In celebration of one of Chatham’s most enduring traditions, approximately 100 students and faculty crowded into Eddy Theatre on Thursday, April 3, to enjoy Airband and experience what this year’s participants had to offer.

As the lights dimmed the enthusiastic pre-show chatter that filled the room slowed died away, and junior Elizabeth Sawyer, accompanied by first years Lynzy Groves and Alice Shy, took the stage to begin the show. After a short skit in which they argued about who would be the host — a play off of the first episode of the YouTube show “The Most Popular Girls in School”–Groves and Shy humorously concluded that they would co-host.

Shy said later, “The experience was new to me. I have done performances before, but always behind the scenes whether doing lights, sounds, or crew. I like the feeling of being up on stage and making the audience laugh. It was an exhilarating experience.”

After their skit, Groves and Shy jointly introduced the “Chatham Bellas”–the first act of the show and winners of last year’s Airband competition. Their performance, an enthusiastic rendition of the Glee mash-up of Adele’s “Rumor Has It” and “Someone Like You,” was performed in matching black dresses and red lipstick.

Afterwards Groves and Shy introduced the next act, Danielle Marcano, who performed the Glee cover of “Le Jazz Hot.” Before beginning her performance, however, Marcano gave a short monologue about her choice of song, and her journey coming to terms with her bi-gender identity, which was met with a passionate round of applause from the audience. The performance itself was a raucous affair, beginning with Marcano shedding her coat and taking the stage in a little black dress, which echoed the mood of her song choice.

The show then continued as Groves and Shy once again took the stage, this time to perform a number from the Disney movie “Frozen”–a trend that would be repeated several times throughout the evening. During these skits Groves’s bubbly personality contrasted with Shy’s no-nonsense humor and made for a quirky and humorous combination.

After several more acts–including a rendition of the Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” by a group called Spice Girls 2.0, a One Direction cover, a performance from “High School Musical” and a performance of a song titled “Yenta and the Goose” (involving a goose puppet) by Esther Troetschel–Groves and Shy invited the evening’s guest performers, C Flat Run, onto the stage.

The a cappella group from Pitt performed renditions of several songs, including Queen’s “Fat Bottom Girls”, throughout the course of the evening. They performed enthusiastically, even getting the crowd involved by starting one of their sets with a chant from the audience.

Shortly after C Flat Runs’ final performance, members of the Chatham community gathered onstage to perform the 2014 Senior Skit, another Chatham tradition. This year’s skit involved an impromptu party in the Rea Coffeehouse, and despite being a little difficult to hear, left the audience laughing at its exaggerated depictions of various members of the Senior class.

The show eventually drew to a close, and the judges announced the winner of the Airband completion: the group No Direction with their cover of “What I’ve Been Looking For” from High School Musical.

With that, Groves and Shy took the stage to perform one last skit–an original song beginning with the line “Cougars are better than Panthers”–which received a loud round of applause from the proud community of Chatham students that made up the audience.