On March 24, Natalie Castro, a student in the Office Service for Health Care program, made the George Brown College community proud with her performance at Ontario’s Got Talent, a multi-school event hosted in London, Ontario.
Castro is a belly dancer, and, as she couldn’t perform during the height of COVID-19, she taught students her art to raise money for various causes at the time.
“I would just do pop-up classes for charities during the pandemic. So I did about four or five of them and in total of all my classes, I raised over $3,000 for charity,” she said. “I was able to do something that I love but also help charities that needed funds for their organizations.”
But while she is passionate about teaching others, Castro longed to dance in front of a crowd again. So when she heard about the college’s GBC’s Got Talent, she jumped at the opportunity.
Given that the event was virtual, the experience was quite unique for Castro. Shooting in studios instead of performing live and online voting from the audience are not what she was familiar with, she admits, but that did not deter her. “I missed being on stage, so that was perfect. It was a euphoric feeling, being in that element,” she said.
Castro is an experienced belly dancer who has participated in multiple competitions in the past.
“I’ve been belly dancing for over a decade now. So I’ve done various festivals and competitions and have even traveled to Colombia and Egypt,” said Castro. “I started off as a child dancing to Latin and hip hop. Those were my two first styles as a child. But then once I started getting into my teens, I started taking classes for belly dance.”
When she was going through puberty, belly dancing empowered Castro to embrace all the changes that came with the transition.
“I felt I was learning about my body more, but it was also giving me more confidence, which I feel like as teens – a lot of girls struggle with that,” she explained. “So, for me it was kind of a way to boost my confidence and make me feel better about my body and embrace it and not be ashamed of it.”
When she found out that she had won the GBC contest and had thus qualified for the province-wide competition in London, she was ecstatic. “I was told that I was moving on to the next round and that I will be performing again. I was like, what? I didn’t know about that. It was a surprise.”
Ontario’s Got Talent had a huge crowd, and was Castro’s first live performance since the pandemic.
Hosted by Wes Barker, a famous Canadian magician, the competition had Castro battle alongside finalists from Brock University, George Brown College, Centennial College, Conestoga College, Fanshawe College, Fleming College, La Cite College, Sheridan College, Fanshawe College and St. Clair College to determine the provincial champion.
Although Castro did not win in the end, it was a memorable adventure for her.
Revealing her future plans, she said that while she aspires to work in healthcare, Castro does not intend to stop dancing.
“I will definitely go back to teaching belly dancing and want to still keep doing belly dancing myself, because it’s something that makes me happy and brings me joy.”
