Lifts(414)

            One of the moves you have to get used to early in show choir life is a lift. In the early stages of show choir (Like middle school, freshman choirs, or even elementary schools) they don’t normally choreograph in lifts because you are not experienced enough to do it safely. So you tend to see lifts in show choirs made up of older kids, like varsities, that are made up of mostly seniors..

            The most basic type of lift takes three counts. It has the girl standing in front of her partner. On whatever their first count is they bend their knees, also known as a prep, on the second count the girl jumps straight in the air, keeping her hands on the guys, which are around her waist, and her legs straight. Also on the second count the boy lifts, just as if he was picking something up (hence the name of the move) and put it down, and on the third count the girl lands. My choreographer makes it a point to tell us that girls should be able to do this kind of lift motion by themselves. The boy is just there for a little more air time.

            One lift that my choreographer particularly likes to add into dances is called a shoulder sit. It’s pretty self-explanatory, the end product would be the girl sitting on her partners shoulder. This is a little more difficult than the aforementioned lift because it involves staying in that position for a certain amount of counts, also our choreographer likes to make couples that do shoulder sits turn in a circle. It has the same beginning as a normal lift; bending your knees on the first count. But on the second count the girl tucks her feet into the boy’s side and, after establishing balance, she puts her hands up in a “v.” The boy would grab the girl’s waist on one and on two he pulls her up and re-grabs onto her legs to help her balance.

If you have a lift, or a lot of lifts, in a song it would probably be a good idea to like your partner, at least a little bit. If you don’t like them it may make the lift a bit awkward. You also have to rely on your partner to know when to start the lift, how long to hold it, and when to end it. They are also relying on you to remember the counts.