In a night of stunning vocal performances from CNU’s many a capella groups, Glow in the Darcapella (or just ‘Glow’) amazed CNU students for yet another year. The show once again proved that CNU’s a capella scene is strong, and remains exceptional at what they do.
Just as important as the event itself are the groups that made this all that it is through their participation. For CNU acapella there are all-inclusive groups which include Extreme Measures, Trebled Youth, and University Sounds. In addition, there are also two all-women groups, Take Note or the Newport Pearls. This community has been a mainstay of CNU for nearly two decades, with groups going as far back as starting in 2010, 2008, or even 2005. These groups participate in Glow, but also have many events throughout the year that they perform for, some groups even publishing their own albums.
Each of these teams brought their own style and identities to Glow in their outfits, their choice of songs/individual performances, and short video productions that introduced each member of a performing group shortly before they all came on stage. Creative expressions like these allow a group to stand out, despite them being actual silhouettes lit up in the dark during their performances.
Stand-out moments throughout the show included a dance number by hiphop group Hypnotic Control to start the night off right, Trebled Youth’s performance of Still into You (Paramore), and University Sound’s performance of S&M (Rihanna). Each group did great work doing everything from remixes to mash-ups, but the performances that stood out were those that understood the vocal range of their singer and paired well with the chosen artist to the point they were indistinguishable.
For as easy as these teams made it look, Glow was the culmination of months of practice and bonding. “Our group values building relationships both on and off stage; we rehearse twice a week, but we also have bonding activities outside of practice, like our most recent retreat to the Outer Banks,” said Campbell Mitchell, a Junior student in Extreme Measures.
Other groups related similar stories of regular practices once or twice a week, with even more days set aside to rehearse ahead of Glow. An important point related by all groups is not only do they practice their talent, but effective groups also have good cohesion which grows as the group forms a stronger bond each year. “I just joined Trebled Youth at the beginning of this semester, and this group has become my family at CNU in such a short time,”
said Junior Tori Templeton.
When asked about what this event meant to their team, Freshman Kaleigh Huges with the Newport Pearls responded, “Glow in the Darcapella to the Newport Pearls is a way for us and the other a cappella groups at CNU to showcase our abilities as performers. A cappella at CNU is like a family; we all support and love one another and this is a way for us to get to come together with our community to have our family share their talents.”
