Talent

Dance finally came to the talent show this week. The night kicked off with a seven year-old girl in a gold sequined hat and leotard tap-dancing to “One” from “A Chorus Line.” A teenager did an impressive J.Lo-inspired dance involving a lot of falls, splits, and back splits. The winners of the junior portion were twin sisters who had a tightly choreographed routine to a song from a Bollywood musical. Our favorite dancers, however, were two brothers who did only what I can describe as “that athletic shaky kind of dance the kids are doing these days.” We had noticed them earlier this week and had watched in quiet respect so it was a real treat to see them in action. Since they were seventeen and nineteen, they didn't fit into either the adult or junior category, but the judges gave them an honorable mention and their videotape will be sent to Miami for future consideration.

We had met the eventual adult winner (a recent college graduate who sang “On the Street Where You Live” from “My Fair Lady”) the night before. When I found out that he was competing, I told him to make sure he knew his lyrics and dressed up, because that had kept a lot of people from winning before. He smiled politely and then I realized what the term “stating the obvious” meant.

While the two girls who won the junior portion were very talented, our sentimental favorite was an eight year-old Ramona Quimby-looking girl who skipped on stage and warbled a pitch perfect rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” I think Randall would be fine with me telling you that he cried at the end. We usually try to reserve our standing ovation for one contestant, thinking that will influence the judge's decisions. We wholeheartedly gave it to Ramona, and were disappointed when she didn't nab the big prize. I wanted to find her and tell her good job afterwards, but then realized I wouldn't be able to pick her out from the other two hundred eight year-old brown haired girls with bowl cuts on the ship.