Photos by Michelle Hang ’19: ACA members perform during the Swingin’ at Santa’s holiday choir concert. While ACA performed alongside other choirs at the holiday concert, the upcoming concert will only feature ACA.

Prarthana Kaygee ’20 & Avery Pak ’20

A Class Act will be performing Fascinating Rhythm on Jan. 25-27 in the Carpenter Family Theatre at 7 p.m.

WHS’s choir department, lead by Amy Rolniak, is composed of a wide variety of ensembles, each one with different standards and areas of focus, but this show features only ACA, the top level of choir.

“Usually, choir shows have different ensembles like vocal ensemble, women’s chorale, mixed chorale and freshmen choir,” said ACA member Joey Sipos ‘19. “This time it is only ACA, [WHS]’s top performing choir.”

Unlike other choir levels, ACA focuses more on dancing and choreographing in addition to singing, which they will showcase in their upcoming performance.

“I’m most excited to show everyone how far my classmates and I have come,” said ACA member Julia Zhong ‘19. “We managed to learn so much music and [so] many dances in a limited amount of time.”

While the students may appear to perform effortlessly and gracefully on stage, it takes a lot of dedication and time outside of school to ensure that the show runs smoothly and successfully.

“We sacrificed a lot of our free time to put this show together, including hours during finals,” said Zhong. “We choreographed and costumed everything ourselves, as well as set up the stage decorations with some help from parents.”

The theme of Fascinating Rhythm is largely inspired by the novel The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald and features a 1920s setting.

“This show is very different because we have a large variety of music ranging from different decades and genres,” said ACA member Anagha Iyer ‘20.

The performance will additionally include songs from the movies La La Land, Shut up and Dance and Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend.

In addition, ACA does not have as many students as other choir groups, so Fascinating Rhythm allows each student to personally contribute to the material and routines.

“This show is different because there are only sixteen of us, so the creativity level was enlarged due to the small amount of cast dancing and singing,” said Iyer.

As a result of all the personal time spent together outside of class, members of ACA have grown much closer through this performance.

“[Ever] since our winter show in December, we’ve all grown and improved so much,” said Zhong. “It will be a very memorable experience to share with the audience and my classmates.”

The tickets for general admission are available online at westlakechoir.org. Each ticket costs $15, but with a valid student ID, tickets are only $5. The seating will be reserved.

Through Fascinating Rhythm, ACA strives to provide the community with an entertaining, uplifting show full of positive energy.

“In a world filled with a lot of controversy and stress, it is nice to break away from this [world] and have a full two hours listening to joyous harmonies,” said Sipos. “[It is nice to] just
have fun at the show.”