Marion choirs on the rise

MARION - Two or three years - maybe even last year - if someone had mentioned Marion High School having a show choir, most would have had no idea what they were talking about.

Lately, however, Marion has been working harder and harder toward having a very successful show choir season. With director Jonathan Dyrland and lots of determined kids, Marion has managed to have a season better than ever in show choir - and make some records, too.

This year Marion has a varsity show choir, New Creation, and a prep show choir, Revelation. They traveled to Prairie High School, West Branch High School, Omaha Westside High School and Benton Community High School. New Creation placed in first in the 3A division at West Branch in the daytime awards and finished second overall. At Benton, Marion placed second again in the 3A division again and earned a spot in finals.

Marion has never had the a lot of success in the show choir world, but this year, everyone is talking about the improvement. Marion is not yet ranked officially, but just watching its show you can tell there are many students who are committed to what they're doing and eager to learn how to improve.

Marion's songs this year are 'Being Alive,” 'That's Life,” 'Dead Come to Life,” 'Alive,” 'Livin' on a Prayer” and an 'Alive” medley for New Creation. Bengt Eklund choreographed Marion's upbeat and classy show and Melissa Eklund choreographed Revelation's happy and warm show.

As a smaller school, and never really having a successful show choir before, it's nice to see the change and students with passion working hard toward something they have never experienced before. Whether New Creation wins or loses at a competition, its hard work and growth from the last few years have made it win as a group. Even though it was no grand champion trophy awarded to Marion this year, every member deserves to be acknowledged for how amazing they have done.

The Marion Masquerade runs today and Saturday at the school.