The show must go on

Mt. Pleasant - The Mt. Pleasant Community High School Show Choir group, InMotion, plans on competing this year, despite constricting health and safety regulations, brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.

High school choir teacher and InMotion'ss director Marlene DePriest said the group is planning on attending all of the competitions they would attend during a regular competition season. So far, the four invitationals the group usually competes in have not been canceled as of the time of publication.

Competitions include the Davenport North, Pella, Central Lee and Fort Madison show choir invitationals. The season normally begins the last weekend of January and ends the first weekend of March.

With the season in the middle of winter, many experts expect coronavirus case numbers akin to last spring to arise, meaning the likelihood of a season still is up in the air for the group.

'All of this is very fluid, none of us know for sure that there's going to be a competitive season, but we're going on as if there is,” DePriest said.

With the end of the pandemic nowhere in sight, the group has had to adjust its practices taking aerosol studies, done by the National Health Institute, into consideration.

The group has to wear face coverings at all times, as well as social distance when singing. They have time constraints on practices and performances, with groups not being able to sing more than 30 minutes before having to stop, and let the room 'air out.”

Health guidelines also recommend practicing or performing in large spaces due to the large number of particles released when people sing.

To accommodate the mitigation measures, the group has cut practice times to an hour: half an hour singing in the choir room, and half an hour dancing in another room. They have had to reduce the number of people that are practicing at one time, splitting the group between girls and boys.

'It's becoming challenging, we're being as effective as we can, but I know they're all dying to be back to normal when we can all be together in a room,” DePriest said.

The group is far away from the season and is just now beginning to start on vocals, but DePriest is confident it will be a great year, despite the changes.

'We are in the infancy stages still, but rehearsal last night was really, really good,” DePriest said.

The group's show will include songs such as: 'Under One Sky,” 'Crazy Equal's Genius,” 'Heathen's,” 'One Last Prayer,” 'Greedy,” 'Girl Goodbye” and 'Destroyer.”

DePriest said the whole music department is getting creative and still finding ways to perform this year.

'The whole music department is working hard to find as many opportunities to make it as normal as we possibly can because these kids are just fantastic and they work so hard,” DePriest said.