Epic's very first talent and art showcase highlighted the many skills, abilities and interests its students possess.
Its dozen-plus entries ranged from singing to dancing, from painting to the less traditional but impressive: A student assembled a Rubik’s Cube to music.
Dance was everywhere, including ballet, interpretive dance and choreographed dance.
Then there was the bane of many a 1980s child — the Rubik’s Cube.
The student wasn’t phased. He solved the scrambled cube in a little over a minute.
One student swung a yo-yo to a song and another performed using a rope dart to another song.
Spectators, judges, parents, grandparents, siblings and relatives cheered and supported performers.
Eighth-grader Jeh’da Hankins had a special way of coping with singing in front of the crowd.
“When I was on stage, I felt like everyone was staring at me, so I just imagined I was in my living room with my family, practicing,” she said.
While the performance wasn’t Hankins’ first, it was the first time she had performed Sam Barber’s song “Straight and Narrow” in front of an audience.
Hankins said she had performed in elementary school talent shows, but the Epic show was a step up in her singing.
While the talent show had students performing on stage, the art showcase allowed students to show off their talents in a different way. Pieces included traditional painting and drawing, digital art, stained glass, puppets, sculptures and paper mache animals.
One student welded a sculpture of screwdrivers, wrenches and pieces of metal rebar, while another made a paper-mache dragon with moving wings and mouth.
Top Photo Caption: Brailynn Blevins performs at Epic’s inaugural talent showcase, held in February. Dozens of students showed off their skills, abilities and artistic talents. Courtesy photo.