Show Choir

John Burroughs High School’s Powerhouse show choir returns to television this week performing on “Dancing With the Stars The Results Show” from 9 to 10 p.m. tonight on ABC-TV Channel 7. This week’s show is themed Rock Week, and the Powerhouse choir is sharing the spotlight with musicians and vocalists from the School of Rock, a performance school with locations throughout the country. The segment will be a medley of rock songs showcasing both the groups and 12 professionals dancers, said Brendan Jennings, vocal music director at Burroughs.

Youngsters from middle and high school are testing their singing and choreography skills and learning to collaborate with different age groups at John Burroughs' Summer Performance Workshop 2010. The three-week course is coordinated by the high school's choir program and culminates today with a show that's open to the public. Funds raised by tickets and concession sales during a pre-show barbecue will go to Burroughs Vocal Music Assn. for the upcoming choir year. It's not all show preparations, said co-director Sam Saletta, a 2002 Burroughs graduate who went through four years of the choir program.

BURBANK SHOW CHOIRS BRING HOME HONORS Burbank High School Vocal Music Assn. sent its advanced women?s show choir, Impressions, and advanced mixed show choir, In Sync, to compete from Feb. 26 to March 1 in the 21st annual show choir competition at Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis. Led by choir director Brett Carroll and his assistant director Donna Dandino , Impressions won second runner up in the advanced unisex choir division, and In Sync won the Grand Championship, including best vocal and best visuals, in the advanced mixed choir division.

Burbank’s high school show choirs are more than used to competition. But this weekend’s Burbank Blast Show Choir Festival, where six of Southern California’s top show choir groups will sing on the same stage, is not about winning. About 500 students of different skill levels from five high schools and one Burbank middle school, John Muir, will run through their competition material and receive critiques from three nationally known judges. The festival, which precedes the choirs’ competition season, will be an opportunity for the students to hone their skills, learn new ones and get friendly with their soon-to-be rivals.

The show choir at John Burroughs High School won the grand prize at a national competition Saturday in Chicago, edging out two high schools that kept Burroughs from the top spot in previous years. The host of the festival, FAME Events, holds contests in several cities throughout the year, but the entrants at this weekend’s venue were among the top high school programs in the country, said Burroughs vocal music director Brendan Jennings. “In this case, all of the top four programs in the country happened to be in the same place at the same time,” he said.

Gary Moskowitz HILLSIDE DISTRICT -- As the second period bell rang at 9:10 a.m. Wednesday at John Muir Middle School, vocal music teacher Pam Pouliot and her 40 students were already halfway through a song. Attentive and focused, the children's eyes were locked in on their director as they wove their way through four-part harmonies in preparation for this week's graduation performance. The 80 or so John Muir Middle School students in Pouliot's two show choirs -- Girls Next Door and Imagination -- are wrapping up a successful year of performing that culminated at the end of May. Students walked away with two gold trophies and the Adjudicators Award for most outstanding performance at the annual Heritage Festival at Fullerton College, a national competition of middle and high school show choirs.

When asked what he learned during the four-week John Burroughs High School Summer Performance Workshop, Matt Coffey had a ready response. “How to dance, because I could not,” said the 14-year-old, who traveled from Ohio to participate. On Friday night, he had the opportunity to put his newfound moves on display, performing in the culminating show with five dozen other participants. Now a decade old, the summer workshop is sponsored by Burroughs' celebrated show choir and affords students the opportunity to improve their singing and dancing skills under the tutelage of teachers and alumni, many of them professional performers.

Champions, champions, champions ? at least 100 statues in Burbank High School's choir room proclaim the title. The show choir group's advanced mixed choir, consisting of mostly senior boys and girls, took first place in their category at the Hoosier Classic competition in Indiana on Feb. 25. It's a feat no other California school has ever achieved, Burbank High's Choir Director Brett Carroll said. But for the 175 choir members, singing is not about competing with other schools, Carroll said.

Members of the John Burroughs High School Powerhouse show choir came home richer after a performance on the “The Oprah Winfrey Show” earlier this month — to the tune of $100,000 cash and a Baldwin grand piano, both courtesy of Dove Hair Care. Dove also covered the expense of the trip to Chicago for the 50 students, their vocal music director Brendan Jennings and chaperons from April 1 to 3. The show aired at 3 p.m. Wednesday. To celebrate, students and their families were invited to watch the show on a big screen in the Burroughs auditorium.

TODAY Beyond 50 , a free senior membership program provided by the Providence Health System San Fernando Valley Service Area, presents a discussion with Dr. Boyd Flinders, a board certified orthopedic surgeon, from 9 to 10 a.m. at the Burbank Town Center, 201 E. Magnolia Blvd., Burbank. Flinders will discuss how to maintain strong bones and how bone problems are diagnosed. For more information, call (818) 847-4550. THURSDAY The Burbank African Violet Society will meet at 7 p.m. at the Magnolia Park United Methodist Church, 2828 W. Magnolia Blvd.

