ST. GEORGE — Raging Red Show Choir performed their final concert of the semester as a tribute for Dixie State University Pres. Dr. Stephen D. Nadauld, Thursday evening, in honor of his upcoming retirement.
After showing a video presentation dedicated to Nadauld, where DSU students and others expressed their appreciation for his service, Raging Red performed a number of solo, duet and collaborative dancing and singing numbers that incorporated a mixture of genres from Lion King’s “Circle of Life” to Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.” For no. 1, performers called Nadauld up onto the stage, where he sat on a stool on stage and was instructed to say into the microphone “comedy tonight” whenever the music paused, while the performers placed silly hats on his head. He even danced the waltz with one of the performers toward the end of his cameo appearance.
About five years ago, Nadauld said he felt that there was a certain magic missing from the Dixie campus and he was determined to bring back the spirit. At the time Raging Red did not exist. Though, he knew of Merrilee Webb, after asking her to be the director, she signed on.
“When they performed for the first time for the alumni about 75 percent of the crowd had tears in their eyes,” said Merrilee Webb, director of Raging Red .
Since then, Raging Red has performed in numerous states and this year they will take their third trip to China, Webb said.
Naduald and his wife, Margeret, were able to voyage on both trips to China and he said during this time he and his wife fell in love with this singing group.
“We stayed overnight in little cubbies on trains,” he said. “We watched Raging Red perform on the Great Wall.”
Aside from Nadauld’s involvement with the incorporation of Raging Red, it’s important to note that over the course of his presidency Dixie State College became a university, which increased the amount of degrees offered.
Looking to the future, Nadauld hopes that in five years DSU gains more students, offers a few Master’s Degree programs and overall enhances the abundance and availability of education in Southern Utah. Most of all however, he said he wants to see St. George become a University city.
“St. George has long been a wonderful retirement community,” Nadauld said. Evolving into a university city would “bring a spirit of understanding, cooperation, and value of higher education. I think it would increase the learners and doers of our society.”
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