Black Student Union (BSU) hosted a lip-sync talent show on February 20 from 3:30 to 5:30 in the theatre. Tickets were $3 in advance and $5 at the door. According to President Aaliyah Payno, the event hoped to raise money for the club and their end-of-the-year banquet and also include the school community in their cause.
“We wanted to do something that would show everybody’s talents, not just black people for African-American month,” Payno said. “We just wanted to put an event together to bring everyone together and have fun.”
The show featured a variety of participants including students, teachers and administration. A variety of cultures were represented, such as Hawaiian belly dancing and songs sung in Hindi.
“I really like how BSU is doing this for their program specifically, and I love how they opened it up to the whole school,” student participant Ardian Agolli said. “It really perpetuates their message of inclusion and how everyone deserves a chance to shine.”
A group made up of Spring Valley teachers and administration also performed at the talent show. The band consisted of English teachers Nicholas Sevano and Jodie Rose on guitar and vocals, math teachers Michael Bucher and Alexis Fukuda on bass and flute, and assistant principal Benjamin Feinstein on drums. The band performed Otis Redding’s “Down on the Dock of the Bay” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.”
“After we played at the Christmas party, a couple teachers suggested that we could do this to kind of show kids another side of ourselves,” Sevano said. “I’ve been looking forward to it for sure.”
The announced winners of the talent show were Agolli, who performed a lip-sync dance performance to “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga, and Felippe Ramos, who sung and played piano to “Imagine” by John Lennon.
“I decided [to sign up] because I absolutely love music,” Ramos said. “I saw it as a new opportunity to try new things.”
