolaisen, Hart High Show Choir Publicity Chair.  “The choirs have been fundraising all year to be able to attend this competition and compete with the best.”
And while the highlight of the trip was performing at Lincoln Center, staying near Times Square, visiting the Empire State Building, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were all unforgettable experiences for the students. They are the hardest working kids I have had in a long time.  They were really on their game…they gave 110 percent, so I was really happy that the dream they had been working towards came true for them,” stated Gail Hart, Hart Show Choir Director.
Not only are they an award winning choir, they also received the honor of being filmed as the featured show choir for a documentary that will be shown in Great Britain, following the television series Glee.  A few months back, the film crew came to Hart High to document Hart’s choir during their practices and performances.  “It was a fun and exciting experience for the choir students,” states Jenny, “and it will show audiences what a real show choir is like.”