Naomi Rivera-Zuganelis, Staff writer
On March 10, 2017 Indian Trail High School and Academy hosted the annual IT talent show in the In- dian Trail High School and Academy auditorium at 6 p.m.
With talents ranging from singing and dancing to improv comedy acts to playing instruments, there was not a dry moment throughout the night.
“I thought that there was a tremendous amount of talent that was represented that evening. I was very impressed by the variety. They were all top quality. I was especially impressed with the acts that tried to play an instrument at the same time as singing,” said Elizabeth Simmons, an Indian Trail High School and Academy Spanish teacher and judge of the talent show.
“We got together an improv team and we called ourselves Mom and Pop Improv Shop. What we do is get suggestions from the audience, of a relationship or something bare boned to give us a starting place, and then we make up the scene as we go,” said Sage Holloway, Indian Trail High School and Academy general studies senior.
There was a mix of experiences from the acts. Some of them having never performed in front of a crowd and others being more seasoned at performing.
“I did the talent shows in middle school and in the summer sometimes I do talent shows at fairs. I didn’t do [the talent show] last year because I was nervous, but I was like ‘You need to get over it, like sing in front of people’ and I did and it turned out well,” said Johanna Kalasky, Indian Trail High School and
Academy General Studies junior.
Kalasky took rst place at the talent show with her
singing “Wild Things” by Alessia Cara while play- ing the guitar, followed by the Mom and Pop Improv Shop coming in second and Olivia Shreve coming in third for her singing act.
“[Johanna’s performance] was very polished. She connected with the audience. Her guitar playing was on point and her vocals were near professional. It was a very hard decision, but there is no doubt that she deserved rst place,” said Simmons.
“I was actually very surprised that I won. There was a lot of good singers and a lot of good acts. So it felt good,” said Kalasky.
The performance that night wasn’t the only high- light of the talent show experience.
“The rehearsal was really cool because we got to see [all the other acts]. We saw all these talented people from Indian Trail and we were all really supportive of each other,” said Holloway.
The overall experience of the Indian Trail talent show was rather positive, from the rehearsals to the nal performance. When the performers were asked about what advice they would give to peers looking to audition next year the response was nothing be- sides encouraging.
“Definitely do it. It’s kind of nerve wracking but you get over it,” said Kalasky. “Once you’re on the stage it’s super fun.”