The Dalton Academy Warblers are a glee club residing at Dalton Academy, an all-boys private school located in Westerville, Ohio.
Biography
Season Two
When Will Schuester alerts New Directions to the their competition for sectionals, he states that amongst their competition are the "Dalton Academy Warblers." Later, after being inadvertently alienated by the boys in the Glee group and constantly bullied by Dave Karofsky, Kurt goes to Dalton to spy on the Warblers and he is caught. Blaine Anderson and two other Warblers buy him a coffee and talk to him about Dalton. He finds Dalton to be an ideal school, due in large part to their zero-tolerance bullying policy and the fact that their glee group is considered popular and cool, or as Blaine puts it, "like rock stars." Blaine takes him to an impromptu choir
performance where the Warblers sing Katy Perry's Teenage Dream for the student body.
When the continued bullying by Karofsky reaches a boiling point in Furt, Kurt is forced to transfer to Dalton. Kurt joins the Warblers, placing him in direct competition with the New Directions at Sectionals.
In Special Education, the Warblers compete against the New Directions and The Hipsters at the 2010 Western Ohio Sectional Championship, with Kurt as their newest member. They sing an a cappella version of Hey, Soul Sister.
The club ties for first place with the New Directions at Sectionals and move on to the regional competition.
It is revealed in Special Education that the Warblers elect upperclassmen to be in charge of their glee club, and they are the ones who choose the songs the club sings at Sectionals. It is shown that the Warblers have no director, and their tradition is to give a new member an actual "warbler," a bird, that is descendent from the 1800s, of which the newest member has to take care. The bird's name is Pavarotti and Kurt being the newest member, he took care of it.
In The Sue Sylvester Shuffle they are seen rehearsing in their choir room, singing Bills, Bills, Bills with Blaine singing lead. After the performance he claims that they are ready for Regionals.
At the start of Silly Love Songs Blaine asks the Warblers to do a performance off-campus at The Gap; many of the members voice their opposition on performing outside of a school setting, having not done so for 83 years prior (since 1927). Kurt tells them about his experience in New Directions which prompts them to accept Blaine's idea. At 'The Warblers Gap Attack' they perform When I Get You Alone with Blaine serenading Jeremiah. The customers at the mall appear to enjoy this. At the end of the episode the Warblers perform Silly Love Songs at Breadstix, playfully singing to members of New Directions during.
Sue Sylvester reveals to Blaine and Kurt that New Directions have been working on their sex appeal in Sexy and suggests the judges at the competition may be looking for this. Blaine holds an emergency meeting with the Warblers to tell them this. Animal is performed to Dalton's sister school Crawford Country Day to see whether the Warblers are sexy enough which the sister school seem to thoroughly enjoy.
In Original Song the warblers are seen rehearsing Misery in the schhool hallway. Later the bird Pavorotti dies and Kurt sings Blackbird honoring Pavarotti as not just a bird, but as his friend also. Blaine reveals that after their mascots death he no longer wants all of the solo's and suggest he and Kurt duet at Regionals, with all of the other members agreeing on. They later compete at Regionals against the New Directions, performing Candles and Raise Your Glass. New Directions win the competition, with the Warblers coming in either second or third.
In Born This Way they appear at McKinley high singing Somewhere Only We Know as a farewell to Kurt after he transfers from Dalton.
Season Three
Blaine leaves Dalton Academy to join at William McKinley High School and New Directions because of Kurt. Wes has now graduated and left the Warblers. During the year, the Warblers gain a new singer named Sebastian, as well as a few other new members. These new Warblers make their first appearance in The First Time, singing Uptown Girl. Blaine then invites them to McKinley High's production of West Side Story. They are later seen watching the performance. The Warblers, in season 3, seem to have abandoned the "one person leads" format and have allowed more than one soloist in a performance The Warblers are no longer voiced by the Tufts University Beelzebubs in Season 3. Instead the voices are the actors themselves.
It is revealed in Hold on to Sixteen that they placed first at their sectionals competition and will be against New Directions at Regionals. They are later seen in the audience watching the New Directions perform the Michael Jackson medley at sectionals.
In Michael, the Warblers are heavily featured. Sebastian has convinced them to change their setlist to Michael Jackson songs after he learns of New Directions' plans to do the same. The two glee clubs have a sing-off to Bad in a parking garage. At the end of the song, a slushie is passed around. Sebastian attempts to throw it at Kurt, but Blaine gets in the way. When Blaine collapses to the ground in pain, the Warblers leave the scene. Santana attempts to confront Sebastian to make him confess that he tampered with the slushie. When she mentions that Blaine could lose an eye, some of the Warblers aside from Sebastian are upset. Sebastian and Santana have a duel to Smooth Criminal after he tells the other Warblers to clear out. He admits to her that there was rock salt in the slushie that hit Blaine before slushying her with a regular slushie. Despite the fact that Santana recorded Sebastian's confession, Kurt doesn't want to solve the issue that way. Instead, he invites the Warblers to their auditorium and reminds them that the two show choirs should go back to supporting each other. All of the Warblers except Sebastian eventually join in with the performance of Black or White. Sebastian mocks them and Nick tells him to "give it up."
In On My Way Sebastian says that they are dedicating their performance to David Karofsky. They perform Stand and Glad You Came. During the New Directions numbers the Warblers are seen happily cheering them on, a new truce made between the two groups. They receive second place at Regionals.
Season Four
In Dynamic Duets, the New Directions rush into the choir room after being notified by Dottie that something is wrong. There they find that their Nationals Trophy had been stolen and replaced by a laptop that has a message left on it. In the message, Blaine is summoned to Dalton Academy.
