Xara Retreat 2013!

Hi everyone!

We are creeping closer to the start of our 2013-14 season and we are so excited! We can wait to dive into the prep for our first show, Constellations, and to spend some quality time together at our annual Xara Retreat Weekend, happening this year from Friday, September 6th until Sunday, September 8th. Please make sure you have this time booked off from work and other commitments, as the retreat weekend is mandatory for singers.

The retreat weekend is a time to get to know one another, develop skills in musicianship, theatre, and movement, and start working on our first show of the season. This year, our retreat will be divided between William Black Memorial United Church Hall in Glen Margaret (30-40 minute drive from downtown Halifax), and our new rehearsal venue, St. Matthew’s United Church on Barrington St. You will have Sunday morning off to take care of all your non-Xara life things!

Note that this year we will have three meals together. The first two will be potlucks - Friday night supper will be brought by the altos, and Saturday lunch will be brought by the sopranos. Please keep in mind that we have a variety of dietary needs (some vegetarian, some gluten-free etc), so try to accommodate these as much as possible! Saturday evening dinner will be provided by the XCT board!

Please start organizing drives NOW for this retreat weekend. Our Facebook group is a great place to take care of that!

Here’s a basic schedule for the weekend:

Friday

Location: William Black Memorial United Church (Hall), Glen Margaret

6:00 Arrival, Intro, Potluck Supper (altos)

7:30 Session 1

9:00 Constellations Intro

10:00 Home

Saturday

Location: William Black Memorial United Church (Hall), Glen Margaret

9:30 Warmup

10:15 Session 2

12:30 Potluck Lunch (sopranos)

1:30 Session 3

3:30 Break

3:45 Session 4

5:45 Supper set up

6:15 Supper with XCT Board!

7:30 Session 5

8:30 Bonfire with Guest Astronomer for facilitated star-gazing

Sunday

Location: St. Matthew’s United Church, 1479 Barrington St.

1:15 Warmup

2:00 Session 6

5:00 Closing

5:30 Home

Things to Bring:

Comfortable clothes for sessions - must be able to move freely

Water bottle, pencils (a pencil case full of things is a great idea)

Music folder

Yoga mat or large towel

Warm clothes/layers/blankets for being outside in the evening (it gets REALLY cold and we won’t be moving a lot)

Potluck item, as per schedule

Gas money for your driver

Any questions, please let us know! We can’t wait to dive right into all the amazing things we have planned for this year! Looking forward to seeing you all very very soon!

Love, Claire & Christina

Welcome to the first season of XARA CHORAL THEATRE!

Hi Everyone!

We can hardly believe it’s that time again, but our new season is almost here! We hope you’ve all been having a fun and relaxing summer so far!!! As many of you know, Christina is basking in the joys of being newly married, and Claire has just returned from a whirlwind European vacation. Over the weekend we spent two days at Christina’s cottage, planning many exciting details for our 2013-14 season!!!! There’s lots to share with you all, but here are a few key things to keep in mind for the start of the season:

Fabulous New Singers

We have had an amazing round of auditions! We will be posting more details on our newbies soon but we at least wanted to share their names and encourage you to all start mixing and mingling in Facebook-land! Welcome to Paige Marvel, Devon Pennick-Reilly, Rachel Lutz, Mackenzie Hepditch, Colleen MacIsaac, and Joanna Burris!! Welcome back to Zoe Leger!!

Communication

We have a new Facebook group! Our secret Facebook group is called Xara 2013-2014 and this will be the spot to go for all your up-to-the-minute Xara news! We will continue to use the blog for longer updates, but will always post links to the most recent blog post on the Xara Facebook group.

Retreat

Our annual Xara Retreat weekend will be Friday September 6th (6 p.m.) to Sunday September 8th (finished at 5:30 p.m.) and will take place within HRM so we can take advantage of a special field trip (exciting details to come!!!). You will have Sunday morning off (at home) but the remainder of the weekend is especially for Xara and is mandatory. Please make sure you blocked these dates off in your calendar and are pro-active (now!) about ensuring you don’t have to work, etc. This is a time to get to know one another, take part in skill-building sessions in singing, movement, and theatre, start working on our fall show, and have fun! More details will follow very soon including a schedule and things you need to know about the weekend.

Schedule

We use a Google Calendar to help you stay up to date with important scheduling for Xara. All of the relevant dates (to the best of our knowledge) have now been entered for the Fall 2013 rehearsal period. Please make sure to look through the calendar, taking note of any special dates outside of regular rehearsals. The Google Calendar is accessible on the right side of our blog, or by clicking this link: https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=sf61a4mdec3uu1pe2g7l6mhlv0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/Halifax

Rehearsals

This year, rehearsals will be held from 1:15-5:30 pm on Sunday afternoons at St. Matthew’s United Church on Barrington St. Typically, from 1:15-2:30 pm we will schedule sectionals, workshops, or rehearsals for specific sections of the show. Every week there will be a full company rehearsal from 2:30-5:30 pm. We will post call lists as far in advance as possible to let you know what dates you are required for the first part of rehearsal.

