Alina Yu

Stella Dennett, Accents dance captain and senior, leads a small section of Accents through an evening rehearsal. During the first semester, Accents had one rehearsal per week; however, they will now begin two evening rehearsals per week in preparation for their first competition.

As 2019 begins, Accents continue preparing for their competition season this semester. With their first competition on Feb. 16, according to director of choirs Kathrine Kouns, the all-girls choir practices day and night on their competition set.

Stella Dennett, Accents dance captain and senior, said, “I am so excited to see how our hard will pay off and I am looking forward to all of the memories on and off stage.”

According to Kouns, many guests come in to help train and rehearse with the girls, such as show choir director Mark Myers. This year on Jan. 23, clinician Paul Gulsvig will also come in. Kouns said personally she has been working with Gulsvig for nearly 20 years, and he has come to this school for the past 5 years.

“He is just a really, really incredible director, team builder, motivational speaker (and) really great with students. So I’ve had him do retreats and things like that with my groups for many, many years,” Kouns said.

By the end of last semester, Kouns said the choir had learned all of the music for their show choir set. Now, Accents are beginning to have two evening rehearsals per week, as compared to once a week before winter break, and will be cleaning up choreography, fine-tuning musicianship aspects and vocals and adding in costumes and the band.

“I am individually preparing for the competition season by rehearsing in and out of class every single day. It takes a lot of work, but it is still rewarding,” Dennett said.

After a first week back, Kouns said winter break was a great way to relax and build up the energy to go full steam for the next upcoming month of rehearsing.

Dennett said, “As a group, I want the everyone to feel accomplished with all the hard work they put into our competition set. Personally, my goal is to make the most of my senior year choir experience.”