Last night at Expressarte Cafe, we held our first ever Talent Show with our students from English Club and from CUR (RUF). I need to give credit to Jared Weatherholtz for the idea. One night back in January, we were walking to a Pozole restaurant, talking about fun events that might help bring our various groups of students together, and Jared brought up the idea of having a Talent Night. With a little planning, it became a reality. I think it was a success! Everyone seemed to have a lot of fun together, and I saw English Club students getting to know our RUF students, and vice versa.

The owners of Expressarte Cafe, the place we lovingly call our “office” because we’re there every day, let us use their space on Friday night and charged us a very minimal price for cookies and coffee for everyone. We had 17 “talent acts” and about 40 students total in attendance, which was just about as many people as the cafe could hold! Plus, we’ve already had demand for the next Talent Night… I think the students who didn’t participate now wish that they had!

Here are some pictures of the group of students in the cafe:

Also, we had an amazing student as our Emcee! For this reason, the event really felt almost completely run and put-on by students, which I think was really important for the development of our group identity. Here’s a pic of our Emcee with his funny fake goatee (his idea)!

I think it would be fun to give you all an idea of the 17 “acts” because they were so diverse and creative. Below is a picture or a video of each one. The videos are great… I hope you get to watch them! :)

Act 1: An artist discussed his work (on the wall to the right).

Act 2: An excellent singer/actress, who sang an Alejandro Fillio song ‘a capella.’

Act 3: A student Orchestra! Yes, that’s Josh on the piano and me on the drums! (Yeah, the drum part wasn’t that complicated…)

Act 4: An actor, performing a funny monologue.

Act 5: “Los Debrayes,” rocking out to “Get Free” by the Vines. This was the band that practiced in our apartment!

Act 6: A student singing her original song, accompanied by one of our new exchange student friends from Germany.

Act 7: Peter, performing a hilarious leg-slapping “hambone” bit.

Act 8: A student playing a cool song on the guitar and singing.

Act 9: A student about to show off his computer skills with a very cool CUR slideshow that he created. It was rather impressive!

Act 10: A comedian, who told several jokes. Here’s a funny video clip.

Act 11: A student singing and doing arabic dance!

Act 12: A one-act drama written and performed by two English Club students.

Act 13: I don’t even know what to say about this. It is one of the silliest skits I have ever seen! Those are Josh’s arms behind the guy… and the girl’s head is, of course, Ruth!

Act 14: An artist/grapic designer explains her technique. Her art is to the far right on the wall.

Act 15: One of our students, demonstrating with a mathematical formula that 1 is equal to -1. However, he told us all that he committed an error in order to prove it. (?) It was over my head!

Act 16: Me, playing the piano and performing a new song. Maybe I’ll get it up onto MySpace one of these days…

Act 17: Our final act, Jared singing and playing his original song, “Remember the Memories” on the guitar. This video has some cool shots of the crowd, too.