Blaine visits his former school, where he is greeted by Sebastian Smythe who then introduces Blaine to Hunter Clarington, the new head of the Warblers, who had been oftered a new scholarship at Dalton. Hunter blackmails Blaine, telling him that the New Directions can only have their trophy back if Blaine comes back to the Warblers. They underline this by saying that Blaine isn't really accepted at William McKinley High School and belongs with them. When Blaine is still hesitant, they push him into singing My Dark Side with them.
Although they make Blaine consider joining Dalton Academy again, Sam manages to persuade Blaine to stay with the New Directions. Together, Sam and Blaine then break into Dalton Academy in order to steal back their trophy right in front of Hunter and Sebastian's eyes.
In Thanksgiving, the Warblers return for Sectionals, where they compete against the New Directions and The Rosedale Mennonites. They open with Whistle sung by Hunter, and follow with a rendetion of Live While We're Young sung by Sebastian. They receive rapturous applause.
In Swan Song, although they are not seen, it is revealed backstage by Sue that the judges have unanimously voted the Warblers the winner.
In Sadie Hawkins, Sam begins investigating whether or not the Warblers cheated at Sectionals after noticing that Trent was not in their performance. After investigating, he and Blaine present evidence to Finn, believing that the Warblers have been using human growth hormones due to the physicality of their performance and the sudden muscle growth of its members, which is grounds for retroactive disqualification from competition. Finn believes this is due to a weight training regimen stolen from Vocal Adrenaline, but Sam and Blaine show him a video of Hunter roid raging at The Lima Bean. When Finn tells them that to turn the Warblers in he needs solid evidence, Blaine and Sam call in Trent; he tells Finn that Hunter had been forcing the Warblers to use steroids, and he was kicked out when he refused to dope. Sam, Blaine and Finn then convince Trent to testify against the Warblers.
In Naked, at the beginning, it is shown that Warblers had cheated in the competition, and so they were eliminated, allowing New Directions to go to Regionals.
Season Five
In Love Love Love the Warblers are approached by Blaine and his friends to help him with his proposal to Kurt. Although initially shocked, all of the Warblers seem more than willing to help out, stating it will also help their tarnished reputation. Sebastian, now captain of the Warblers again, asks for everyone's vote, and everyone agrees, including Sebastian. Later they dance and sing back-up alongside New Directions, Vocal Adrenaline and Haverbrook School for the Deaf during the performance of All You Need Is Love.
Members
Current members
Former Members
Songs Performed
Season Two
Song | Episode | Solos |
---|---|---|
Teenage Dream | Never Been Kissed | Blaine |
Hey, Soul Sister | Special Education | |
Bills, Bills, Bills | The Sue Sylvester Shuffle | |
When I Get You Alone | Silly Love Songs | |
Silly Love Songs | ||
Animal | Sexy | Blaine and Kurt |
Misery | Original Song | Blaine |
Blackbird | Kurt | |
Candles | Blaine and Kurt | |
Raise Your Glass | Blaine | |
Somewhere Only We Know | Born This Way |
Season Three
Song | Episode | Solos |
---|---|---|
Uptown Girl | The First Time | Nick, Sebastian, and Thad |
Bad | Michael | Artie, Blaine, Santana, and Sebastian |
I Want You Back | Sebastian | |
Stand | On My Way | |
Glad You Came |
Season Four
Song | Episode | Solos |
---|---|---|
My Dark Side | Dynamic Duets | Blaine |
Whistle | Thanksgiving | Hunter |
Live While We're Young | Sebastian |
Season Five
Song | Episode | Solos |
---|---|---|
Help! | Love Love Love | Blaine and Sam |
All You Need Is Love | Blaine |
Setlist from the Sectionals to Regionals
Sectionals, First Year
Performed:
- Hey, Soul Sister by Train. Solos by Blaine
Regionals, First Year
Performed:
- Candles by Hey Monday. Solos by Blaine and Kurt
- Raise Your Glass by P!nk. Solos by Blaine
Sectionals, Second Year
Performed: Unknown
Regionals, Second Year
Performed:
- Stand by Lenny Kravitz. Solos by Sebastian
- Glad You Came by The Wanted. Solos by Sebastian
Sectionals, Third Year
Performed:
- Whistle by Flo Rida. Solos by Hunter.
- Live While We're Young by One Direction. Solos by Sebastian with Hunter.
Trivia
- Jon Hall, one of the background Warblers, recorded more songs as a side project, including one with Dominic Barnes, who plays Trent.
- The Warblers are the first (and currently, the only) glee club other than New Directions to have an album exclusively dedicated to them.
- Members of the Warblers are almost never seen out of their uniform, even when not at school. The only exceptions are Blaine, Kurt, and Sebastian.
- The Warblers are known for being an acappella group, but have been aided with instruments in Blackbird and Somewhere Only We Know.
Cast
- Named/Credited Warblers:
- Darren Criss as Blaine Anderson
- Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel
- Grant Gustin as Sebastian Smythe
- Telly Leung as Wes
- Titus Makin Jr. as David
- Curt Mega as Nick
- Riker Lynch as Jeff
- Eddy Martin as Thad
- Dominic Barnes as Trent
- Uncredited Warblers
- Joey Haro
- Steven Skyler
- Cooper Rowe
- Jonathan Hall
- James David
- Brock Baker
- Matt Hall
- Nelson Beato
- Aaron Clemens Page
- Cord Jackman
- Luke Edgemon
- Chris Mann
- Jordan Chrzan
- Scot London
- JC Jones
- Colin Benward
- Jaymz Tuaileva
- KC Monnie
- Nick Baga