I first joined Waterloo Wellington Rainbow Chorus (WWRC, based in Guelph, Ontario) in September 1996 at the beginning of its third season. You can view the choir's website. It is a member of the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA).
On June 21 to 24, 2002, I attended my first GALA conference in Toronto along with members of the chorus. It's hard to describe the exhileration of meeting 17 other gay and lesbian choirs from across Canada, sharing our accomplishments and meeting new friends. WWRC was the only choir that didn't come from a major Canadian city or provincial capital. Yet we were one of the largest and most vocal groups in attendance. We were practiced and polished for our own performance on the Saturday afternoon, and I think we showed our brothers and sisters what a small town ensemble can do! On Monday the choirs hosted the raising of the rainbow flag at Toronto City Hall to mark the official beginning of Pride Week. What an exciting time it was! I can hardly wait for the next international GALA festival in Montreal in 2004.
I can think of few things as empowering as singing in a choir. Music is an expression of beauty, and a choir is a highly artistic expression of community. Besides presenting its seasonal concerts, the WWRC has performed at GLBT Pride celebrations in Kitchener and Hamilton, vigils for AIDS and hate crimes, and personal rites of passage.
I've contributed some creative work of my own to the choir. In January 1999 it performed an original choral piece, Joining, a song that I composed based on one of my own poems. It's about transcending the shame that overshadows our intimacy as gay men and lesbians. The March 2002 concert, entitled "Sing and Swing," included a narrative about gay and lesbian life during the Jazz era, written by me.
Singing with this choir is for me an expression of joy and courage, pushing back the darkness of oppression from which many of us have suffered. Education and outreach are an important part of our mandate. The GLBT community has much to offer the world.
From September to May the choir hosts dances on the second Friday night of every month. They're lots of fun and are an important fund raising event for the group. If you live in the area, why don't you join us at the Old Schoolhouse on Silvercreek Parkway, north of Woodlawn Road in Guelph. For more information you can email me.
Besides everything else, the choir is a gathering of friends. During the 2001-2002 season we started doing more social activities together, and it's a lot of fun.
In the top photo you can see members of the Guelph choir singing in the front row of the mass GALA choir to mark the beginning of Pride Week in Toronto on June 24, 2002. From left: Jan, Sarah, Laurie, Mark, Bob, Diane, Jan, Sylvie, Marg, Colleen and Janice. The middle photo: choir director Bob Miller with Katherine and Lynn. The bottom photo shows us still wired for sound after the flag raising ceremony despite a weekend of long, exciting days at the GALA festival. From left: Jan, Jan, Sylvie, Marg, Michelle, Colleen, Sarah, Diane, Laurie, Crystal, our friends Will and Aubrey from Toronto's choir, Singing Out, and me.