Look no further than John Burroughs High School to find the national grand champions of all high school choirs in the United States. After months - and for some students, years - of work, two choir teams at John Burroughs High School secured the greatest prizes in the high school show choir world when they performed before 4,800 people and several judges at the Arie Crown Theater in Chicago on April 27. When the Powerhouse team of 52 students took...

When asked what he learned during the four-week John Burroughs High School Summer Performance Workshop, Matt Coffey had a ready response. “How to dance, because I could not,” said the 14-year-old, who traveled from Ohio to participate. On Friday night, he had the opportunity to put his newfound moves on display, performing in the culminating show with five dozen other participants. Now a decade old, the summer workshop is sponsored by Burroughs' celebrated show choir and affords students the opportunity to improve their singing and dancing skills under the tutelage of teachers and alumni, many of them professional performers.

Burbank’s two national championship show choirs will strut their stuff together for the first time in a public show Saturday night to raise funds in support of local visual and performing arts education. Burbank High School’s In Sync will join Burroughs’ Powerhouse in the “All American Show Choir Super Show” at the Starlight Bowl. There will be pre-concert events beginning at 5:30 p.m. with the main attraction starting at 7 p.m. The event celebrates Burbank’s Centennial Anniversary of its incorporation while raising funds for the Burbank Arts for All Foundation, whose mission is to ensure every student in Burbank public schools has access to a quality visual and performing arts education as part of their core curriculum.

The show choirs at Burbank and John Burroughs high schools finished first and second, respectively, at a prestigious regional competition on Saturday, the latest in a string of successes that has launched the programs into the national spotlight in recent years. The 17th Annual Southern California Show Choir Invitational in Chula Vista regularly attracts the region’s elite high school programs. The top Burbank High show choir, known as In Sync, and the top Burroughs High show choir, Powerhouse, regularly compete for the top spots.

John Burroughs High School’s Powerhouse show choir returns to television this week performing on “Dancing With the Stars The Results Show” from 9 to 10 p.m. tonight on ABC-TV Channel 7. This week’s show is themed Rock Week, and the Powerhouse choir is sharing the spotlight with musicians and vocalists from the School of Rock, a performance school with locations throughout the country. The segment will be a medley of rock songs showcasing both the groups and 12 professionals dancers, said Brendan Jennings, vocal music director at Burroughs.

Youngsters from middle and high school are testing their singing and choreography skills and learning to collaborate with different age groups at John Burroughs' Summer Performance Workshop 2010. The three-week course is coordinated by the high school's choir program and culminates today with a show that's open to the public. Funds raised by tickets and concession sales during a pre-show barbecue will go to Burroughs Vocal Music Assn. for the upcoming choir year. It's not all show preparations, said co-director Sam Saletta, a 2002 Burroughs graduate who went through four years of the choir program.

Members of the John Burroughs High School Powerhouse show choir came home richer after a performance on the “The Oprah Winfrey Show” earlier this month — to the tune of $100,000 cash and a Baldwin grand piano, both courtesy of Dove Hair Care. Dove also covered the expense of the trip to Chicago for the 50 students, their vocal music director Brendan Jennings and chaperons from April 1 to 3. The show aired at 3 p.m. Wednesday. To celebrate, students and their families were invited to watch the show on a big screen in the Burroughs auditorium.

BURBANK SHOW CHOIRS BRING HOME HONORS Burbank High School Vocal Music Assn. sent its advanced women?s show choir, Impressions, and advanced mixed show choir, In Sync, to compete from Feb. 26 to March 1 in the 21st annual show choir competition at Lawrence Central High School in Indianapolis. Led by choir director Brett Carroll and his assistant director Donna Dandino , Impressions won second runner up in the advanced unisex choir division, and In Sync won the Grand Championship, including best vocal and best visuals, in the advanced mixed choir division.

The show choir at John Burroughs High School won the grand prize at a national competition Saturday in Chicago, edging out two high schools that kept Burroughs from the top spot in previous years. The host of the festival, FAME Events, holds contests in several cities throughout the year, but the entrants at this weekend’s venue were among the top high school programs in the country, said Burroughs vocal music director Brendan Jennings. “In this case, all of the top four programs in the country happened to be in the same place at the same time,” he said.

Burbank’s high school show choirs are more than used to competition. But this weekend’s Burbank Blast Show Choir Festival, where six of Southern California’s top show choir groups will sing on the same stage, is not about winning. About 500 students of different skill levels from five high schools and one Burbank middle school, John Muir, will run through their competition material and receive critiques from three nationally known judges. The festival, which precedes the choirs’ competition season, will be an opportunity for the students to hone their skills, learn new ones and get friendly with their soon-to-be rivals.