Bangladesh Talent Show

Performers dropped out, ticket sales were low, and the event date was forced to change last minute.

Failure was in the cards for the Bangladesh Student Association's (BSA) first ever talent show. But despite the adversity, the club pulled out a memorable event.

On Tuesday the BSA hosted a talent competition. The crowd was made up of about 200 students from a variety of backgrounds. Performers did everything from dancing to singing and playing musical instruments. The event was initially scheduled for Oct. 29, but ran into stiff competition from Muqabla, a dance competition held by the Indian SA.

"I don't think anyone wanted to [buy both] tickets," said Natasha Enam, BSA president and a senior nursing major.

Adding insult to injury, three performers dropped out of the talent competition at the last minute. But the BSA, rather than canceling the show or having a break down, found three new acts to replace the dropouts and lowered the ticket prices from $5 to $1.

The last minute changes made by the BSA harvested a large crowd of students to the show, and a good portion of the SU theatre was filled with students.

Andrew Liu, a senior psychology major, kicked off the show by singing to the crowd, accompanied by his acoustic guitar. He chose two popular songs, "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from the hit Disney movie Mulan, and Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance."

After warming up the crowd, Liu's performance was followed up by Theresa Cervantes, a junior mathematics major, who played the piano. Her piece took a more soft and subtle approach than Liu's, but it required every ounce of skill as her fingers rarely missed a note.

Brandon Barnes, a junior communication major, then read a poem that he wrote about the hectic lives of college students striving to succeed.

Although he was not scheduled to perform, Marcus Epps, a senior in the social sciences interdisciplinary program, auditioned right before the show began. He showed off his beat boxing skills of some popular songs with free-styling.

Trinnis Morrison, a senior sociology major, danced his way on the stage to his original choreography, laced with popular dances such as "The Dougie."

UB Zeal, a UB dance team affiliated with BSA and Indian SA, performed a routine that incorporated the use of batons that had caution tape as flares. After intermission, the show continued with an act that featured most of the BSA E-Board members wearing traditional Bengali dresses.

A pair of dancers capped off the show, who had performed in Muqabla. Halfway through the duo's performance, several members of the crowd decided to hit the stage, and in seconds the two dancers turned into a larger group of 10.

While the judges tallied up the scores, the two hosts, Rio and Arbad Noor decided to join in and entertain the audience. Rio showed off her belly dancing skills to Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie," and Noor sang and reluctantly did "The Dougie" after the audience's urging.

Carl Ross, the international council coordinator for SA, was one of the judges for the show. He was proud of BSA's success, especially because it was its first talent show. He liked the content of all the performers, and judged only on execution.

"It takes a lot to get on stage and do anything," Ross said. "No matter what kind of stage it is."

The talent show had three winners; Andrew Liu took third, earning a $25 Visa gift card, Marcus Epps came in second, and earned $50. UB Zeal took first place in the competition and was given a $125 gift card.

Christa Mathew, one of the team captains from UB Zeal and a junior psychology major, was excited to have taken home first place.

"It can get stressful sometimes, but it's always worth it at the end of the day," Mathew said. "Once you get on stage… it's surreal."

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