On Thursday, May 1st and on Friday, May 2nd, in the Sister Caroline Collins Theater at Sacred Heart Cathedral Prep, a group of over 200 singers and dancers took the stage to perform one of the most enchanting performances in school history, a program titled: A Disney Concert.

I had the opportunity to interview one of the newer members of the choir, a freshmen by the name of Alexis Burke, and no, no relation to Mr. Burke our beloved Admissions Director and Freshmen girls basketball coach. I met with her at lunch so that I could learn more about the whole process of the show itself and her experience as a newcomer to the SHC choir family.

I have known Alexis since our pre-school days. She is one year behind me. Alexis comes to SHC from a small, private school near Lake Merced called KZV Armenian School. Alexis is half Armenian and half Irish. She has been singing since she was a little girl performing for her family, giving them living room concerts. As a child, she would frequently attend singing and dancing classes along with some acting classes. She developed her voice at KZV Armenian School singing in their choir. The name of her elementary school’s choir was Jeboor. The translation of it means, Little Cricket. All the songs that she learned at KZV were performed in Armenian. Alexis would perform at school related programs, and community events.

According to Alexis, the group of 200 singers, dancers, techies and faculty met every blue period, since January, to rehearse for this big production. “The rehearsals usually started with vocal warm-ups. We mainly focused on ‘The Mob Song’ or ‘Gaston’ from Beauty and the Beast because those were the hardest songs,”  said Alexis. She also told me that the hardest part was memorizing all the words to the songs; however, with a lot of hard work, practice and perseverance, she and the rest of the team were fully prepared.

After Alexis provided me with the details of the performances, she discussed her experience and feelings about the entire process – preparing and stepping out on the big stage. As a freshman, she obviously was extremely nervous and anxious about her first time performing in front of a large audience. However, she was thankful for all her close friends in the choir, who were there for her, helping her to relieve her anxiety of being on stage. According to the show’s program, the group performed about two dozen songs including several medleys. In addition, Alexis expressed great enthusiasm for successfully performing a solo with one of her all-time favorite Disney songs, “Reflection” from the movie Mulan.

The audience showed their appreciation by selling out all three concert dates and giving standing ovations each night. All the members of choir were extremely proud of the show and themselves. Even the show’s director, Mr. Bohm, expressed how proud he was of all of the students who made this concert a success.