GUELPH – The stage lights shined a little brighter on April 5, as the Our Lady of Lourdes Show Choir Team competed at the Show Choir Canada Competition in Mississauga, ultimately taking the crown as 2025 national champions.
The team, composed of 15 students in Grades 9 to 12, dazzled the judges with performances centred around the group’s theme of female empowerment, including:
- What Was I Made for by Billie Eilish;
- Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend by Leo Robins;
- Material Girl by Madonna;
- I’m Just Ken from the Barbie movie;
- Diamonds by Rihanna; and
- Power by Little Mix .
“The idea was to sort of go through this journey of like a female who, you know, couldn’t really find their place in the world, and then going through some different songs to sort of see where they would end up,” said teacher advisor Anne-Marie Kane.
Show choir is quite a bit different from regular choir, as competitors are expected to choreograph their performance as well
“It’s not just singing, it’s singing and dancing,” said Kane.
“There’s pretty heavy choreography and [a] show program component to it … you’re adjudicated on the choral component, solo work, and then the dance part as well.”
Kane told the Advertiser groups from all over Canada, and a few from the United States, come together for this competition.
“Show choir is a pretty big industry in the United States,” she said.
“In Canada, it’s still kind of a young thing. We haven’t really exploded in popularity yet.”
Shows like Glee and aspects of High School Musical offer a brief glimpse into the world of show choir.
Despite show choir not being as popular as it is in the U.S., Kane said she has hope the performances will take off and hasn’t ruled out traveling to the States with her team.
“If the team continues to grow, and, you know, we can attract more students who are competitive, who want to do that kind of thing, I’d be happy to take them wherever they want it to go … it’s important for kids to be able to take these opportunities,” she said.
Asked about next year’s plans, Kane said it will be a “year of growth” as many students will be graduating and moving on.
“A lot of our team are senior students, so they’ll be moving on. It really does take a few years to learn how to do it, you know, like they learn what kind of commitment it takes,” Kane explained.
“So if they start in grade nine, by the time they get to grade 12, they realize, ‘Okay, this is what it’s going to take for us to win.’
“I think next year will be a bit of a year of growth. Our team will look very different next year, so we’ll see.”
Kane gave a special shout-out to this year’s team captains: Ella Davis from Wellington County and Daniella Regalado of Guelph.
“Our team captains, they really put in a lot of time and effort,” said Kane.
“Ella and Daniella really put a lot of hours into thinking about the show and making sure all the details were there.”
Davis began mapping out the choreography for the performance last summer, adding and changing things as the school year progressed.
Regalado spent plenty of time working out all of the songs to make sure they highlighted the group in the best way possible.
“They worked very hard on that,” said Kane.
“I think I’m extra proud of it because it was very student-centred … I think overall, it was a really good production.”
