As a way to celebrate the community’s talents, students and staff performed at the talent show organized by the National Honor Society on April 2 in the Don Tew Performing Arts Center.

“When [me and Aditi] heard about the talent show, we were like, we can’t just not perform after we know this piece,” senior Ambika Sundaresan said.
”We did this dance together over the summer once. So having learned this dance and also being NHS president, I felt very excited to come and do this because it shows off our culture and gives more awareness to this ancient art form.”

Sundaresan and Aditi Trivedi performed a traditional Indian dance, Siva Thandava kavithuvam, about the Hindu god Shivya and his consort, Parvati.

“It’s about how they live in Kailash, which is their abode, and just storytellings about the many stories that happened between them, and many Hindu mythologies,” Sundaresan said. “I’ve been doing this for too long to still be nervous, but the nerves are still t

here. It happens to all of us.
My heart was pounding until I got on stage and then I just looked into the abyss.”

As NHS president, Sundaresan not only performed in the show, but planned it as well, organizing auditions, back stage roles, social media posts and performance order.

“It was very chaotic,” Sundaresan said. “Not only was I coordinating with performers, but I was also coordinating with our NHS officers, our advisors, the pack manager and all of the pack helpers, which shout out to them. They were amazing. But it was very chaotic. I was doing double roles.
It was interesting, and I learned a lot from this experience.”

The talent show, which ran around 1.5 hours, featured 22 performances ranging from dances, singing, a performance of Gangster Paradise, a quintuplet kazoo performance and multiple guitar pieces.

“I performed ‘Yesterday’ by Paul McCartney,” Julien Vincent said. “I’m a huge fan of Paul McCartney. His songwriting really transformed the way I saw music.
I used to hate rock, but when I first discovered the Beatles and the way that they would write their music, it completely changed my mind and the way I saw that art form. I’ve been playing guitar for a few months, and I figured a good way to improve my abilities was to perform in the talent show.”

Although most stuck to ‘traditional’ talents, junior Carter Vocal branched out to show off a more unique talent. He played the Geometry Dash level “Sedulous” by Samifying.

“Even though I would consider my talent really stupid and lame, it seemed pretty fun to go up there and see what I could do,” Vocal said. “It’s something I’ve played since I was 6-years-old, on and off. I haven’t played it super consistently because of schoolwork and whatnot. This was fun to do because it’s kind of my way of coming out of retirement, playing a cute game in front of so many people.”

The talent show was an opportunity for students and staff to show off talents they wouldn’t normally have a chance to. Freshman Dionne Goodlow performed Karma Police by Radiohead.

“That is one of my favorite songs of all time, and I love Radiohead,” Goodlow said. “It’s one of those songs that made me want to play guitar in the first place and it holds a deep place in my heart. It makes me so emotional every time I listen to it.”

Goodlow has been playing guitar for around a year, and outside of choir and theatre performances, this was her solo debut.

“I wanted people to see that I can play guitar, and I think it’s cool to be able to perform because I love performing,” Goodlow said. “I want to perform in every way that I can. I was nervous auditioning, I knew that I had people in the audience that were support

ing me, but it was pretty nerve wracking going on stage without 30 other people on stage with you.”

Haasini Guthula performed a kaozung called Andal Kautung, a traditional indian dance inspired by a love story between the Hindu Gods. Guthula has been dancing for 10 years.

“I was very nervous,” Guthula said. “Right before the show, I forgot the entire first part of my dance, but I’m at the stage where I’ve done so many performances that I can improv without making it look like I did.
Not a lot of people here know a lot about Indian dances, and I wanted to show them a little bit of it.”

All performers and volunteers were called at 4:30 to rehearse and prepare for the show. All performers, back stage technicians, concession volunteers, ushers and set-up and take-down volunteers got community service hours for their help. However, the talent show way to come together as a community as well. 

“There are so many hidden talents, and if you’re not in any of the performing arts, like band choir, orchestra, anything at all, you don’t get to show those off that often,” Sundareasen said. “So this was a way for the hidden gems of our school to come together and show the community that they’ve got talent.”

Gallery • 7 Photos

Marilyn Rutschman

Mia Beckford and Viara Doichev perform "Umbrella" by Rhianna.