"Talent Show"
Written by Jose Diaz
September 4, 2001 

During my high school years I always attended the annual talent show. For me it was a chance to see innovation at it's best. At the talent show, it has always been predominantly a playground for dancers and future recording artists to put themselves out in the public. The MCSM talent show has always been a great host to talent. We've seen graceful ballerinas, hot latin dancers and techno wizards really fire up the crowd. It's seen everything from solo dance to ten minute professional quality choreographed dance sequences. It's the venue where you try your best to leave your mark as shown by recording artist Mase. He started his solo rap career at the MCSM talent show and now every year he makes a guest appearance to encourage the young talent of today to keep their heads up and to try hard to succeed.

In my last year however I would see a new wave of dance that had taken the school by storm. Our high school hired a brazilian dance instructor to hold Capoeira (cahp-oh-era) classes. This dance was created by brazilian slaves some time ago as a form of communication. In order to avoid punishment from their owners the slaves communicated through these means. It requires a great deal of athleticism and features some truly acrobatic characteristics. A friend of mine named Donald took these classes. He stressed the importance of dedication in this art because without extreme amounts of focus some manuevers could not be done. I followed his progression in this class throughout the year, yet at the talent show I had no idea he would be a part of something this great.

During the Capoeira performance their were twelve dancers on stage. With a drum beat playing in the background, two at a time would come to the center while the others remained dancing in a huddle. The two dancers who were center stage would be hunched down and would then lunge toward and away from each other, all while fluttering their arms near their feet. A series of front and back kicks would take place with none of them actually intended to hit the other but to be avoided as the dance continued.

The performance lasted about fifteen minutes and when it ended I knew I had become a fan of the art. The other acts that followed that performance were lackluster in comparison. I went home that day and began researching Capoeira in hopes of learning more about the style. This art is becoming increasingly popular every year. Today if you walk through the streets of East Harlem you will see young boys practicing Capoeira in the park, as if it were a game of a stickball.

To this very day I still have a deep interest in Capoeira and hope to get into it sometime soon.

 [ Exit | Learning to Dance | Dancing Trends | The College Experience | Talent Show | World Culture | The Awakening | The First Steps | Dancing as a Child | Homemade Dancing ]

Back to the ExploreDance.com Home Page

2001© , Web design for this page by: Cliffhanger Web Design.
Contact Us: Cliffhanger@TrackStarJ.com