Courtesy of CHARIS
This Saturday, live music will greet those who filter into the Luther Ely Smith Square after marching through the streets of downtown as a part of the Women's March on St. Louis.
Behind that music will be CHARIS, a St. Louis women's chorus.
The high-performance choral group—which is also non-auditioning and open to all women—was created in 1993 as a way to speak out about issues important to women, specifically gay women. It typically boasts 30 to 40 members, but its most recent roster is close to 50.
"We were founded by three women—two lesbians and one ally—so that's always been kind of the heart of our group and what we stand for," says CHARIS president Sharon Spurlock.
Spurlock says organizers of the St. Louis women's march, which will take place in conjunction with the Women's March on Washington D.C., reached out to the choral group about performing.
"We thought it was a perfect match for our mission," Spurlock says.
Many members of the chorus will walk in the march, which begins at 9 a.m. at Market and 18th, and the CHARIS performance kicks off at the following rally in Luther Ely Smith Square. Spurlock says they'll perform songs like "Bread and Roses," a political song about workers' rights; "You Don't Own Me," a song from the '60s by Lesley Gore; and "A Woman's Place" by Sara Thomsen.
Even though the group practices every Tuesday, rehearsals recently resumed after a holiday hiatus, so Spurlock says planning and rehearsing for the event has been a whirlwind.
"We've been working really hard to get some new songs under our belt so we can sing at the march," she says.
CHARIS' involvement in the St. Louis community stretches beyond Saturday's event. The group has two major concerts each year—one in the fall and one in the spring. It has a partnership with the Missouri History Museum and puts on performances that correlate with the museum's exhibits—its last major concert revolved around the Route 66 exhibit. CHARIS has also performed at pride celebrations.
The next major CHARIS concert, slated for April, is titled "Women Rising." Spurlock says concertgoers can expect a night dedicated to women's suffrage, the Civil Rights Movement, and the LGBT movement.
"As far as we've come, I still think there's a lot of work to be done in every rights issue, whether it's related to women, people of color, or the LGBT community," Spurlock says. "There's still discrimination."
Spurlock has been with CHARIS for 23 years. She says she, like many women in the group, has found it to be a place to speak out about issues important to her.
"It's been a real home for me," she says.
