Talent Show Extravaganza!

To finish the year on a high note, Kate, Mary and I organized a student talent show for one of the final nights of school. While many of the students are experienced at performing Rwandan traditional dance, poetry and drama in front of their fellow students at school entertainment nights, community events, and even regional competitions, these events tend to be in Kinyarwanda. This 1st annual school talent show was a great opportunity for students to demonstrate their abilities uniquely in English.

This three hour event was emceed by two very brave and adept girls from Senior 2, and DJ’d by another Senior 2 student - with a little technical assistance by me and my endless supply of pop music. Our show opened with traditional Rwandan dancing, followed by original poetry, multiple solos and duets of pop and gospel music. There were two skits, the first of which was particularly memorable because it featured a story line that’s recurred in most of the Kinyarwanda skits I’ve seen our students perform on campus in the past. The premise can be likened to Usher’s song “Same Girl” (which was also in the talent show), except reversed: a guy meets a girl and tries to charm his way to her heart, but it turns out that this guy is already dating someone else…who is (surprise!) the best friend of the other girl. While the story line is a little unoriginal, it’s really cute to see our students take on these exaggerated personas (the timid, pretty girl, the swaggering alpha male, the jealous best friend) in a reverse-Shakespeare set-up, with girls acting as boys and girls. It also lends itself to a really important message for all of our young, impressionable students, especially just before two months of holiday: to watch out for men with ulterior motives (in other words, players and sugar daddies).

Although most of our students come from families of limited means, with a little organization and clothes sharing they presented a first class fashion show, featuring three groups (two groups of girls and one of “boys”) and a couples (girl/”boy”) group. I will do my best to post pictures and video clips in the coming weeks so that you can see some of the styles, but until then I must say that watching our students strut down the runway cheered on by their friends was just another reminder of how confident, poised and full of personality they are. The music that we picked for each group was also such a fun component of the fashion show: Jordin Sparks’ “One Step at a Time,” Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the USA,” Justin Timberlake’s “Girlfriend” (for the “boys”) and Jessica Simpson’s “I Think I’m in Love” (for the “couples”).

Eight of the students performed a stellar Bollywood-inspired Indian dance, complete with male-female couples, saris, bangle bracelets, Indian dress sarongs, candles and wedding confetti. There was also a modern dance troupe who danced to Shaggy’s “Church Heathen” and Kat DeLuca’s “Run the Show” and, when all was said and done, the American teachers had prepared a little something as well. In honor of the late, great Michael Jackson, Kate, Mary and I formed what we called the Sisterhood of the Traveling Dance and choreographed and performed a dance to the 1993 song, “Will You Be There” - theme from the movie Free Willy, which we had sneakily shown the students on movie night a few days prior. Not only did we incorporate MJ, Britney Spears, Soulja Boy and Korean dance troupe moves, but we also dressed to impress, wearing all black plus differed colored top hats, black and white striped loose fitting ties, and, of course, the signature white glove. Our dance was by no means polished, but it ended with thunderous rounds of applause and 120 smiling Rwandese girls. When all was said and done, the talent show was a successful, celebratory night, a fitting way to end an unforgettable year.