Sing Song Countdown: One day more...

I wish I could capture in words the fun and excitement and profusion of color and ultimate adrenaline-filled chaos that is Sing Song. I wish my descriptions of kelly green frogs and pirates with spray-painted swords and sheep with "wool" made of cotton batting would do the real thing justice. But I can't. You absolutely have to be in Moody and get a visual. Nothing I can say would measure up to the reality of hundreds of stockinged feet beating down a corridor, crowding past metal gates and black-clad production staff members with nametags. Or the transformation that happens when we get up on stage - when suddenly, we ARE Jedis or penguins or Cleopatra or whatever.

I spent over four hours at Moody last night - we left at 12:30 in the morning. (And I got there later than most people.) For most of that time I chilled out in Section M, talking to Charity and knitting (yes, knitting - it was too dark to read), and joining Jeremiah in his critique of every act. (This is what happens when you date a quasi-music major.) Of course, being on stage was fun and scary and crazy and happy all at once. But I really think my favorite part was standing in the hallway beforehand.

Think about it, anyone who's ever been in a production of any sort. Don't you have sort of breathless, scattered memories of those moments right before you go onstage? (Maybe it's a total blur for some - but that in itself is significant.) Seriously, the "hallway moments" from past Sing Songs are engraved indelibly in my mind. Shuffling down the hall with a hundred other freshmen, sequined suspenders and bow ties glittering, trying not to lose our paper hats - a confusion of raspberry and lime and orange sherbet. (Sherbet, not sherBERT - as Taylor Tuerck must have said a hundred times!) Listening to - ahem - one of the downstage managers hiss, "Freshmen! Freshmen!" and glower at us, trying to get us to shut up. Then last year, dressed in white T-shirts and jeans, trying to save a tiny bit of face for the junior class. Every night we would huddle in the stairwell, listening to Ben Jeffrey belt out "Remember When It Rained." And then we'd go on and try to be, well...funny, if nothing else. (And we were.)

Last night was another thing entirely - pulling at swaths of purple material slung around our shoulders, crossed and belted in front to look like Jedi garb. We couldn't do any fighting in these, because they never stay put! Helping Jeff McCain (who is, I swear, a nine-year-old boy) fix his costume. Doing an impromptu choreography circle and being shushed by the downstage manager. Sneaking down the line to peek in at the junior act and steal a hug from Jeremiah (and almost get bludgeoned by the 6-foot Han Solo cardboard cutout - Keith Robinson was having way too much fun). And...watching Taylor and Alyssa whisper our freshman act - complete with choreography! - right up until we spilled onto the stage.

For what else, in the whole world, would people spend weeks memorizing crazy choreography, learning goofy lyrics to songs we'll never sing right again, and spray-painting props that look like mummies, lighthouses and ID cards (among other things)? For what else would people spend basically four straight days in a gym, dressed in the costumes described above, singing and whispering and rushing around like mad, and enjoy it? Surely there's a little bit of insanity in the ACU atmosphere. But I LOVE IT. There's nothing in the whole wide world like Sing Song. And I am honored and blessed to be a part of it.

Yoda don't teach - All you do is preach
Stand your speech I can't - Syntax get you not!
But one thing is true: Light sabers are cool...

Go Centennial Senior Class!