A line lead all the way to the end of the cafeteria outside. People stood waiting for the entrance to the dinner to sit. But it wasn’t just any dinner; it was the first ever Madrigal Dinner at Tuscarora High School. People sat at tables placed in front of a stage with a decorated table on top and paintings behind them. Depicted on the paintings was a unicorn laying down, a sword, a shield, a knight, and a castle.

Guests sat down at designated tables and ate their appetizer, while waiting for the performance to begin. The performance began with chorus teacher, Mrs. Christine Tarrant, thanking the guests for everything and thanking the performers for putting time and effort into the dinner. Then the music began.

Upon being asked about what she expected from the dinner, Tarrant said,“I just expected students to be excited about doing something completely different, since it was the first time ever done in Loudon County and I just really wanted the students to experience that kind of music and to sing acapella and to strengthen their skills. And I just wanted to create a more of a choir family and a community within our school and outside of our school. To come together and enjoy music and eating and singing.”

The Madrigal Dinner was the first of its kind in Loudoun County. It was a dinner filled with singing hosted by the chorus department of Tuscarora. It started with singing of a chorus of girls.There was a row of lords and ladies and the king and queen sang acapella after the chorus.

The dinner was just as Mrs. Christine Tarrant expected—and more.

The community was brought together through singing carols and eating good food. Food was catered by Cracker Barrel and had three courses which was a salad as appetizer, a main dish which was Cracker Barrel, and then a dessert. They sung and danced along with the actors. The activity of the crowd made so that the crowd was laughing and singing along with the chorus group.

Most of the chorus members have started singing since they were young, including 9th grader Nevin Younis, one of the knights from the performance.

Senior Sarah Linhart a server; and chorus member described why the performance meant something to her, “[The performance meant]a lot because this is my final year with the program and it made me happy knowing this is a tradition Mrs. Tarrant wants to continue and that I’ll always be apart of the first one,” she said.

The performance meant a lot to the performers, making it an overall great experience. Tarrant commented that there will most likely be another madrigal dinner next year. Desserts on Broadway, another event hosted by Chorus, will be in the cafeteria filled with desserts for the guests to eat on January 16.