The GLEEks of Coeur d'Alene High

COEUR d’ALENE — “Let’s run through the Lady Gaga number now.”

It’s not the kind of classroom direction you expect to hear from a high school teacher, but it’s exactly what choir instructor Rebekkah Monitz said to students last Thursday at Coeur d’Alene High School.

As music from a Gaga hit piped from a speaker into the room, students energetically and enthusiastically stepped, twisted, shimmied and sang their way through choreographed dance moves.

Monitz is teaching a new class at CHS this year, based on the hit television series “GLEE.” The show, about a high school competitive singing group, has characters that sing and dance on screen to pop music hits.

“When we first heard last year about the class, the students got hyped up about it,” said Abby Anderson, a junior GLEE student at CHS.

So many teens signed up for the song and dance course that the school had to split it into two classes. That shouldn’t be a surprise, since the television show’s multitudes of dedicated fans have earned their own name: “GLEEks.”

“I think the TV show has shown that lots of different kinds of people can get together, make music, and it’s fun,” Anderson said.

Anderson signed up for the chorus because she loves to sing and dance. She performs in the school’s chamber choir, and is in the cast of the CHS theater department’s fall musical “Babes in Arms,” which opens Thursday at the school.

But the GLEE class isn’t full of students like Anderson. It has attracted many who have never participated in any of the school’s fine arts music programs, Anderson said.

“There are so many different characters in the show, and everyone has a gift. It doesn’t matter what you look like, or what your interests are,” Anderson said. “Music is something everyone can share.”

GLEE students will add some pizzazz to the school’s regular fall choir concert Tuesday. It will be the group’s first performance before an audience.

Other performance numbers include Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing,” and Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.”

“They’re so into it,” Monitz said. “It’s so much more than notes on a page.”

Students who have always been too shy or intimidated to try out for or join the school’s chorus, have been drawn to the class.

“It’s a way for them to put their toes in,” she said. “They come into this class, and they shine.”

Joining the class leads the students to learning basic fine arts skills, like reading music, Monitz said.

The students are also developing confidence through self-expression, while developing a sense of community.

“Kids who may not sit at the same lunch table get together here, and they become friends,” Monitz said.