Alabama’s oldest show choir competition takes the stage this weekend as Homewood High School welcomes schools from across the South to compete in its annual competition: South Central Classic.
The first show choir competition held in Alabama beginning in the early 1990s, South Central Classic showcases the talent of musical ensembles and their choreography. Middle school and junior high school show choirs compete on Friday and high school groups on Saturday.
Additionally, the competition is also a major fundraiser for the HHS show choir program, requiring an all-hands-on-deck approach.
Members of the HHS show choirs work the event by hosting choirs, holding doors, selling wristbands, cleaning the lunchroom and monitoring parking, among other responsibilities.
HHS show choir Director Byron Mosquera said that directors, volunteers and groups typically don’t leave the school until around 3 a.m. on Saturday morning and Sunday morning after the awards ceremony wraps up after a long day of showmanship and competition.
Mosquera said because there are so many tasks to take care of, parents help organize the students and their weekend responsibilities.
“We have a committee of moms that come up with different jobs that people have to do,” Mosquera said.
HHS show choir members sign up for most jobs, but due to the importance and pressure of the role, Mosquera hand-picks students who will emcee throughout the day before each show.
Senior and dance captain Jackson Kittinger will be participating in his third year of the event and will be hosting for the first time.
Kittinger says that hosts first take the groups to their homeroom, which will serve as a home base to keep their belongings, as well as space to get ready for the show.
He says that there is a lot of behind-the-scenes work with homerooms since they are classrooms. They take photos of the room and move everything out of the way before the event, and have to put everything back as they found it afterward.
Kittinger emphasized the importance of respecting the teachers’ rooms, as being able to use them is vital to the event in future years.
Hosts also learn the most efficient paths to take the groups and individuals around the building efficiently.
This year, senior Kenneth Wang is hosting Clinton Attaché, a show choir from Mississippi that’s had its hand on the top prize for years.
“They haven’t lost since 2013, so [that’s] ten years of dominance, which is crazy,” Wang said.
Hosts also take the groups to the warm-up area and back to their homeroom after they perform, as well as show solo competition participants to the area for that event.
“We technically have two competitions going on at the same time,” Mosquera said.
Mosquera said that the solo competition consists of a judge listening to singers from different schools all day. At the end of the night, a boy and a girl are selected as the winners.
Prior to finals when the top five groups will perform, one of the Homewood show choirs performs an exhibition, showcasing their competition show. On the first night, Continuum, HHS’s freshman group, will perform, and the second day, The Network and Nexus, HHS’s mixed show choir and all-girls show choir, will perform.
“You’ve just performed [and] then you get to go relax and watch the best five groups perform,” Kittinger said.
The student volunteers don’t get to watch shows until finals due to their tasks running the event, but Kittinger said that watching the best groups perform is his favorite part of the day.
