‘Show’ing their talents on stage

    HARLAN — Harlan Community High School Breaking Cylence and Middle School Cytones show choirs have been singing and dancing their way to success this season at various competitions.
    Their most recent success was this weekend at the Sing and Swing competition in Atlantic. Breaking Cylence placed first in 3A and the Cytones were first in middle school. The middle school also received the People’s Choice Award and were the sole competitors at the Atlantic show.
    “After all of our competitions, we have our home showcase March 20,” said choir director Daniel Novotney, who is in his first year.
    The high school show choir has 21 singers and is accompanied by a 12-person band. Middle school show choir has 15 singers and is accompanied by Novotney and high school students.
    “Show choir is really a creative outlet for students,” Novotney said. “It lets them sing more popular music and lets them dance which is another creative outlet for them. It’s good to have a space where they can be creative and do something they are passionate about.”
    The high school show choir theme is “Be a light,” which is about kindness and being uplifting. Middle School has a looser theme, which is “High Hopes,” one of their songs, according to Novotney.
    “Each of the songs fit the theme,” he said.
    Novotney said the shows get more improvement at each competition.
    “From our first competition to our last one there was definitely an improvement,” he said. “At the competition we get critiqued and get feedback from judges every time so we change and alter our show for the next competitions which helps a lot.”
    He said the goal of the high school is to make finals at competitions.