Seniors Win SING! to Capture Back-to-Back Titles
Sophomore dancers Cassandra Kleid and Samantha Kuang perform a lyrical dance for MoreJuniors. (Image superimposed on a photo of the Midwood stage.) Photo: Mr. Alexander Jung
By NAFISA HAQUE
In their first year paired together, the freshman-senior team captured victory at this year’s virtual SING! The win means back-to-back titles for the senior class, who also won as juniors in 2020.
The junior victory last year placed high expectations on both this year’s juniors and seniors. It was the first time the juniors had won in ten years. Could the class repeat as seniors? Could this year’s juniors keep the streak going?
“It definitely heightened expectations for us and our motivation since we realized we had the possibility of winning,” Junior Commissioner Brianna Tsakh said.
Senior Commissioner Naimah Rahman said, “Immediately after our win last year, the pressure felt so high to top what we had just accomplished.”
Asalya Fakhridinova, also Senior Commissioner, said that when she opened the email with the winner announcements, she got “butterflies.”
“It was the best four years of my life,” Fakhridinova said. “I joined unwillingly and it turned out to be a huge life-changer. I grew a lot throughout SING! I have learned many lessons, and I learned how to be a better leader for my group.”
“I had no idea we won until Asalya texted ‘SING! results are out,’” Rahman said. “I assumed we lost because I would expect her to text something like “WE WON!,” but when I checked my email and saw that FreshSeniors were this year’s winners, I felt so relieved and proud.”
“I’m so proud of our freshmen as well because they get to carry this with them for the next three years,” Rahman added.
School, SING!, homework, and repeat is a schedule that these performers know all too well. But there was nothing else routine about this year. Like most things, this iconic Midwood tradition had to adapt, for better or worse, to remote learning. But that wasn’t the only big change.
The entire dynamic of SING! was shifted from the usual SoFresh, Juniors, and Seniors groupings to two new groups: MoreJuniors and FreshSeniors. MoreJuniors included previously acquainted sophomores and juniors working together, while in FreshSeniors, seniors were teamed with incoming freshmen, facing them with the difficult task of introducing brand new students to SING!
“There was a moment where the Seniors were a little upset because they were working with a class that hadn’t even stepped foot in the building before,” Rahman explained. “We were working with people who were three years younger than us who knew nothing about Midwood, let alone anything about SING!”
Nevertheless, the group adapted and the pairing became a success.
“[SING! organizers] have been trying to do [new groups] for a while, but now that everyone ends their classes at the same time, it’s easier to make it happen,” said Abigail Stringer ‘22, the female lead for MoreJuniors. “It’s much easier for freshmen to get into SING! this way because the seniors have been doing it for a while.”
The art team played a big digital role, as seen in this introduction for MoreJuniors Female Lead Abigail Stringer ‘22.
Transitioning a traditionally live competition to virtual filming presents several problems. Filming at home presents its own set of issues, the biggest being that “a lot of people have been struggling to find a blank wall [to film in front of],” Stringer explained. “In-person we had the stage to work on.”
Many students who participated last year decided not to do SING! this year because of the virtual aspect, including Admir Cekic, a senior whose musical talents played an influential role in last year’s junior victory.
“SING! is an experience that works best in-person,” Cekic explained. “It wouldn’t be the same online. The experience and memories just wouldn’t be the same. Especially since things are stressful now, I decided it was best for me not to do it.”
That is not to say that the changes were all bad -- virtual SING! allowed for more creativity in certain aspects with the introduction of editing.
“We got to explore more creative options with camera work because we were not on a stage,” Band Leader Kate Wells ‘22 mentioned. “By using Soundtrap, we could edit tracks to make them sound fuller and better.”
Additionally, the art team completely revamped their role, now being able to pick how, what, and when they were going to work.
“Our art wasn’t limited anymore by the paints we have, stage time, etc.,” Art Leader Rabiah Aziz ‘22 said. Virtual SING! allowed students to try out digital art through different apps and software. “We could incorporate our art in the show, not just as a background, but as the focus of the show,” Aziz said.
Even with Covid-19, some things stay the same. For many, this means having to balance school work and SING!
“Last year I did not sleep at all,” Rahman laughed. “If you are a Junior SING! commissioner, you deserve a round of applause.”
“There was a lot of reliance on the students this year, so everyone, including the commissioners, was struggling,” Stringer said. “It was a lot of our own work and setting our own deadlines. We didn’t really know when to film, so deadlines came at us really fast, and all of a sudden, we had to film many scenes at once.”
Male lead Daniel Allone 22’ said he “lost a lot of energy to do schoolwork, in general, this year, [since] SING! requires a lot of energy to act.” Even so, the actors pushed through, he said, since “you can’t really let other people down because you are feeling down.”
Several members of both groups expressed a desire to reimagine SING!, with small competitions amongst varying categories as opposed to one overall winner.
“Originally, Naimah came up to me and asked if it was necessary for us to have a competition, because with the whole Covid situation, it’s quite stressful honestly,” Overall Commissioner Kelly Luo ‘21 explained, adding that competition right now might not be “the healthiest thing.”
In the end, the performers in SING!, especially the seniors, said they were grateful for the experience.
“SING! is the place where I gained my confidence,” Luo said. “ It allowed me to blossom into the person I am today. I hope future students find their voice at SING! like I did.”
“Not being able to be there in-person is really hard,” Junior Commissioner Sofia Pensante ‘22 said, “so being able to still have a SING! show is really nice, and it’ll be there for us to watch back whenever we want.”
“We really grew, I would say, as artists,” Junior Acting Director Henry David Clark IV said. “Doing this gave me a newfound appreciation for SING! because it is a really good opportunity for students to take their own passions and have a drive and really experiment. We just had a really great time doing it.”
It is safe to say that this year’s SING! will go down in the books as one of the most difficult yet unique years.
“Regardless of winning or losing, the fact that we made a show out of literally nothing" means a lot, Rahman said. "Having never done a SING! like this before, I think that alone makes us winners."
You can view the two SINGS! here (requires logging in with a Midwood email address):
FreshSeniors
MoreJuniors
Light shines into an empty Midwood auditorium — a rare sight. Photo: Mr. Alexander Jung