One person鈥檚 desire to sing and dance to contemporary music in West 91直播 has opened an avenue for many others with similar interests to join a new glee club in Kona.
The nonprofit Kona Glee Club that launched on July 30 has drawn 12 performers aged between 30 and 70 to sing arranged medleys while dancing choreography, all prepared and guided by award-winning artistic and musical directors.
The club meets for two hours every Monday at the Kona Elks Lodge until early December, when they will put on a show for the public.
The club鈥檚 president and founder, 20-year Kona resident Ilene Cohen Harrington, has a history of starting organizations that make her interests come to fruition. She started the nonprofit Domestic Violence Hurts Animals and People to offer individuals the resources to provide their pets with better lives and launched the Kona Aloha Singers in 2018 to offer people hoping to sing melodies other than classical chorales the platform to do so every Tuesday night.
Recently, another passion sparked in her heart.
鈥淎bout a year ago, we were singing (tunes by) Earth, Wind and Fire and other songs that you want to dance to, and we鈥檙e just standing on risers, we鈥檙e not even moving. I just started to want more,鈥� said Cohen Harrington, 70. 鈥淏oth (the chorus and the glee club) started as a sort of selfish endeavor. I wanted to sing rock and pop music, then I wanted to dance to it, too.鈥�
Though Cohen Harrington admittedly started it to fulfill her own wishes, the glee club resonated with other West 91直播 residents with performing experience from their youth who were keen to re-engage in their old creative hobbies. Cohen Harrington said that her extensive coordination experience gained over the past near-decade allowed her to orchestrate the glee club much faster than the chorus that took two years to assemble.
鈥淭his was my creation, my dream, my idea, and I never thought it would appeal to older people, but it did,鈥� Cohen Harrington said of the musical club style commonly associated with high schools. 鈥淭hey had sang or done something previously sometime in their lives. I don鈥檛 think anybody in there is actually new to singing.鈥�
Cohen Harrington was able to bring on Nadari Hockenhull 鈥� who has received nationwide acclaim for her opera skills and was a finalist in the 2025 91直播an Idol competition 鈥� as the club鈥檚 artistic director.
Cohen Harrington said a musical arranger will create songs in the upbeat medley style common to glee club performances by marrying the choruses and most popular verses from popular tunes by artists like Janet Jackson, Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Black Eyed Peas, Dua Lipa and Kelly Clarkson.
She said Hockenhull will be in charge of designing the Zumba-like choreography that will accompany the singing, while Tahiti native Vaina Barton provides additional music as the principal accompanist.
The weekly rehearsals will culminate in a public show on Dec. 6, with a new session of glee club kicking off in January, Cohen Harrington said.
The cost to join the club is $125 for adults and $65 for high school students. To learn more, visit www.konagleeclub.org.
Email Kyveli Diener at kdiener@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
