King’s Lounge packed with performances, first place winners donate money to charities
Kyle peters
reporter/editor
The Kings Lounge saw a wide variety of acts the night of November 21, as the George Brown Student Association once again hosted the highly anticipated GBC Got Talent.
Singers, dancers, and everything in between, shined on stage giving the audience a diverse set of performances they would never forget.
Walking away with first prize was a band, who performed a touching rendition of “Silent Night”. The group, all representing the Enactus club, comprised of singers Sandra and Morgan Melbourne and Julyco Opena, guitarist Kirill Yerofeyev, and violinist Genia Melbourne, who displayed an obvious, in their own words, synergy.
Did the band see themselves walking away with the top prize?
“No,” they all laughed. “Putting us together, it was like, we need funding for all our projects,” said Sandra, who studies Business Administrative Accounting, “so we kind of just said, ‘you guys play an instrument,’ ‘who plays guitar, I can bring the violin,’ ‘I can do some vocals,’ and we put it together in how long did we have?” “A week,” added Yerofeyev. “We had a week,” continued Sandra, “we had a week to put it all together and we didn’t think we would win, but it’s just amazing that we did.”
All the money is being donated towards the projects that Enactus support, including Spudlery, a project that aims to reduce plastic waste which makes spoons out of potato peels, and Youth Coming Forward which teaches entrepreneurship and starting businesses.
When asked if the group, fresh off their debut, would perform again, they were all optimistic. “Oh definitely,” they laughed, “every week,” adding they were thinking of performing in retirement homes over the holidays.
In second place came dancer Taejai Hamilton, a Fitness and Health Promotion student. “I was nervous because I actually sprained my ankle,” he admitted, “so (I’ve been) up since 6 AM, making sure I could practice.” Hamilton, who was found freestyling all over the backstage, claims he’d love to turn his hobby into a profession. “It’s one of my favourite things to do,” he beamed.
Coming in third was Natalia Rocha and her dance partner, Mateo. Both agreed it was nerve-racking, with Mateo adding it was his first time performing on stage, and together with Rocha. “It was just more out of the love for the music and dance,” he said. Rocha agreed, “it was just kind of more natural than choreographed.”
Other contestants included Food and Beverage Management student Terry Nguyen, a self-proclaimed “kitchen dancer” who used pots and pans as instruments. Recent graduate Matthew Miranda, dazzled the crowd with his drumming, dance and taekwondo act, Business Administration student Adarsh Prasad, who danced through different genres such as Afrobeat and K-pop. Those interviewed agreed that the competition was a great way to meet other students and show strengths. For the crowd that night, those strengths were in full display.
