Viva! term dates:
Thursday 2nd September – Thursday 16th December
***No choir on Thursday 28th October (half term holiday)***
Heart & Soul term dates:
Tuesday 7th September – Tuesday 14th December
***No choir on Tuesday 26th October (half term holiday)***
DCH term dates:
Wednesday 8th September – Wednesday 15th December
***No choir on Wednesday 27th October (half term holiday)***
Singing together even when we’re apart…
When choir rehearsals were understandably cancelled due to social distancing measures, we were imagining weeks of solo singing into hairbrushes, warbling in the shower, and chirruping into the ears of our locked-down family members.
But! Thank you Zoom app! And thank you Kathie for being determined to keep us together. Because now we have a way to meet up every week and sing our hearts out simultaneously, even though we’re scattered across Dorchester and beyond!
Although on Zoom we can’t all hear each other at the same time (we would go crazy!) we can learn our parts bit by bit with Kathie’s instruction, and then practise the songs in overlapping harmonies as we become more familiar with the music. In addition, Kathie has chosen recordings of some of our old favourites (Somewhere Only We Know, Hard Times and Amazing Grace, to name a few so far) that allow us to individually sing layered above the entire choir harmony, giving a real feeling of togetherness.
If you haven’t joined us yet on Zoom, come and give it a try! Keeping that feeling of singing together as a choir is such a mood-booster and when we ‘un-mute’(!) at the start or end of the session the usual Viva chit-chat and laughter ensues! If you’re not sure how to work Zoom, drop Kathie, Wendy or Caroline an email and they’ll be happy to guide you.
Look forward to seeing you all again this Thursday, at 7pm (our new regular time whilst ‘virtual’!).
Thursday 9th January – Thursday 13th February
No choir on Thursday 20th February (half term holiday)
Thursday 27th February – Thursday 2nd April
Monday 6th January – Monday 10th February
No choir on Monday 17th February (half term holiday)
Monday 24th February – Monday 30th March
Here is the hall timetable for Viva rehearsals at the Silver Band Hall:
Jan 9th: Small hall
Jan 16th: Big hall
Jan 23rd: Small hall
Jan 30th: Big hall
Feb 6th: Big hall
Feb 13th: Small hall
Feb 20th: Half term holiday, no rehearsal
Feb 27th: Small hall
Mar 5th: Big hall
Mar 12th: Small hall
Mar 19th: Big hall
Mar 26th: Small hall
Apr 2nd: Big hall
Hi all, here are the dates for the halls for autumn term 2019. It’s a little easier to remember this term as we simply alternate each week.
Sep 5th: big hall
Sep 12th: small hall
Sep 19th: big hall
Sep 26th: small hall
Oct 3rd: big hall
Oct 10th: small hall
Oct 17th: big hall
Oct 24th: small hall
Nov 7th: big hall
Nov 14th: small hall
Nov 21st: big hall
Nov 28th: small hall
Dec 5th: big hall
Dec 12th: small hall
Dec 19th: big hall
5th September – 24th October Viva! Autumn term (part 1)
31st October – Half term break (no choir this week)
7th November – 19th December* Viva! Autumn term (part 2) *TBC depending on Christmas concert date
A reminder that the rehearsal with other singers is now Monday, 15th, 7.00 – 8.30 pm at St Mary’s School, Puddletown.
This will be in the Sports Hall, which is to the right hand side of the school and there is an upper carpark in front of it. Singers are welcome to bring along a folding garden chair, but not shooting sticks with spikes ….nothing sharp please.
We will also need to take chairs to the performance on Friday 19th July
Kathie has now agreed with the organisers that we will wear white. If all white is not possible then black bottoms and a white top will be fine. She would also like us to have badges (VIVA) and says “silver spray paint is a possibility” which we can think about and come with ideas next Thursday. Geof Edge is now coming to that session.
Hi Viva members,
Our timetable for the hall on 20th and 27th June has changed.
There will be no session on the 20th, and we will be in the big hall on the 27th.
Please update your diaries 
Click here for full list of dates
2:30pm, Kingston Maurward Gardens
Viva will be joining Heart & Soul to sing outside by the lake if the weather is fine. If it’s raining there will be alternative arrangements.This is an informal event open to singers and their families/friends and pets!!
