The children at Palsson Elementary School are getting ready to break some legs.
Not literally — but on the stage when the students perform their annual Christmas choral performance this Dec. 7 at 9:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. and on Dec. 8 at 12:30 p.m.
Each grade will perform one or two songs, with choir performances in between that incorporate children from a variety of grades. The theme is “Lake Cowichan Classic Christmas” and the concert will include a plethora of traditional Christmas melodies.
Palsson Teaching assistant, Oline Nickell is extraordinarily proud of the choir.
“I think that the kids have been working really hard and they’re really excited about the concert this year,” said Nickell.
Nickell joked that her favorite part of Christmas concert is when the students perform a song entitled, “Innkeeper.” Nickell said when the children belt the tune out she gets slightly emotional.
“My favorite part is this one particular song because it makes me cry every time. They do it so well. It is lovely,” she said.
Nickell has also been impressed with Palsson’s students’ mature attitudes in preparing for the performance.
“They have been doing very well. They have a lot of enthusiasm and they pass it on,” she added.
Kris Poole is a music teacher at Palsson and has been in charge of coordinating the Christmas concert. To say Poole is having fun organizing the concert is major understatement — he lives for these things.
“Most jobs you can’t spend singing Christmas songs all day so for me it’s a pretty good deal because I get to sing songs, dance and play guitar all day and some people have a real job for the day,” said Poole.
Poole recently relocated to Lake Cowichan from Alberta and has a jazz background and experience teaching band and choral.
One of his students in the concert is Ella Mister-Douglas. Mister-Douglas is equally excited to strut her stuff this coming week when Palsson showcases its choral performance.
“I’m having lots of fun. We get to go on a stage and lots of kids don’t get the chance to go on stage and perform,” said Mister-Douglas.
Parents, friends and family are all encouraged to attend the performance. Admission is free and the concert is expected to have a run-time of roughly 45 minutes. Palsson will also be hosting a turkey lunch for students and staff on Dec. 13 that will include a visit from Santa Clause himself.