On December 2 and 3, Centennial High School’s fine arts departments put on a breathtaking winter performance that truly lived up to the “Spectacular” title.

The Winter Spectacular is an annual show that consists of a series of performances by Centennial’s dance, orchestra, choir, jazz band, and theater departments. The show occurs in December, before winter break. It’s “[the] big winter show that celebrates different parts of the community and…the winter holiday spirit in general,” elaborated Bethany Cho, a junior and member of the dance company. 

The show kicked off strongly with “Snow Business,” a dance sequence involving all members of the performance. Each department was given a solo where their members were spotlighted. Following this, the theater department’s own senior Kate Tourison and junior Will Cavey performed the famous holiday duet, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” and Samantha Freed and Adin Gast had solos in “Snow Miser” and “Heat Miser,” songs from the movie “A year without Santa Claus.”

The dance department drew audible gasps from the audience with their renditions of dances from Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker, “Let It Go” and “Hot Chocolate.” The choreography and technique used in the Rockette reminiscent kicks and twirls were outstanding. The excitement and dedication of the dancers was palpable from even the last row of the auditorium. 

Centennials’ choirs, including vocal jazz and C sharp (the acapella group), performed “My Bonny Lass She Smileth,” “Mi Zeh Y’maleil,” “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” and “Frosty the Snowman.” 

“My favorite part of the preparation process was trying to learn how to dance in choir because we all pretty much had no idea what we were doing and it was just a lot of fun to go through that together,” explained sophomore Joanna Blackman. 

The Matchim Jazz band performed arrangements of “Sleigh Ride,” “Feliz Navidad,” “Winter Wonderland,” and “Frosty the Snowman,” while the Kranz Jazz ensemble performed renditions of “My favorite things” and “Let it Snow.”

Watching the jazz bands was like experiencing a professional performance. From their lively and vivacious tunes to their precise attention to detail, both Mr. Matchim and Mr. Kranz’s bands did a superb job. Their performances took months of preparation and didn’t fail to wow the crowd. If that act was a food, we would want it to be our last meal. 

The departments spent weeks preparing the annual celebration. “The dance, the band, the orchestra, the choir, practice their own tunes, their own songs and their own numbers weeks before the winter spectacular,” explained senior percussionist Flynn Shea. “The week before the winter spectacular we all come together and learn big group numbers.” 

2020’s Winter Spectacular was virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic and band rehearsals during online school were even more difficult. Having the performance back in-person was “amazing… even better after being online for so long,” according to freshman saxophonist, Tate Hancock. 

Senior singer Jaylin Smith’s impressive solo during “Frosty the Snowman” was the perfect cap to a truly enchanting night and on December 17, all students and staff will be able to experience a shortened version of the winter spectacular during the school day. 

After a year separated, “Coming together with the whole program feels like a really big thing, it feels like a big celebration as it’s supposed to,” reflected Shea.  

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