Move N’ Groove with Shark Talent

By Francesca Abarca •

Razor’s Edge Shark Talent will host its semiannual student-led art exhibition and showcase on Oct. 18.

The art exhibition, which features paintings, sculptures and photography pieces from 15 contributing artists, begins at 6 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre. The showcase follows at 7 p.m. in the Performance Theatre on the first floor of the Don Taft University Center.

This year’s showcase theme is Move N’ Groove and will include 19 acts featuring dancers, singers, instrumentalists and the drumline.

Shark Talent is one of five Hochberg-Miniaci Razor’s Edge Scholars Programs. Ysabella Lupercio, senior dance and business major and Shark Talent president, said that Shark Talent helps strengthen artists’ skills.

“This is a program that helps nourish young artists to build their artistic side and where they want to go in the arts and alongside their collaborative and leadership styles, [the program] helps grow leaders within the arts,” Lupercio said.

Kyra Triepke, junior human nutrition major and dance minor, is the performance vice chair for Shark Talent.

“We have a bigger, better opening number and lots of cool collaborating acts, with dancers and singers that have worked really hard to put on a great show,” Triepke said.

At the showcase, Jaime Valdez, junior computer science major and Shark Talent scholar, along with 13 dance students will perform a rendition of Tom Holland’s Lip Sync Battle of Rihanna’s “Umbrella,”

“Everyone is really excited to perform this piece as it will bring smiles to the audience,” Lupercio, one of the dancers said.

Valdez will dress up as Holland and dance with an umbrella with his background dancers, adding their own spin on the original piece.

“As someone who is a musician, doing a very dance-heavy piece has been an interesting experience so far. I’ve learned to let loose and appreciate the work others are doing around me,” Valdez said.

This is the largest amount of non- Shark Talent students participating in the show. There are six students not in Shark Talent.

“Sometimes, we have to reach out to students to fill in spots in different acts to allow our performance to be as amazing as possible,” Triepke said.

In addition to the non-Shark Talent scholars, two student-run businesses, La Creperia and Sabroso, will be selling their products outside of the Performance Theatre.

Valdez said the performances will be exciting and encourages everyone to attend the art exhibition and showcase.

“Go into [the show] with an open mind and excite the crowd, as everyone has been working hard to put on a great show,” Valdez said.

This event is free for all NSU students, faculty and staff.