Vibe's Road To New York Paved With Gold?

MADISON, CT — To the beat of '80s tunes such as “That’s What I Like About You" and “Danger Zone," Daniel Hand HS Show Choir VIBE began its Northeast competition tour on January 19. Right out of the gate, they came away with gold for their seven song montage interpretation of “Stranger Things,” the Netflix period piece of teens in the1980’s.

The VIBE ensemble, as well as their band and stage crew, bared the ominous Saturday forecast, and trekked 2-and-a-half hours to the Mill City Show Choir competition in Lowell, MA.

VIBE beat out 12 other New England high schools in the competition to take First Place.

Due to the threat of a snowstorm, the VIBE cast busses fled the Bay State early, not knowing how they fared in the competition. But Hand parent Eli Sherer did stay in Lowell that evening. He Facetimed the winning announcement to VIBE director Ron Soja, who held up his phone on the bus as they pulled back into Madison.

“You could hear them cheering like crazy,” said Sherer, happy that Facetime could give them the good news in real time.

Vibe lead singer Marco Natarelli (red jacket) wins Best Male Soloist on January 19.

VIBE also swept the competition on group awards, receiving recognitions for Best Vocals, Best Choreography, and Best Band. Additional judge recognitions were for Best Tech Crew and Best Male soloist in the form of Marco Natarelli.

“Receiving the award for best male soloist was really exciting and pushed me to work even harder,” says Hand junior Natarelli. “I was feeling very confident on how the groups performance would go; due to the intensity of our night rehearsals and after school practices.”

VIBE practices up to 25 hours a week as the January-February competition circuit gets underway. Five more New England competitions await VIBE as well their national competition in New York City February 22-24. For VIBE, the grueling practices are already starting to pay off.

Submitted photos