A singing group of 6 women was formed in 2002 out of the membership of the Iowa State Women's Club for the purpose of presenting a musical program at the Spring Luncheon with the theme "Hats Off to Women". We named ourselves the Belles of Iowa State.
Coordinated by Annette Rowley the group created the musical program, selecting the songs, creating costumes, adding dialogue, choreography and additional instrumentation. We rehearsed and rehearsed and rehearsed!
The program was a success and we have repeated parts of it over the years. We began getting requests to perform for other events, and have followed our pattern of hunting for music that fits a theme and developing our "schtick".
The group has added 2 additional members to allow for any absence that may occur in our busy lives. Individual members have appeared in SVS, but it's not easy to commit the whole group in the summer. Members sang "Let a Smile Be Your Umbrella" in one show.
Although our initial reason for forming is long past, we have stayed together as a group because we love singing with each other and enjoy the friendships that have deepened. In this time of Covid we met on Zoom in the winter, but since spring have been meeting weekly outdoors in a park to stay in touch and send our harmony out into the universe. - Kitty Fisher
