Under the direction of new Show Choir Director, Nathan Wallace, 55 Equinox singer-dancers have been putting in at least six hours a week preparing for their upcoming competition season which will kick off on Oct. 3, as they perform their show, “Edison” for the first time at the Fall Choir Concert.
Wallace designed the show to follow the story of the famous inventor of the lightbulb, Thomas Edison. The show follows Edison through his idea process, his many failures and his eventual success while creating the lightbulb.
“Our competition show tells the story of Thomas Edison creating the modern light bulb,” Wallace said. “But really what’s at the heart of the story is persevering in the face of adversity.”
Wallace isn’t the only new one to the Equinox show choir; the group has grown considerably, nearly doubling in size, with the addition of 24 new members, 12 band members and four crew members.
“Having all the classes [grade levels] this year, we’ve started better,” Dance Captain, senior Ayla Meraz said. “Compared to last year, we were a little nervous being the underdog. I think it brings up a lot of spirits for new people, and a lot of fears are gone.”
Wallace brings seven years of show choir experience, with the last three years being spent at Elkhorn North Ridge Middle School he led the show choir, The Aviators, to four Grand Championships in middle school competitions. However, he decided to trade in his Nighthawk wings for Griffin wings and is now not only the show choir director at East, but he is also the co-choir director alongside Patrick Ribar.
“I helped open up that school [North Ridge],” Wallace said. “I built up that program to be really, really big and successful.”
With a new director and it only being the second year of the program, a new set of norms and expectations have been put in place for the group. One such change is that students were able to start learning their music much earlier than last year. This year, because of Wallace, they began in July during their Camp Calvin Crest retreat. Wallace’s organization and commitment have impressed students such as Meraz.
“Wallace cares about the group a ton,” Meraz said. “His positivity in rehearsals has pushed us to a higher standard, and he’s somebody we can rely on.”
In addition to their regular, weekly practices, Wallace arranged for the group to attend their first choreography session over the weekend of Aug. 23. The group worked with freelance choreographer Matt Watson who is well-known in the choreography community and has choreographed over 10 competitive show choirs in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri. He brings years of experience as he was not only a show choir member during high school, but was also a four-year member and dance captain of the nationally recognized Big Red Singers and a member of the choral ensemble, University Singers at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
“Matt has worked with my groups over the last few years,” Wallace said “He’s a trusted friend and colleague. He was a great sounding board when I was creating the show and even added new ideas to the mix. He seemed passionate about the show and concept, so I knew he was the choreographer we wanted to work with this year.”
Wallace had Watson choreograph the group’s entire competition show, hoping to push Equinox members to a higher level of showmanship and swagger, and the group was all on board with that goal.
“There was a lot of excitement around learning choreography, and that makes it fun for a choreographer,” Watson said.
The group learned choreography for a total of 15 hours working on their opener and closer to their show. While working with Watson, they also received their blocking and layering charts to help create the visuals for the show.
“Matt’s choreography clicked with me really well,” senior Andrew Jones said. “Matt would often teach a chunk and then we’d spend a little time cleaning [improving] it so it wasn’t overwhelming. We got a lot of good work done and the show really came together.”
Following their training with Watson, the group has been focused on improving their synchronization during their practices.
“Since receiving choreography there has been a higher intensity in our rehearsals,” Meraz said. “Myself and others, as dance captains, are stepping up to help clean [up] choreography while he [Wallace] is working with a different section.”
Even though Wallace had a successful tenure at North Ridge, he is glad he made the switch and plans to continue to push Equinox members to soar to new heights, hoping to inspire even more success.
“Coming to Gretna East, [it] was really refreshing to walk in on day one, and have a group of students that are eager to get coached,” Wallace said. “In my previous job, it took time to build that up; here it’s been day one.”
