Courtesy of The New Blue

Founded in 1969, the year Yale admitted its first class of women, The New Blue has been the oldest undergraduate women’s organization of any kind — and Yale’s first women’s a cappella group. 

The group will be hosting “True Blue: The New Blue’s 55th Anniversary Jam” on Saturday, March 29. The reunion weekend will span from Friday, March 28, to Saturday, March 30.

“We were honored by the current group and the later alums as the real trailblazers that we were,” wrote Joanne Wible Kant Morse ’73, of the last reunion concert in 2015. “It’s nice to be part of something you started that has survived for 55 years.” 

Kant Morse ’73 is a founding member of The New Blue and was a part of Yale’s first women class. 

Spring Jam is New Blue’s final and biggest concert of the academic year. This year’s Spring Jam will bring over 40 alumni to New Haven for the reunion weekend. 

“Spring Jam is fun because we really only have a few gigs on campus through the school year,” said Alicia Shen ’26, co-musical director and reunion manager. “People in the group arrange all our songs so it will be the first time a lot of songs have been performed.”

According to Shen, the a cappella group has spent months preparing for this special Spring Jam concert. Following their spring retreat, which happens during spring break, members rehearse every night leading up to the concert. 

Alumnae visiting will perform four songs with the group at the end of Saturday’s jam. They will rehearse on the day of the jam to refresh their memory of the music.

“I am so looking forward to reconnecting with friends, meeting the new generation of the New Blue family, and to singing together,” wrote Sarah Graham ’07. “I have also followed a professional path in arts administration and development which was inspired in part by my experience as a student business manager of New Blue.”  

This reunion is the first one in a decade, after the 50th reunion was cancelled in 2020 due to the pandemic.

The group will be hosting various meals and rehearsals in addition to the concert during reunion weekend. Members of the group also coordinated with an archivist at Sterling Memorial Library to create an open-house, archival exhibition which tells the story of the group’s founding.

“I was so excited to be accepted into The New Blue in the spring of 1970,” said Morse. “The New Blue gave me a great anchor and a sense of belonging.” 

Kant Morse recounted the group’s initial struggles to find gigs and performance opportunities, as there were many who had “mixed emotions” not just about women at Yale, but women in Yale’s music scene. 

While it was difficult to build their name on campus, it was a rewarding experience, Kant Morse said. 

Members of The New Blue said that they are proud to have carried on this legacy during their time at Yale. Many speak to how The New Blue have allowed them to forge some of their closest bonds, some of which continue to exist to this day. 

“Being in New Blue was perhaps the most defining part of my undergraduate experience,” wrote Graham. “It was fun and meaningful to bond over making great music together, and New Blue was a space where we all felt grounded together outside of the classroom and our other activities.”

The New Blue has performed for audiences all over the world including former presidents George Bush and Barack Obama.