The Region Honor Show Choir performed tunes from the Broadway musical Newsies and enjoyed selections from other area high school vocal groups at the George Gardner Show Choir Festival this week in Holbrook. The Honor Choir also enjoyed being coached for the event by Teaching Artist for the Disney Performing Arts Program, Sjaan Trowbridge, who attended from her Disneyland residency in Anaheim, Calif., to instruct and inspire the students.

Stage lights were bright and voices were in fine tune this week. Student choirs from Round Valley, St. Johns, Winslow, Snowflake, Show Low, Safford, Payson, Joseph City, Holbrook and Flagstaff came together Tuesday for the fifth annual George Gardner Show Choir Festival at Holbrook High School.

The non-competitive event provides the schools’ performing arts students a refreshing opportunity for camaraderie while sharing their talents to help one another perform at their best.

The festival is anchored by a Region Honor Show Choir, composed of performers from each of these groups.

Site host and Honor Show Choir Chair Kyle Gardner provided background on the event.

“We have 11 schools represented in the region, who all come to the festival to perform for each other. Each school selects four singers (one soprano, one alto, one tenor and one bass) from its choir to be a part of the Region Honor Show Choir,” he explained.

Kyle’s late father, area music instructor George Gardner, began the event’s rich legacy over 30 years ago, and the namesake festival and auditorium at HHS were both established in his honor.

This year’s fest was made particularly memorable by its visiting guest, Teaching Artist for the Disney Performing Arts Program Sjaan Trowbridge, who has worked for the Walt Disney Company since 1996 as an entertainer in various shows and special events, and whose biggest passion is to inspire young performers.

Trowbridge explained about the program, “We run the gamut, working with groups from children’s studios to dance studios to program’s like Kyle’s choir, and cover everything from stage technician skills to lighting, programming, stage management, costuming, vocal training, props, instrumentals, and we offer classes on whatever performing arts role schools or community groups are interested in.

“As part of their training, students also get the opportunity to perform inside the Disney resort for general guests, and then they have a day to play in the park.

“What we try to do is instill our performance principles and sprinkle our pixie dust on all of them,” Trowbridge said.

“Unfortunately, the arts are going away in public schools, so our job is to back them up and to try to teach them what our core values are as entertainers in the field professionally, and show them that they can do it, too,” she pointed out.

Trowbridge related how she came to meet Kyle Gardner and his Honor Choir.

“They came to Disneyland on a school trip and I was one of their clinicians. We all clicked immediately; I think we all have the same energy, for sure, and I adored his kids. Kyle asked me if I would consider coming out to Holbrook to instruct and I said ‘Yeah, that sounds like fun,’” she recalled.

“It’s been so rewarding for me. This was a really great experience for me to cross-train in, because it’s a great way to give back. I learn so much more being an entertainer at Disneyland than being an instructor in musical theater or anywhere else. You really learn about the human spirit and connecting, and it really holds true that you’re making memories for people. As a performer, instead of showing it becomes about sharing.”

The students expressed their thoughts on the unique performing arts experience.

“It was awesome,” said Honor Choir baritones Harry Edwards and Levi McClellan, and tenor Tyler Christensen, all of HHS.

Honor Choir soprano Karson Hatch, also of HHS, related, “She’s such an amazing person, so genuine. She loves every single person; she just makes you happy and want to do things in life. She’s great.”

“I actually met Mrs. Trowbridge the first time we went to Disneyland with Mr. Gardner in my freshman year. She was amazing then, so I was so excited to meet her again when we went to Disneyland last year, and then to find out that she was going to come here,” said Honor Choir alto Savana Shumway of HHS.

“We took a class with her and she just helped make our show even better. She helped us with our facial expressions and our energy. When we performed at Disneyland she didn’t get to watch us, but she helped us get to that point that we were ready for it,” she said.

Summing up the week’s impression on the group, Savana noted, “I think she made our choir have so much more energy. She helped us realize that, even though we wear these really cool suits, our costumes aren’t the show; we are the show. That made us a lot better and really helped us.”