...A Great Excuse for a Chorus Brunch/Pyjama Party

In late September, the annual Sweet Adelines International Convention was held in Phoenix, Arizona. This is always a highlight, despite the fact that most of our members have never attended in person. We all have the opportunity to tune into the best barbershop in the world via the webcast! The convention runs over five days, with competition sessions for quartets, small and mid-sized choruses, and 'open' choruses (generally huge!). 

This year we got together for a watch party to see the chorus finals, and we wore our PJs for two reasons: 
1. It was an early start, due to the time difference with the USA
2. Sweet Adelines International was holding a watch party contest and looking for fun pics of watch parties with costumes

We encouraged members to not wear make-up or put any effort into doing their hair (in fact, messy hair was ideal!). We thoroughly enjoyed our morning, sharing brunch (and a few mimosas) and discussing the amazing performances that we witnessed. We also introduced the next generation to barbershop, as our host's children watched some of the choruses!

We found out a few weeks later that our photo was short listed for the watch party competition being run by Sweet Adelines International - we were in with a 1/10 shot at winning $1000 USD! Unfortunately we didn't win on this occasion, but it was exciting to be in the running. 

This was the first in-person international convention since the start of the pandemic, and the competitors did an amazing job to prepare their packages with much more limited rehearsal time compared with normal years. We can't wait to see what they do next year!