Talent showcase

Wednesday, April 24, 2013
Asia Sirmans belts out a tune during the talent show at the high school last week.

Many of them sang songs. A few others broke out the hip hop beat. A couple more demonstrated other skills.

On Thursday evening, this group of performers took the stage at Mountain Home High School to showcase their abilities during this year's student talent show.

This year's act featured 21 performers, each hoping to earn top honors and a portion of the $175 cash prize.

Saul Martinez reacts to being named winner of the talent show Thursday.

"I thought the students did a great job getting up there to show their stuff," said Taunya Page, who helped judge last week's show. "We had a great turn out with friends and family coming out to support the kids, so I was thrilled to see so many people in the audience."

"There was a lot of talent tonight and a lot of different types of talent. That was great to see," said Michael Stear, who heads the high school and junior high school choir programs.

Eleven of the students, many of them part of the high school's choir program, demonstrated a variety of musical numbers.

Ballerina Morgan Hunt displays her skills in a pointe dance. She was one of more than score of students who displayed a wide variety of talents to fellow students during a showcase event last Thursday.

Among them was Asia Sirmans, who captivated the audience as she belted out Beyonce's hit, "One Plus One." Her aunt, Nikkita White, was overjoyed hearing her niece perform on stage.

"I said, 'sing that song, girl.' It was great," White said.

While students like Leslie Gomez and Jessica Stalder preferred singing current chart-topping hits, others like Ashley Hanna and David Catts opted for something vastly different as they sang Gospel hymns.

Then there were others who resurrected some classic 80s hits. Kaylee Humphreys demonstrated that she had plenty of attitude in her voice as she sang a mix version of Joan Jett's chart-topping classic, "I Love Rock 'n' Roll."

"It's a song that everyone knows," Humphreys said. It was also a tune the sophomore grew up with.

"I have the lyrics in my heart," she said. "I've had them memorized ever since I was little."

Meanwhile, Veronica Cooke and Corbett Stempley teamed up to perform a duet version of Bonnie Tyler's, "Total Eclipse of the Heart."

Cooke admits the song, which hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1983, was a very tough song to master. However, it was something she felt compelled to perform.

"I like challenges," she said. "There's no point in doing songs that are easy."

Plus, Cooke admitted that she loves the song.

"I've known it all my life, and I love Bonnie Tyler's voice," she said.

Cooke and Stempley would go on to win third-place honors during the talent competition, which included a $25 prize.

Between the musical numbers, some students showed there was more to talent than just singing. Morgan Hunt demonstrated her ballet skills while Liliann Wakefield preferred modern dance moves. Meanwhile, Connar Lorimer and Robert Wyman pulled unsuspecting people on stage to perform magic tricks.

Others like Dominic McGuire and Dylon Nute tried something even more original. With his fans holding up signs up support, McGuire picked up the hip hop beat with a rap number he wrote.

A few minutes later, Nute read a poem he penned regarding the virtues of education and growing up.

Meanwhile, Dustin Emerson started his show by rolling across the stage on a rip stick -- essentially a two-wheel skateboard.

From there, he switched to an X-glider that requires riders to move on two independent boards that roll on pairs of wheels. His finale involved the far-trickier orbit wheels, which are a lot tougher to master than a simple skateboard, Emerson said.

Ironically, he admitted that he can't ride a traditional skateboard. It's a common trait among riders that are able to master the rip stick or skateboard but not both, he said.

While each student had a limited amount of time to perform, Carolie Powell used it as the basis of her act. As the clocked ticked by, he raced to turn a blank canvas into a finished portrait in just three minutes.

Holding up the finished work for the audience to see, she had created a portrait of actor Heath Ledger dressed up as the Joker in the Batman movies.

In addition to beating the clock, she said her other challenge was keeping the actor's facial features proportionally accurate, especially his ears. She added that the adrenaline rush of racing against time kept her focused.

Powell, who won $50 for her second-place finish, also admits she attempted to paint the portrait twice before she went on stage.

While each student received their fair share of applause that evening, it was Saul Martinez that brought down the house with his award-winning act. Holding the mike against his mouth, he showed his skills as a beat boxer.

Commonly seen in hip hop music, this form of vocal percussion requires people to produce drum beats, rhythm and musical sounds using just their mouth, lips, tongue and voice -- often at the same time.

"I just wanted to do something that I had never done before," he said.

The high school senior got involved with beat boxing about two years ago. He started out by creating simple percussion sounds and added more sounds into the mix bit by bit.

The hardest part was learning how to keep the beat box rhythm and humming sounds going at the same time, he said. That alone took a year to master.

Martinez admits he was completely caught off guard when his name was read off as the judges announced the winner of this year's talent show.

"I'm still shocked. I can't believe I won," said Martinez, who was still trembling following the award presentation. "I'm grateful to have so many friends cheer me on. I will never forget this experience."

In addition to covering the cash awards for the top three acts, proceeds from the talent showcase will allow organizers to host the Idaho Shakespeare Festival's "Shakespearience" program at the high school on May 3.

"It's about $400 for the show, so this will help cover the cost," Page said.

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