The DIS community gathered at the Jetnasium to watch the students’ spectacular talents at the Talent Show on Nov. 15. Even with ups and downs, at the end of the day, the audience enjoyed entertaining shows from the performers.

This year, the hosts changed from the High School Student Council (HSSC) to the Middle School Student Council (MSSC). “HSSC did not want to host this year’s Talent Show, as far as I know, so Mr. Jolly asked if MSSC could host it this year, and I accepted it, and was able to give the opportunity for students in MSSC to host it,” said Mrs. Jolly, advisor of the MSSC.

Compared to only seven performances at last year’s event, the 24-25 season consisted of 23 performances and exceeded the planned running time. “To be honest, it was Mrs. Jolly’s idea that we should have this many people. We did spend a lot of time, and the show did go a little overtime, but we saw a lot of potential in many of the performances,” said Michelle Doh, president of the MSSC.

However, conflicts arose even before the show blasted off. “When we first had our original dress rehearsal, it was actually worse. We actually practiced quite a bit and part of our problem was that we didn’t have experience, and the audio file is different every time. I knew there were the audio issues, but I was still impressed with how much the students from grades six through eight were able to accomplish,” said Mrs. Jolly.

Nevertheless, as the show began, the vivid energy of piano solos of junior Chris Ryu to first-grader Juwon Kim among others, the powerful dance performances of eighth-graders Doh and Luisa Silva, and the pop-music stages of siblings Jason Lee in third grade and Kylie Lee in second grade kept the audience hooked. 

Veteran performers, such as magician Hailie Han in fourth grade and violinist Molly Doh in sixth grade carried on their expertise again at the talent show. “Before I wasn’t really too nervous about the performance, but this year, I got really nervous, and I made some mistakes.” Despite this, Molly Doh left the audience with gaping jaws. 

However, unprecedented conflicts occurred during certain performances. An unintended technological accident cut off the soundtrack to seniors Tommy Jang, Hailey Tzou, and Louie Song’s performance of “We Higher” mid-show. “We played the audio file in Google Drive and suddenly the connection just stopped, so we don’t exactly know what happened, no one touched anything, but it was just a technological problem,” said Michelle Doh. 

Despite the absence of the beat, the seniors carried on with the show. “At first, during the performance, the background music sounded pretty quiet, so I tried not playing a verse, and I realized that the audio was off. Thankfully, Tommy had a lot of experience on stage and he led the audience, so I was able to get my mind back to spit out the verse,” said senior Louie Song. 

“As I was rapping, Tommy checked in with the MSSC audio members and found out that the audio wasn’t working. We sadly couldn’t do the dance break we were planning to do because the beat was cut off, so we had to adjust ourselves as the show went on,” said Song. 

Even with the technological hassles, performers brought vibrant energy onto the stage. Fourth-grader Viviana Kwon’s Gayageum performance, freshman Azul Rivera Meza’s powerful drum solo, and fifth and sixth-grade rock band’s show captivated the audience’s attention. 

Performers also pushed through their nerves to deliver their best. “It was quite exhilarating to perform in front of everyone since we haven’t actually practiced the song in front of everyone until that point of the show, so it was quite fun to do,” said sophomore Jayden Hayward, who performed the song “Devil Town V.2” by the Cavetown with Aiden Huh.

Mrs. Jolly sends her gratitude to all MSSC members for a successful show. “I’m super proud of MSSC and there were lots of teachers that came up to me that told me that MSSC did an awesome job, especially with an email from Mr. Hutchings on how well he thought it went, and it takes a lot of coordination and we did a lot of outside preparation, and I want to thank all the members in MSSC who put in all the effort into the show.”

The audience took delight in the diverse talents of the student body. “It was very fun, and I really enjoyed watching all the performances. It was especially cute to watch all the young kids perform their talents,” said senior Flora Chung, one of the audience members of the Talent Show.

Despite the unexpected obstacles before and during the show, the 24-25 Talent Show wrapped up with applause from the audience. The immaculate entertainment presented by the performers charmed the DIS community and left them hanging for more next year. 

Gallery • 13 Photos

Leanne Yoon

Seventh-grader Esther Kang blows her flute with tight embouchure and quick airspeed. Her cute ribbon, matching the Disney song medley, transports the audience to a world of imagination.