By Nathan Park
[email protected]
New talent has emerged from the 2013 MHS Brown Bags to Stardom, held at the gymnasium on March 2. Junior Kelsie Watanabe, who covered “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles and a dance group called The Other Guys, comprised of Seniors Dustin Camarillo, Jantzen Julian, Jared Puyot, Madison Richardson and Mark Tunstall won first place in their categories and earned a spot in the state competition. For all the winning performers this was their first Brown Bags to Stardom competition they have participated in.
“I feel great because this is a first-time experience for me and it’s a really good experience and I want to see what we have to offer to everybody,” expressed Camarillo.
Watanabe topped the musical performance category while The Other Guys dominated in non-musical performance. Not far behind Watanabe was indie band Cruise Crew, comprised of Seniors Christian Caraveo, Justin Campos, Matthew Yamamoto, Kevin Zane and Junior Kevin Lokits Jr., who won second place in musical performance. Following the band, guitarist Junior Zachary Inouye took third place in musical performance. Second place in non-musical performance was earned by dancing duet Sophomore Aleya Abeshima and Freshman Alexis Jordan Valiente, while soloist dancer Sophomore Elizabeth-Ann Dorman took third place. In total there were 12 contestants and each made an impression on the judges. “They are all amazing. I can’t believe that they are all high school students. Their level of expertise is a lot greater than when I was in high school many, many years ago,” said Judge Valen Ahlo, a promotional executive for the company Hawaii Pacific Entertainment.
What made Watanabe stand out from the rest was that she maintained a confident voice while keeping her piano in time. “I think she did a really good job and she had a musical sense of tempo and balance of the voice and piano. She’s talented in both obviously, so (I) really hope she does well at the state level,” commented Judge and Fine Arts teacher Keane Ishii. The Other Guys were chosen for the complexity of their dance routine and stage presence. “They just had great energy, charisma. They knew where to throw in the tricks and flips, which is really good for when they go to the states,” said Ahlo, “There’s always something greater when they have more people on stage versus a solo or a pair, like a duel. It’s just more energy you can feed off as an audience member, there are more things to watch.”
Despite their expertise, performing at the competition was no easy feat. For Watanabe, the hardest part was at the beginning where she was confronted with a wave of fear. “Before I went up, I was really scared, I didn’t know what was going to happen, I don’t sing in front of people I know. I get really nervous. During my song I was singing, it was heartwarming. I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. It’s a sad song, but I couldn’t stop myself from smiling because of everyone’s support,” stated Watanabe.
In The Other Guys, some members had an easier time letting go of their fear and getting into the music. “I just let (the music) seep into my body and you know, I let (it) weave through my moves. That’s all I was focusing on, the music and the feel of the music and how the dances that we do connect to the music,” Richardson said. Others couldn’t shake off the pressure of trying to make their family and friends proud. It was just so nerve-wracking. I mean, you’re in front of all the people you know and you don’t want to mess up, I explained Puyot.
After overcoming their fears and relishing their night of fame, the first place contestants still have another challenge in front of them: the state competitions. With mixed feelings, contestants are preparing for the unknown. I’m really excited, but I’m kind of nervous because I don’t– like it’s a new stage, it’s a new floor, so it’s a lot of new competition that we don’t ó we’re not aware of, so we don’t really know what to expect, but we are going to bring in the best that we can,” explained Richardson.
The state level high school contest will be held on April 28 and can be watched on OC16. The show starts at 2:00 p.m. and ends at 5:00 p.m.