This event has now been cancelled, due to our Apollo commitments!
7pm – 8:30pm, Puddletown Middle School
Rehearsal for Apollo Cantata with the conductor
Time TBC, Maumbury Rings
We will be joining a children’s choir and the Quangles to sing 2 songs from Geof Edge’s Apollo Cantata
3pm – 4pm, Thomas Hardye School
We will be singing Space Oddity with a children’s choir in celebration of the Apollo anniversary
2:30pm, Kingston Maurward Gardens
Viva will be joining Heart & Soul to sing outside by the lake if the weather is fine. If it’s raining there will be alternative arrangements.This is an informal event open to singers and their families/friends and pets!!
This event has now been rescheduled for early Autumn term, due to our Apollo commitments! New date TBC
7pm – 8:30pm, Puddletown Middle School
Rehearsal for Apollo Cantata with the conductor
7:30pm – 9pm, big hall
Viva rehearsal as usual
Time TBC, Maumbury Rings
We will be joining a children’s choir and the Quangles to sing 2 songs from Geof Edge’s Apollo Cantata
The strings group are using the big hall every 2nd and 4th Thursday of the month – not every other week as we previously thought. So if you’re not sure which hall we’ll be in, just take a look at the dates below:
Please note recent changes to timetable in red
IMPORTANT CHANGE: Following a ‘straw poll’ last term, that showed most folk in favour of an earlier start time, after this first week back (i.e. normal start time of 8pm) we will be starting earlier at 7:30. So, Thursday 2nd May will be the first Thursday of the new time. BUT, this new time means we will also be alternating between being in the main hall and the community room next door when the cello group are practising in the former. It means parking will be more challenging as cellist will be using the DBH carpark when we arrive these weeks.
Term starts Tuesday 23rd April
Half term week (no choir) – Tuesday 28th May
No choir on Tuesday 7th May and Tuesday 25th June (Kathie away)
Term ends Tuesday 23rd July
First half term will be 4 weeks (£24 if paying by cheque), second half term will be 7 weeks (£42 by cheque)
Term starts Thursday 25th April
No choir on May 23rd – there will be a session in half term week instead, on Thursday 30th May
Term ends Thursday 18th July
First half term will be 5 weeks (£30 if paying by cheque), second half term will be 7 weeks (£42 by cheque)
I can’t quite believe that our wonderful choir came into being 10 years ago! It was with a certain amount of trepidation that I opened the doors to Dorchester Arts back in 2006 wondering if I’d be greeted by a throng of enthusiastic singers or just a view of the car park! Luckily folk did arrive to sing and the seeds were sown for a wonderful community of singers which, over the years, has gone from strength to strength.
The really special thing about VIVA, apart from the great sound of course, is the commitment, enthusiasm and community spirit shown by our singers. Some have recently joined and others have been coming to choir for many years. We originally started out as a mixed choir and performed regularly at local events including the Dorchester Festival, Apple Day and Christmas celebrations at Kingston Maurward and of course the opening of the Olympic Games in Weymouth. VIVA also premiered the specially commissioned song for Dorchester, Dancing the Rings at Maumbury in Borough Gardens and featured on the soundtrack of Out in the Open a film about homelessness premiered at the Dorchester Plaza. More recently in 2014 we performed in Heartwood , an original site specific piece with original music by Karen Wimhurst. This was a collaboration between sound artist Adrian Newton who directed the piece Karen and myself. VIVA joined forces with Pallida, Karen’s Shaftesbury choir, Skylarks Children’s Choir and my Heart and Soul Community Choir from Poundbury.
Winning Best Large choir of the 2014 and 2015 Weymouth Festivals in collaboration with Heart and Soul, was a highlight for the choir. Our Christmas concerts at St Georges church in Fordington have also been a great success and hugely enjoyable and these concerts have enabled VIVA, in collaboration with my other choirs ,to raise hundreds of pounds for charities – the West Dorset Women’s Refuge, Autism Wessex, The Red Cross and the Dorset Blind Association to name but a few.
So…here we are 10 years on planning our new CD, a trip to the Southbank to sing at the Chorus Festival and a choir exchange to France! I can’t wait! Viva la VIVA!
Amazing Grace
Clean Heart
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