Chinese yo-yoing, belly dancing and spoken word took to the stage and impressed a large audience at Late Knight’s first student talent show.
Late Knights is an organization that provides UCF students and the community with alcohol and drug free events in a fun and safe on-campus environment. It hosted its first talent show Friday night. Fifteen student acts graced the stage and showcased their talents to a captivated audience.
This Late Knights’ event was different from past events but that did not stop it from being a success. Late Knights has been hosting events that provide free food, prizes and entertainment to students, their families, friends and even the community for years, but this year the organization was struck with dramatic budget cuts.
Late Knights did not let that get in the way. Instead of reaching out to vendors that it would have to pay for, the organization looked for entertainment within UCF. Entertainment director Amna Hayatt took to social media to recruit UCF talent.
“It began with auditions. We had three rounds of auditions and no one showed up and we still couldn’t get people, so literally just social media blasts and I walked up to random strangers and asked if they wanted to perform,” Hayatt said.
A panel of judges decided the winners of first, second and third place. Third place went Malcom Kelly, who performed an inspiring spoken word which discussed modern society’s interpretation of beauty.
Second place went to Casper, a rapper, who surprised the crowd with his lyrics and quick pace.
First place went to Octavia Page who has been belly dancing for four years. She danced her way to the top spot with her passion and impressive moves.
“I’m so surprised. I had no idea. There were so many good acts and I really didn’t think that I was [going to] win,” said Page.
