Meet R&B Sensation Ally Schmaling

Fresh off her semi-direct interaction with Kelly (Kelandria) Rowland via twitter, rising Kenyon superstar Ally Schmaling sits down for a brief chat over a plate of tuna.  

Name: Ally Schmaling
Hometown: McFarland, Wisconsin
Year: 2014
Major: Music and Studio Art
Activities: Owl Creeks, Colla Voce, Chamber Singers, Motown, Lifeguard, Public Affairs Photographer, Horn Photographer, HerCampus photographer, Collegian photographer, Art Club.  

Whoa.  How do you balance all of those activities?
Um, copious amounts of 5 hour energy.  And throat coat.  I would say 4 hours of sleep is a good night.  They don’t call me an owl for nothing, ehh? 
 
Moving on.  Kelly Rowland – how can we capitalize on this? (In case you are TOTALLY OUT OF TOUCH, I’ll briefly summarize: Kelly Rowland somehow got hold of a video of our winter concert, in which Ally belts out a cover of Motivation, and she tweeted about it to all 2 million of her followers.  So, Ally is about to be famous.  Or at least a YouTube sensation.)
I’m not sure exactly, but my dream is that Lady B has listened to it, as well as her little embreyonce, of course.    
 

Was it uncomfortable singing about sexual intercourse in front of hundreds of people?
Yes, especially considering both my grandparents were in the audience.  My grandmother after the show said to me: “I know what you’re talking about, I’ve been around the block a few times…” So, yeah. 
 
Let’s switch gears. Tell me about your pet rat.
Well, his name is October.  He’s been in hiding for the past couple of months but now that the CA’s have unfortunately discovered him, he’s now a FREE RAT! PARTY RAT! He’s liberated, at least for the next few weeks.  We didn’t pass our room check, actually, it said “One Pet Rat” on our list of violations.  It was really the best way to get in trouble.  He now makes guest appearances on my head at parties. 
 
You were just in the opera Don Giovanni in Columbus.  Tell me about that!
My voice teacher last year is (nbd) an international opera sensation, and she offered me this gig with Opera Atelier, this Toronto-based opera company, at the end of last year.  There are twelve chorus members, and we commuted back and forth from Columbus pretty much every other night. We performed a show over Thanksgiving, so I stayed at Kenyon over break.
 
What was it like being at Kenyon over Thanksgiving? That sounds kind of depressing. 
The good thing about having a house to yourself over break is that I could be naked all the time.  A lot of nudity, a lot of playing with my rat.  
 
What were the costumes like in Don Giovanni?
Corsets are absolutely vile creations of torture.  The guys’ costumes, they had to wear these things called man belts (glorified man thongs), which are very interesting to look at? It was like 18^th century drag, basically. 
 
I heard you have a tattoo.  Okay, I’ve seen it.  But elaborate, for our readers. 
My mom and I have matching feather tattoos.  As goofy as that sounds.  It was my 18^th birthday present and we wanted to get something to commemorate our relationship, so I did the drawings and we both got feathers…birds are neat. 
 
Let’s talk about your Kenyon experience.  What’s it like being young for your grade?
It BLOWS that I’ll never get to go to the cove during my college career.  It is also kind of unnerving running into freshmen that are a solid six months older than me. 
 
Favorite bookstore snack?
JUICY OOZERS. 
 
Favorite thing about Kenyon?
The crozier porch.  I porch it like it’s my job. 
 
Any thoughts on the future? You’re a really good photographer, but you’re also obviously a pretty okay singer…CAN THOSE TWO PASSIONS BE COMBINED IN SOME WAY?
I’ve always sort of envisioned myself living on a farm with lots of pigs…none of my passions are really easy to be successful at.  I dunno, I can see myself being a commercial photographer.  But who knows, if all goes well I might end up following Kelandria Rowland’s footsteps.