Jazz ensemble The Mambas performed twice during the Saugeen Arts Live! show at Saugeen District Secondary School, March 31. The event was to help raise money for the Arts Department’s New York trip later this spring.

Hub Staff

A night of drama, dance, and great music was showcased by the Saugeen District Secondary School (SDSS) Arts Department March 31, for Saugeen Arts Live!

The event had students collectively take the stage and perform in front of a large crowd to raise money for their New York arts trip, happening later this spring.

“Everyone that’s involved in the arts in the school is contributing,” said grade 10 student Marilena Herzing, who manned the entrance during the Saugeen Arts Live! event.

“We’re either doing backstage work, or front, like i’m doing, or performing. There’s the Jazz Band (Mambas Jazz Ensemble) and the Royals Big Band for the music side of it, and there’s the drama club performing,” Herzing said.

“It’s been about a month of rehearsing, we knew that when we signed up for the New York trip that we would be volunteering with this. Over the last two weeks we’ve been really buckling down and getting everything organized for it,” said Herzing.

She added that she is excited about seeing the Broadway show Kinky Boots, when she heads to the Big Apple with her classmates.

The show was split into two halves, featuring the grade 12 Drama class performing scattered scenes from “It’s Not You It’s Me,” as well as solo vocal performances by Aspen Chapman, Kim Edwards, Ustab Roychowdhury and Canadian Big Band crooner, Ethan Salmon.

Masters of Ceremony for the evening were students Kenny Bolton and Tyler Schropp, with Schropp saying that they received the job because they were the only ones who signed up, but were happy with the “gig”. “Our director told us not to improvise... but a lot of it has been improvised,” said Schropp during intermission, adding that when they go back on stage they would come up with some puns.

On a more serious note, Schropp said that anything raised from the donations through admission were really appreciated, and added that this evening was fun for the Arts Department.

Grade 12 drama students performed scattered scenes from “It’s Not You, It’s Me” throughout the night, March 31 at SDSS.

Aspen Chapman sang the Miley Cyrus hit “The Climb” during her solo at Saugeen Arts Live!