San Benito High School had its inaugural talent show featuring students, faculty and staff on Friday, April 8 in the school auditorium.
The show wasn't a competition, organizer Kristen Porter — the SBHS drama teacher — so there weren't any "winners."
"I thought they all did a great job, and they were very supportive of each other," she said. "I'm proud of all of them. Since it was such a big success, more than 200 audience members, we may try to do a fall show, too. It was a lot of fun seeing all the different types of performances. There's a lot of talent at this school, and I'm glad we are back to having a variety show in which to showcase it."
Freshman Grace Richards danced in the show with five other people to the song “Dream” by Priscilla Ahn. Richards said, “I wanted to do the show because I love to dance and share my talent.” Richards described her talent as a partnering dance with Cam Burchard, Brandon Burchard, Elizabeth Mendoza, Alissa King, and Isabella Woyce.
Sophomores Marie Miskin and Emily Christensen also performed in the show. Miskin played the piano while Christensen sang. They performed verses of the song “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley. Miskin said that she started playing when she was 12. Miskin said, “Deciding to be in the show was a last-minute decision, but we are happy that we are doing it.”
Junior Jake Edvenson also played the piano. Edvenson said, “ I will be playing a version of ‘Tangled’.” He said that he has been playing since he was 4, so this will be his 12th year playing.
Many were excited to see what was in store for this year's talent show. Junior, Brittney Kim said, “I always like to watch a talent show. Our school has so much talent. The show definitely exciting.”
Freshman Alanah Martinez did a hip-hop dance with five other people from Sammy’s Animation Studio. The other people with whom she danced with were Joey Rasmussen, Olivia Laura, Camaxtli Torres, and Carlo Araza.
Martinez said, “There haven’t been any opportunities for us to perform because we don’t have a dance team, so we’re doing this for fun. They chose to perform to a mashup of old school, electronic, and hip-hop music.
