What to expect when Spring Sing is on the weekend agenda: an assortment of music, video blurbs, banners, signature moves, ages in attendance and tradition.
Oklahoma Christian University will host its 47th annual Spring Sing March 4 and 5. The Americana-themed “Land That We Love” show highlights various American states to sold-out audiences.
“As a freshman in Spring Sing, there’s so many people on stage,” Lauren Smith, senior and president of Pi Zeta Phi, said. “You are just one in a crowd, but it certainly serves as an introduction to Spring Sing culture at OC.”
The men and women of the freshmen class are the iconic duo of Mickey and Minnie Mouse from Disneyland in California.
The female club themes are Gamma Rho representing New York with Annie, Iota Kappa Phi as the Witches of Oz from Kansas, Phi Omega Nu as Massachusetts Pilgrims, Pi Zeta Phi as Florida retirees and Theta Theta Theta as The Ringling Bros. Circus from Wisconsin.
The male club themes are Alpha Gamma Omega as Dick Tracy from Illinois, Chi Lambda Phi as Alaskan Eskimos, Kappa Sigma Tau representing Oklahoma as greasers from the Tulsa-based novel “The Outsiders,” Psi Epsilon as the Republicans and Democrats of Washington, D.C. and Upperclassmen as Cowboys from Texas.
For club Spring Sing directors, choosing a theme evolves from a singular thought to a five-minute show in a matter of several months.
“Tanner [Bentley] said ‘Have you thought about “The Outsiders”?’ before we’d decided on our state,” Jordan Van Buskirk, Kappa Sigma Tau’s Spring Sing director, said. “It was probably the best book I’ve been forced to read and so, we made it our Spring Sing theme.”
Phi Omega Nu’s directors chose a symbolic theme to represent them as the newest club on campus for Spring Sing.
“Pilgrims, more than anything else, took a territory and made it their own,” Laine Weatherford, Phi Omega Nu’s Spring Sing director, said. “Phi is experiencing a new frontier, much like the Pilgrims did. We are building infrastructure and traditions for our club, especially when it comes to Spring Sing.”
After the directors chose themes for their clubs, practices began.
“Nothing bonds a club together as Spring Sing does,” Lauren Wheeler, Phi’s second Spring Sing director, said. “Your hearts start beating at the same pace. You’re solving problems and working together for long hours. There’s no better way to show what your sisterhood is.”
Social clubs are able to practice up to 40 hours from the start of January to show week.
“You spend ‘x’ amount of hours during the week in practices and the holding room for Spring Sing shows,” Van Buskirk said. “Getting to hang out with the members of your club, you really get to know everybody.”
According to Weatherford, the role of Spring Sing director is one she has coveted for years.
“I have been watching Spring Sing for eight years, since my brother came here in 2007,” Weatherford said. “Being a Spring Sing director is the longest-running dream of mine.”
With prospective Oklahoma Christian students on campus for Spring Visit, Spring Sing serves as an introduction to the social clubs.
“Spring Sing is a flavor of the personality a club possesses,” Weatherford said. “It’s great to remember who you are as a club.”
Spring Sing can be a time for club tradition to be built and legacies to begin.
“There’s a legacy being created for Phi Omega Nu started with this spring sing show,” Weatherford said. “We’ve been working to represent Phi-O throughout the year, but Spring Sing is a big way to get Phi out there. It will be our first moment in the spotlight as a club.”
Each club has a “signature move” that is present in its Spring Sing show.
For a new club, figuring out a signature move is challenging as it is formulating traditions, according to Wheeler and Weatherford.
Wheeler and Weatherford said “we may or may not have our signature Spring Sing move ready, we’ll just have to see. We want to let the audience decide on it. If it works out like we hope it will, we will announce Phi-O’s signature move post-Spring Sing.”
The signature move personifies the club as a whole and allows for alum to feel a part of their social clubs.
“Kappa’s really lucky because we always use Already Gone by the Eagles and that’s when our signature move, the Kappa snaps, occur,” Bentley said. “This tradition has been around since the 80s. It’s our way of letting people know, especially alumni, that Kappa is still Kappa.”
Kappa Sigma Tau comes into this year’s show as the reigning champions.
“You can feel the pressure coming after getting first with last year’s show, but we wanted to treat this like a whole near year,” Bentley said. “We’d love to go back-to-back, but we definitely want to do well, even if it doesn’t get us first place.”
Awards are presented following the Saturday evening performance.
“Spring Sing is an opportunity for people to be on their absolute worst or absolute best,” Smith said. “At the end of the day, it’s not really about the show. It’s about the relationships with your brothers and sisters in your club.”
Performances can be watched live during the Friday performance at 8 p.m. and Saturday performances at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.
0
0
My family is hoping to watch the Friday night performance live, but the Spring Sing TV site only shows that it will be streaming Saturday. Will that be changing in the next hour?
Sorry for the late reply. Yes, the live stream updated. We hope you were able to watch.