By Chris Bavender
It’s been a successful show choir season this year for Zionsville High School’s Choralaires and Royalaires. In competitions Feb. 9 at Pike High School and Feb. 23 at Franklin Central, the Choralaires were named grand champions and the Royalaires were first runners-up at Pike and Grand Champion at Franklin Central.
Through the years, both groups have won awards for best vocals and best choreography.
“I think it provides a validation of their hard work and attention to detail,” said Aaron Coates, co-director of both ensembles. “Competitive success adds to our organization’s list of things for which to be thankful.”
The Choralaires is an all-women’s show choir made up of sophomores, juniors and seniors. There are 64 girls in Choralaires. The Royalaires is a co-ed show choir made up of sophomores, juniors and seniors. There are 56 students (28 couples) in Royalaires. Deana Broge is co-director with Coates.
“(The show choirs are) blessed with a tradition of excellence that gives the students a history of work ethic and high expectations,” Coates said. “We have excellent parental support and groups of parents that work hard for the kids in the form of spirit committees, crew dads and costume moms. We have a ‘secret weapon,’ that’s not so secret, in an excellent back-up band we call the ‘combo’ that works very hard on their own time to be great instrumental support. We have an expert staff of choreographers and clinicians.”
As directors, Coates said they’re always happy to see students show improvement and have their hard work and attention to detail rewarded.
“Being a part of our ensembles helps students to develop a stronger work ethic, to become better musicians, to understand what it means to sacrifice personal things for the benefit of the team, to grow as young adults in terms of confidence, accountability, personality, and to develop meaningful friendships,” Coates said.
The Choralaires and Royalaires have one competition left this season: March 9 at Lawrence Central High School.
The year-end concert, called “Finale 2019,” is set for May 10 and 11 at the Zionsville Performing Arts Center.
Tickets can be purchased at the host high school the day of the event. Tickets for “Finale 2019” are available at zvilleperformingarts.org/tickets-2 beginning in April.
