Can You Sing and Dance? Buffalo Grove's Expressions Tryouts are Next Week

Auditions process begins Monday for high school students.

Buffalo Grove Expressions to Perform Competition Preview

Performance will take place at 7 p.m. Feb. 9.

Buffalo Grove High School's Expressions show choir will present its next competition preview performance at 7 p.m. Feb. 9 in the school's Miller Theatre. Admission is $3 for adults and $1 for students.  The award-winning Expressions competed in a regional competition at the Mt. Zion Invitational in Decatur in January, winning "Best Band" and "Best Choreography" and placing first runner-up in overall performance. The Expressions' next competition will be Feb. 11 at the DeKalb Show Choir Invitational in Auburn, Ind. On March 3, the group will compete in the Chicagoland Showcase at John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights. For the first time, the BGHS Chamber Choir will also attend the event, competing in the Choir Division on March 2. …

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Expressions to Perform Jan. 16

Audience members will get a preview of the Buffalo Grove High School show choir's competition.

Buffalo Grove High School's Expressions Show Choir will present its 2012 competition preview performance at 7 p.m. Jan. 16 in the school's gymnasium. The Expressions will compete Jan. 21 at the Mt. Zion Invitational in Decatur. The Expressions is a mixed show choir composed of 38 singer-dancers, 10 band members and four crew members, directed by Debora Utley and choreographed by Randy Sage. Although there is no admission charge for the Jan. 16 performance, a donation is requested of $3 for adults and $1 for students. For more information call (847) 718-4000 during school hours. — Submitted by School District 214

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Middle Schoolers Get a Taste of the Big Time

Children learn song and dance from members of the Buffalo Grove High School Expressions.

Twenty-five middle school students got a taste of performing on a big stage Saturday when they danced and sang their way through “A Day with the Expressions” in the Buffalo Grove High School auditorium. With 52 members of the award-winning high school show choir serving as their big brothers and sisters, the younger students spent the day learning songs and dance numbers under the tutelage of Debra Utley, high school choral director, and Randy Sage, Expressions choreographer. The highlight of the day was an evening performance in front of their families of the song “Lullaby” and a song and dance number to the popular Cee Lo Green tune “Forget You.”  “The purpose of the day is to give sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders who will eventually …

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BGHS Grad Lands Movie Role

Michael DeMarco will appear in the soon-to-be-released "Return to the Hiding Place."

Fans of theater and choir programs at Buffalo Grove High School might remember Michael DeMarco. He’s the obviously talented redhead who played Seymour in “Little Shop of Horrors” back in 2009, the Baker in “Into the Woods” in 2010 and danced with the school’s award winning showchoir, The Expressions. There was also a gig as a basketball-playing son in an insurance company television commercial in 2009 that still airs in some parts of the country. Now entering his second year at Northwestern University, DeMarco will soon add another credit to his resume — his first mainstream movie, “Return to the Hiding Place,” which he shot last summer and is scheduled for release sometime later this year. Directed by Peter C. Spencer, the movie is based …

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Expressions Named Grand Champions

Buffalo Grove High School's show choir finished the competitive season on a high note.

It's been a long year for the Buffalo Grove High School Expressions, but they ended the competition phase on a high note last weekend by being named Grand Champions of Show Choir Nationals in Nashville, Tenn. “It was a wonderful way to end our year,” said Debora Utley, choral director at the school. “The kids work so incredibly hard. They are so dedicated and so talented.” Not only were the school's singers named grand champions; Buffalo Grove also walked away with best vocal and best choreography awards as well as individual awards for Best Male Performer (Mike Wohlner, senior) and Best Male Solo (Joe Cavaiani). The Grand Champion Award was the fourth at the invite-only competition, Utley said. “And this was the 10 year anniversary of the…

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Song and Dance

Buffalo Grove High School's Expressions prepare for Saturday's "Cabaret" fundraiser.

It's dark outside when Christina Melgar's alarm goes off at 5 a.m. That hour would be an early call for many teenagers, but not this 16-year-old Buffalo Grove High School junior. She's a member of Buffalo Grove's Expressions show choir and early calls are all part of the program. That's especially been true the last few weeks as the school's award winning choir prepares for "Cabaret," the group's annual fundraiser Saturday night. Like the other 37 voices in the group, Melgar arrives bright-eyed and smiling in time for practice, which sometimes runs till 9 a.m. "It's not always that early," she said. "It depends on what we have going on." "Cabaret" definitely qualifies as a lot going on. A 90-minute performance by the Expressions highlights…

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BGHS Expressions Raise Funds

Car wash, bake sale and garage sale benefits program

They cook. They clean. They run a pretty profitable resale business. And that's just on the side. While their classmates were likely basking in the bright summer sun, Buffalo Grove High School's Expressions show choir members spent part of their vacation raising funds for the organization. The show choir's 38 singers, nine-member band and four crew members hosted a two-day garage sale, bake sale and car wash in August at London Middle School. Throughout the event, they gratefully accepted donations after soaping and scrubbing cars, and sold a variety of other goods, ranging from homemade cookies to used toys and apparel donated by community members. A team of singers lined the sidewalk along Dundee Road, shouting out to drivers -- and …

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