For the first time in Sing Song history, a class act, the Juniors, was disbanded.
The directors, Audrey Linder, a junior nursing major from Amarillo, and Elizabeth Coates, a junior psychology major from Round Rock, announced to their act via email on Jan. 25 that it would be in the best interest of all to cut the program.
In the fall, the act met the 25-member minimum, but as time went on, the group had a continuous flow of people dropping out, according to Nick Tatum, director of student productions.
“We gave them permission to drop out and encouraged the people to enjoy other acts,” Tatum said.
Even though this is the first year an act has been disbanded, Tatum said he thinks student productions should continue approaching class acts in the same way.
“If there reaches a point where groups don’t feel proud of what they think the final product should be, we should always be willing to reevaluate for the sake of the students and the show,” Tatum said.
Linder said the act’s music was composed with finalized lyrics, the set design was thought up, costume prototypes were made and they were in the process of learning music.
“Sometimes things are out of your control but that doesn’t mean Sing Song isn’t a great time,” Coates said. “The hardest part about cutting the act was the feeling of letting down our other directors and the members that were committed to the act. It was hard to let go of something we had created and bonded so much with. I am not in any other acts. At the end of the day, it was really upsetting to end our act. But, we really believe it was the right thing to do for our members and Sing Song overall.”
Linder said she grew up around Sing Song, and creating an act was a dream come true.
“Working with Elizabeth made it that much sweeter,” Linder said. “We really are a complimentary team in personalities and strengths, and both have had choral and Sing Song experience prior to this which helped a lot in practices and planning.”
Moving forward, Linder will join the senior act alongside a few other people from the junior act.
“Through this, I feel extremely humbled,” Linder said. “I realized that I thought this act would come together and be amazing because I was directing, that if we were in a pinch that would be enough to get more members. However, it didn’t play out that way and I think that’s okay and an important reminder that things are bigger than me.”
