Milledgeville locals audition talents
In addition to GCSU and Milledgeville Idol events, local residents and college students have another competition developed in a reality TV mold. Last Tuesday, the new production, Milledgeville’s Got Talent, began auditions.
After the success of Milledgeville Idol last August, GCSU’s Department of Continuing Education decided to develop this new competition for spring. Danielle Fields, a program coordinator for continuing education, and Z97 FM local personality Phillip Joiner are co-executive producers of Milledgeville’s Got Talent. Joiner will host the event on March 27 in Russell Auditorium.
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“We decided to do (Milledgeville) Idol in an effort to see if we could get the community to come out and blend no matter what their background or status,” Fields said.
The turnout for Milledgeville Idol was more than expected. Fields said they had to turn so many people away because they couldn’t sing, but still had talent.
Auditions for the talent competition were expanded beyond just singers. Participants with skills in dance, instrumentals and hip-hop got their chance to perform.
A four judge panel evaluated each person’s skill set. In addition to Joiner and Fields, the audition judges included former GCSU Idol contestant Mary Zehner and dance critic Sarah Stone.
Between the two days of auditions, both local high-schoolers and GCSU students alike got to test their talent against experienced observers in hopes of making the cut.
“The cool thing is there is no age limit,” Joiner said.
Opening tryouts brought out a talented mix from belly dancing to a band with an eight-year-old drummer. The young boy got more reaction than most from Joiner.
“I started playing drums when I was 11, so you got me,” Joiner said.
A contestant from 2008′s Milledgeville Idol, Chay Aycock was comfortable with the atmosphere. Having multiple competitions and auditions on her resume, Aycock exhibited a natural poise during her performance.
Aycock, a high school senior, will pursue a vocal performance major at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, Tenn. next fall. Her musical foundations are rooted in Southern gospel and country music, which as an African-American gives her a unique appeal.
If she makes the big show in March, Aycock plans to switch her performance up from Milledgeville Idol.
“I take each competition as a learning experience,” Aycock said. “I’ll definitely take a different genre that I did last time because my comfort zone is a little bit different considering you don’t see very many black people singing country.”
Junior liberal studies major Andrea Valera kept auditions fresh with her belly dancing routine. Unlike the jazz or salsa dance groups choreographed numbers, Valera went straight improv.
The native Venezuelan is mostly self-taught. Valera imitated what she saw in popular artists like Shakira, whose belly dancing is world renowned.
The audition for Milledgeville’s Got Talent is the first competition for Valera. She would love to continue her talent one day.
“Maybe I could teach it (belly dancing) for real and have a salon or something where I could teach,” Valera said.
Two rap groups including Milledgeville’s Urban Soldiers flowed over urban beats. Both Urban Soldier members are attending Baldwin High School.
Even though the panel isn’t used to that genre, Doggboi and female partner I.T. impressed the judges. The original song had a positive message and featured a freestyle by both members during the closing verses. When a rapper freestyles, they throw together lines on the spot with no memorized lyrics.
Zehner is pleased with the variety of talent they get to narrow down. A final audition on Jan. 22 wraps up the preliminaries.
“Once we get the thoughts from the other two judges, Danielle and I will sit down and determine the lineup,” Joiner said.
Fields said they will choose at least 10 and possibly a few alternates in case those selected have any conflicts arise.
“We are hoping to bring the community together,” Fields said. “We sold out for (Milledgeville) Idol, so we’re expecting the same thing for this.”
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Jan 23 2009. Filed under Features.
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