Team

As we have transitioned to our own independent (AWARD WINNING!!!) organization, Xara Choral Theatre, there are some evolving changes to our structure. Xara Choral Theatre now has two choirs: Xara Choral Theatre Ensemble (you!) and Xara Youth Ensemble. We now have a dedicated and fabulous Board of Directors who are focused on supporting our organization and providing leadership and guidance. This board is currently chaired by our wonderful alto 2 Tejas Madhur, with fabulous alto 1 Tenille Goodspeed in charge of our choir fundraising. You will meet the other lovely members of the board as we get our season started. Another exciting development is that graduated singer Erin Gaudet will join our team in a wonderful new volunteer position. She will continue as choir librarian and attendance maven, and she will also now perform a number of other incredibly helpful functions, including weekly rehearsal note- taking regarding movement, divisi, and homework. These notes will be distributed to you weekly. We think we will all find that Erin’s organizational gifts will enhance our community!!!

That’s it for now ladies! We’ll be in touch soon with further details about the season. Enjoy this lovely summer, and we’re looking forward to seeing all of you in September!

Love, Claire & Christina

Sweet & Low Concert Weekend!

Hi everyone!

Thanks so much for all your hard work and dedication to making this concert come together! We're only two sleeps away from performing and we are so excited! Here's some important info for everyone to note for this weekend!

• Dress Rehearsal - Friday April 26 from 6:30-10 pm at Fairview United Church
• Everyone will need to be present for the entire rehearsal.
• We will take staggered breaks so the women will break while the men are singing and vice versa. Adjust your snack expectations accordingly.
• Change from Sunday's rehearsal - Come in concert dress with hair/makeup done as someone has volunteered to take photos for free for us on Friday night. 
• Concert dress:
• Women: short Xara dresses, leggings, black belts, Xara shoes, solid colour pashmina
• Men: black pants, long-sleeved black dress shirt, black shoes & socks, solid colour tie (your choice of colour)
• Everyone must have a black folder to use for the unmemorized pieces.
• The students from Lockview will be rehearsing in the space from 5:30-6:30 so please enter quietly and don't disturb their rehearsal!
• Very important - Please bring all tickets and money to Erin at the dress rehearsal! She will not take it on Saturday!
• Concert Day - Saturday April 27, call time is 6:00 pm, show is at 7:30 pm
• Please arrive ready to sing at 6:00. We will do a warm up & sound check, but we also have to have time for the Lockview singers to warm up as well.
• Tickets will be available at the door - please encourage your friends and family members to come!!!
• The after party is at Robin's house - check the Facebook event for more details.

Important Sweet & Low Details!

Hi everyone,

Sweet & Low is fast approaching!!! Thank you all for the hard work you have done so far. Now that the show is around the corner, we have to kick everything into high gear so we give a stellar performance!

• Unless you have a prior written agreement with Christina & Claire, attendance this Sunday is mandatory. Sunday's rehearsal will be for both men and women for the entire time frame: 1:15-4:45 pm.
• This Sunday, you need to be off book for all of the pieces that are required to be memorized: 
• Men and Women: Dobbin's Flowery Vale, And So It Goes, Butterfly, A Boy and a Girl, Odi Odi, Tres Cantos Nativos, Adiemus
• Women Only: Voice Dance, Kaipaava, I'll Give My Love an Apple, Dana Dana
• This is the week to sell your tickets!!!!! Don't leave it to the last minute as we want to make sure we have as many people in the audience as possible! Please bring ticket money in an envelope to Erin this Sunday.
• Women only: The date for the IWK/Irving event has been changed to Wednesday May 8th at 11 am. Christina has put a poll on the Facebook group to make sure that we have enough singers. Please give your response ASAP.

Thank you all!!!! SEE YOU SUNDAY!!!!!!!

Prep for Musquodoboit!

Hi all,

Here's the schedule and a list of everything to bring with you to Musquodoboit this Sunday!

Schedule on Sunday, April 7th:

• 10:45 am Arrival at venue
• 11:00 am Rehearsal in the venue
• 1:00 pm Lunch potluck
• 2:00 pm Prep/hair/makeup
• 3:00 pm Show!

