When Sweet Signatures, Elon University’s all-female a cappella group, walked on stage in black blazers, heels and bright colored shirts, the crowd went wild.
Sweet Signatures hosted Acappallooza 2013 Saturday night in Whitley Auditorium. All five Elon University a cappella groups performed, as well six groups from around the country: North Carolina State University’s Grains of Time, Bowdoin College’s Meddiebempsters, the University of Maryland’s Generics and Williams College’s Springstreeters.
Sophomore Elisabeth Jones, Sweet Signatures’ Acappallooza chair, is one of the many people who helped make the show a success.
After she found a date that worked with all the groups involved, Jones examined details like reserving the space, working with the echo factor in the auditorium and planning ticket sales.
“I feel so lucky to have Sweet Signatures because all of those details can be really stressful, but they make it so much fun and they all helped out so much,” Jones said.
Junior John Molloy, president of Rip_Chord, said the event was a great way to collaborate and learn from other groups.
“My favorite [part] is seeing the groups from all across the east coast,” he said.
Jones said in order to find the non-Elon a cappella groups for the show, she watched several a cappella groups on YouTube and evaluated how they would fit in with the groups on Elon’s campus.
“Sometimes we get lucky and groups ask to come perform at Acappallooza,” Jones said. “I love that our event is starting to get some attention.”
Elon’s newest a cappella group, Smooth Progressions, made their debut on the Whitley stage. In just one month, they put together an impressive version of “Forget You.” The audience was enthusiastic to see what the new group had been working on since its establishment.
“It is somewhat intimidating to be around such a strong a cappella community, but we plan to work very hard to reach their level some day soon,” Smooth Progressions president, Montez Brown, said. “So far we are a unique group of guys that love making music together. Hopefully we can start to work towards a distinctive sound very soon as well.”
For a group like Rip_Chord, one of Elon’s all-male a capella groups, it usually doesn’t take long to choose what songs to sing for performances, Molloy said
President of Vital Signs, junior Nick Cook, said Acappallooza is his favorite event of the year.
“There’s nothing like getting all the groups together and having this giant festival-type situation,” he said. “It’s such a community to see everyone come together and hear all the stuff.”
This year, there was a new aspect of the show: the performers were able to experiment with choreography more because they each had their own microphone.
Molloy said Rip_Chord had practiced using the individual microphones so there wouldn’t be any problems on stage during the show. When it was the group’s time to hit the stage, they came out dressed in blazers and button-downs and put on a crowd-pleasing performance.
Rip_Chord closed the show with a high-energy version of “Too Close.” A look of accomplishment was on each of their faces when they hit the final note and accepted the audience’s applause.
Throughout each a cappella group’s performance, the enjoyment of both the audience and the performers was apparent. The more dancing and dedication the performers had, the more energetic the crowd got.
“At a place like Elon where there are so many talented people, it’s great to see all those talented people bond with one another and celebrate music,” Jones said.