This year's Winter Carnival gives students the chance to build a snow sculpture, swing in a theme dance and even leap over beer kegs. And a few get to sing for a huge audience in the annual Whingding a cappella concert.
The Dodecaphonics will host this year's event. They have invited the Aires and the Derbies -- a group from Brown University -- to take the stage with them in Spaulding Auditorium Friday night.
The Dodecs plan on debuting a lot of new material. "A lot of the skits we perform at Spaulding are a lot more elaborate and fun," said Matt Wrobel '99, General Manager for the Dodecs.
Most of the performance will remain secret until the audience sees it, but Wrobel did divulge that the group will sing Madonna's "Material Girl" and "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners.
Aires Director Jason Fleming '98 said his group's whole show will be comprised of new songs and skits. But their specific plans remain top secret.
"It's pretty eclectic," Fleming said. "There's a good mix of different types of pop songs."
The Dodecs invited the Derbies to perform because it is traditional to invite one group from a different college, and the Derbies are known for their excellent performances, Wrobel said.
They performed at Carnegie Hall last year in the finals of the National Championship of College A Cappella, earning first place in the competition.
Derbies Business Manager Gabe Schifman said the group does not plan its concert sets in advance because the Derbies have a large repertoire which they practice often.
They base their selections "on how we feel and how the audience feels," Schifman said.
"It's going to be a lot of fun -- up songs, some down ones and more romantic songs too."
A cappella groups practice a lot more for Spaulding shows than they do for their regular performances, Wrobel said.
"There's generally a lot of work that goes into these performances, because it is a terrific time to debut new songs and new soloists," Fleming said.
Wrobel said the Whingding concert, along with the Fall Fling and Spring Sing, is among the three biggest a cappella concerts of the year. He called it a "huge event" that is usually a sellout.
"It's a really great experience to be singing in front of 900 people," Wrobel said. "It's probably the only show that I get nervous for."
Schifman said the Derbies had a lot of fun the last time they performed at Dartmouth, during the 1995 Whingding.
"You guys sure party a lot harder than we do," he said. "It was just pretty crazy, and it was pretty neat how everyone was involved."
