Yesterday, CVCA had its second annual talent show. I was most excited because the Ceili Club (Irish dance club) was going to make its public debut. We had 12 students lined up (ha!) to dance, and they were (almost) all able to wear their Ceili shirts and dark pants or skirts. It was visually really impressive. We went sixth in the talent show (I say we, but I was not dancing – I’m just the advisor). For organizational reasons, they had the acts waiting in the wings to go on stage, which was okay except it meant we did not get to see the first five acts, which was too bad. CVCA has always impressed me with the amount of talent it has, and the talent show displayed that well. There were about 14 acts total, and many were vocal and/or guitar acts, which is what I would expect from high school (lots of singers and lots of guitar players). They were very good; in fact, vocal and/or guitar pieces took all four prizes at the show (1st-3rd place and the audience’s “people’s choice” award).

In addition to the vocalists and guitar players, we got to see “devil sticking” (where you keep a third stick moving with two sticks held in your hands), a Rubik’s-cube-solving race (how very 80s!), instrumentalists playing flute, oboe, piano, and violin. And, of course, Ceili Club!

There were three judges, who really did judge the competition, but they also commented on the performances for entertainment purposes. Taking the cue from reality TV, there was a nice judge who always said nice things, a mean judge who always said bad things, and a confused judge who always wandered off topic. The mean judge was amusing since it was one of the nicest teachers at CVCA. She pulled it off, but did tell me later that it was really hard.

I’m super proud of the kids in Ceili Club. They did a really great job. Getting 12 students on stage and coordinated is no mean feat, and then they had to do the dance three times (it’s a progressive dance where you keep switching partners). It was a great evening.