BELOVED TRADITION MAKES FINAL APPEARANCE
AT SIGHTS & SOUNDS
A group of four students volunteer
to perform
the Santa Lucia program one last time
They waft down the stairs in white, flowing gowns, made all the
more dramatic by the candlelight, singing old Danish songs in four-part
harmony. For about 50 years (no one can say for sure) the Santa
Lucia Singers have performed for thousands on and off of Dana College’s
campus in Blair, Neb. For more than 30 years, they have been a part
of Dana’s Scandinavian-themed holiday celebration, Sights
& Sounds of Christmas.
And unless something amazing happens, this year’s performance
on Dec. 8 will be the last for the all-women.
“We’re in a period of transition,” said the group’s
director, Dana Professor of Music Jeanmarie Nielsen.
The singers perform in Danish, taking from the Scandinavian tradition
of the youngest daughter in the house waking the family on Christmas
morning with breakfast. The performers dress in traditional costume,
often mistaken by children in the audience as angels.
Interest in the group has waned for students, but Nielsen cautions
this effect has more to do with what Dana is doing right, than what
it is doing wrong.
“Students come to Dana to be active,” she said. “But
as our fine arts groups have grown in stature and prestige, students
need more time to focus on preparing.”
The Santa Lucia Singers usually drew heavily from the same pool
of students as Dana’s acclaimed Chorale, Concert Band and
Theater. The group came from a class taught by Nielsen. When the
music faculty compared that class to the one Chorale members are
enrolled in, the inequity was obvious. The Dana College Chorale
requires hours of rehearsals and performs several times a year,
including a two-week international tour every four years. The Santa
Lucia Singers, who received the same amount of academic credit,
rehearsed once a week and usually only performed at Sights &
Sounds.
“It was a curricular decision,” Nielsen said. “It’s
hard letting go of such a tradition, but we were concerned about
quality and the fairness to the students involved.”
Last spring, Nielsen announced the class would not be offered this
fall, essentially saying the group was no more.
The news was sad to many, but especially hard for some of the upperclassmen
of the group who saw Santa Lucia as a big part of their Dana College
experience.
Senior Jillian Scheerhoorn (Sanborn, Iowa) has performed with the
group for four years and was not ready to finish her fifth without
it.
“It was disappointing for me to not have Santa Lucia offered,”
Scheerhoorn said. “There are a lot of people who love the
program, and we were determined to keep it alive.”
Earlier this fall Nielsen approached Scheerhoorn and three other
disappointed students — junior Sarah Olson (Cambridge, Iowa),
senior Maureen Gubbels (Randolph, Neb.) and sophomore Kori Willamsen
(Blair, Neb.) — and offered them the opportunity to continue
Santa Lucia for at least one more year. The new group is called
the Santa Lucia Quartet and will be performing a shorter version
of the traditional program following the last setting of the Scandinavian
Smorgasbord at 6:30 p.m., on Sunday, Dec. 8.
“This little group of troupers said they would continue the
program,” Nielsen said. “They mainly organize and rehearse
independently, taking time out of their very busy lives.”
Although this will most likely be the last performance for Santa
Lucia, Nielsen said she hopes the group will evolve rather than
disappear completely. After all, she was a member when she was a
student.
“I hope we develop a new women’s ensemble to take its
place,” she said. “We’ll have a hard time just
letting it go completely.”
Sights & Sounds of Christmas is a two-day, Scandinavian-themed
festival packed with concerts, food, drama productions, exhibits,
demonstrations, crafts and more. Designed to be family-friendly,
all of the events are entertaining for all ages, with some especially
designed with hands-on activities to fascinate and engage children.
Visitors can gain entry to more than 20 different events with the
purchase of a Sights & Sounds button for just $5.
The buttons will be available at the door to every event during
the festival, but reservations are encouraged for the famous Scandinavian
Smorgasbord ($15.50 for adults, $9.50 for children under 12). This
year Dana is offering eight limited settings of the Smorgasbord.
The cuisine includes authentic Scandinavian cuisine, including frikadeller
(meat balls), medisterpølse (sausage) and salmon, as well
as 22 additional items carefully selected and prepared in consultation
with the executive chef of The Danish Home in Chicago.
Reservations can be made by visiting the event’s web site,
www.dana.edu/sightsandsounds, or
by calling the Dana College Relations Office, (402) 426-7216. Seats
for the Smorgasbord are limited and are available on a first-come,
first-serve basis, so if visitors have a specific time in mind,
they are encouraged to make reservations early. Times for the Smorgasbord
are 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 7, and 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m., 2
p.m., 3 p.m., 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 8.
Dana College is a private, liberal arts institution that currently
enrolls approximately 600 students. The campus is located on 150
acres overlooking the Missouri River Valley in Blair, Neb. Dana
grants bachelor’s degrees in more than 20 liberal arts, business,
education and pre-professional programs, with an emphasis on personalized
teaching from experienced and dedicated faculty. Dana is a college
of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and its athletic
teams compete in the Great Plains Athletic Conference.
More information on Dana College can be found on its web site,
www.dana.edu.
— END —
For more information contact:
Sarah Cavanah
Communications Coordinator
Dana College
(402) 426-7216
scavanah@fs1.dana.edu
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