Things to Bring:

• your Xara dress
• your Xara shoes (gym slippers or black flats with no heel)
• black leggings
• your black Xara belt
• your Pull shawl and gloves
• Claire/Camila/Kristin: Pull dancer costume - skirt, shirt, dance shorts 
• your Reverberations costume including shoes
• hair elastics/bobby pins/product
• stage makeup 
• tuning fork (if applicable, Christina will also bring some)
• food to share for the potluck and extra water for yourself
• music and scripts
• gas money for your driver

Costumes:

Wanting Memories

• short Xara dress
• leggings
• Xara shoes
• hair down but off the face

Pull

• long Xara dress
• Xara shoes
• shawl
• gloves
• hair up 

Reverberations

• individual costume
• shoes
• hair as appropriate to your character, but off your face

Makeup:

• the look for all three pieces is fairly neutral, but we need to see your beautiful features
• foundation/concealer
• blush
• eyeliner/mascara
• lip colour (fairly neutral)

Unraveled Take Two!

Hi all,

Some important details for our upcoming performance of Unraveled on Sunday April 7th at 3 pm at the Musquodoboit Valley Bicentennial Theatre.

• Our only rehearsal for Unraveled will be Monday, April 1 from 5:30-8:30 pm at Fairview United. Please make sure you have reviewed all music, lines, and blocking before this rehearsal. You do not need to bring your costumes except Pull girls must bring their skirts to rehearse in. Please eat supper before you come, as we will only take a regular 15 minute snack break. We will rehearse in this order:
• 5:30 pm (sharp) Run of Unraveled
• 7:30 pm run Pull
• 8:00 pm run Wanting Memories
• Schedule on Sunday, April 7th:
• 11:00 am Rehearsal in the venue
• 1:00 pm Lunch provided by the Bicentennial Theatre
• 2:00 pm Prep/hair/makeup
• 3:00 pm Show!
• Driving to MVBT - You will need to sort out your own drive/carpool to and from the theatre. Map/directions on how to get there are here: http://bicentennialtheatre.ca/index.php?id=contact
• Tickets - For this performance we are receiving a sold service fee, but we will also receive a 50% split of the profits from the door. So, we have the potential to earn more money if we sell lots of tickets. If you have anyone who missed the show the first time, or would like to see it again, please let them know about the performance and encourage them to come out to the show! The information about tickets can be found here: http://bicentennialtheatre.ca/
• Mary's Lines - Claire has asked a few people to cover Mary's lines in both Reverberations & Wanting Memories. We don't anticipate any major changes in the blocking with her gone, but we will work through anything that comes up on Monday night.

Thanks for all your hard work, and let's give this show another spectacular performance!!!

March Update

Hi everyone!

Wanting to update you on some important things. Christina sent some of this information out today in an email, but we felt it was important to share it with you on the blog as well so you were sure to see it! Just a reminder that we save emails for *very* important information only and expect you to read them thoroughly. 

1. Fund Raising Letter: As we've mentioned previously, Xara is in a critical year for fund raising and we are doing a mail campaign for more "traditional" donors (who wouldn't go online to give). In order to do this, we need addresses of people who fall into this category and we need them this Sunday. COULD EVERY PERSON PLEASE BRING A MINIMUM OF TWO NAMES/ADDRESSES WITH THEM. We will be circulating a clipboard for you to write them down. I can't stress how important this is.

2. Rehearsal Schedule: Christina has made a few adjustments to the remaining rehearsals to allow us just a bit more time on our joint repertoire. These adjusted times begin this week. Please see below and schedule accordingly.

Mar 24 1:15 - 4:00 Men & Women (including snack at 3:45); Xara only until 4:45; choral competition recording session is scheduled until 8 pm 

Mar 31  NO REHEARSAL - Easter Sunday

Apr 1  SPECIAL REHEARSAL (Women only) 5:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Apr 7 Women Only - "Unraveled" Show in Middle Musquodoboit

Apr 14 1:15 - 4:00 Men & Women (including snack at 3:45); Xara only until 4:45

Apr 21 1:15 - 4:45 Men & Women - MAJOR REHEARSAL (attendance is mandatory)

Apr 26 5:30 - 10:00 DRESS REHEARSAL

Apr 27 6:00 CALL FOR CONCERT

3. Choral Competition Recording: See above re: the day's schedule. This is the day for the choral competition recording for women only. We will be recording at Fairview United Church after rehearsal, until no later than 8 pm. Please bring your supper!! Reminder that the repertoire is Tree of Life, Pen-Pen, Uraren besotik, and Les Angelus. Please refresh this music before Sunday's rehearsal.

4. Sunday's Rehearsal: We are only about 5 weeks away from the concert! This means that memorization needs to go into high gear. Please note that Christina has asked for Odi Odi and And So It Goes to be memorized for this Sunday.

5. Unraveled Run Out: This is fast approaching. Women, please review your scores, lines, and blocking in the next 10 days before our rehearsal on April 1. We are expecting you to come to that rehearsal with everything fresh and performance ready. That rehearsal will be used to refine the piece, not to relearn anything.

Thanks everyone for all your hard work!!!!!! Lots to do in the coming weeks but we are going to rock it!!!