Premier Retreat!

Guest Writer: Casey Accardi

On September 20th, Premier Choir gathered at BCC Central (at the ungodly hour of 7am) to embark on their journey to the Earthdance Retreat Center, the location for this years retreat. Our goal as a choir for the weekend could be summarized in one word: growth. We strived to grow as musicians and learn tons of repertoire, as well as to grow closer to each other and bond as a group. Both of these goals, in my opinion, were met.

Musically, we had an extremely successful weekend. Mr. TK managed to pack seven rehearsals into 32 hours (thirteen of which were spent sleeping/traveling!) without making us feel stressed or overworked. We powered through page after page of music, and had a handful of pieces at a perform-able level by the end of the weekend. The most exciting part of the weekend, however, was the opportunity to create/deepen friendships within the choir. We were delighted to welcome 10 new first-year Premier members to the choir this season, and had many opportunities to get to know them throughout the weekend. We played a bunch of fun bonding games, had a choir bonfire (with smores!), and plenty of time to socialize and relax with one another, resulting in a new found feeling of unity throughout the group. We were blessed to be able to do all this at Earthdance, a retreat center in the Berkshires, that strives to inspire the art and spirit of improvisation. The center is usually used by improvisational dance groups, which meant there was beautiful studio space for us to rehearse in. We loved the acoustics in the Umbrella Dance Studio and enjoyed the simplicity of the dorm rooms we slept in.

Overall, the weekend was a great success; we experienced even more growth than expected and were able to kick-start what will certainly be a super performance season!