Another year brings another Talent Quest for the students of Macleans College, providing them with a platform to showcase their variety talents in front of the whole school. Days One and Two of the Talent Quest marked the preliminary rounds, where a total of seven acts showcased their talents.
Day 1
The first day of the talent quest was comprised of remarkable performances from four diverse performance art acts. The first act to grace the stage was the band Glenfern, whose electrifying presence and mesmerising cover of A Cruel Angel’s Thesis set the tone for the rest of Talent Quest. Solo Singer Samantha Ou-Yang followed shortly after Glenfern’s performance, blowing the audience away once again with her soothing cover of Ripple Effect. Her enchanting, soulful voice and skilled playing on the acoustic guitar left everyone in awe.
Dance duo Persephone and Selena came on shortly afterwards and wowed the crowd with their dance cover of Partition with synchronised and energetic moves. Finally, the piano-flute duo, Piano Carried brought an end to the first day of Talent Quest with a harmonious rendition of Hazy Moon, seamlessly blending the sounds of their instruments and captivating everyone with their beautiful tunes.
Day 2
Day two of the talent quest saw the much-awaited return of Macleans’ esteemed Talent Quest band, The Fingers and the Blows, who secured second place in last year’s Talent Quest. Their return this year well surpassed the calibre of their previous year’s performance, completely stealing the show with their cover of Do I Wanna Know and Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High. Next up was Richard Tao who amazed the audience with his Rubik’s Cube skills. The act consisted of three different skills on the Rubik’s cube, which included speedcubing, one-handed speedcubing and blindfolded speedcubing, all of which left the crowd going wild as Richard made the art of cubing look like a walk in the park.
A halftime show also took place on Day Two, which saw an astounding performance from the Showquest Singers, covering Sign of the Times. Their ethereal voices effortlessly brought a calming atmosphere to the Talent Quest, giving the audience a refresher after two lively acts. To cap off the halftime show, the emcees brought up a volunteer from the crowd to show off a talent before the final act of the day. The audience was pleasantly surprised with the impromptu cover of Phone Numbers.
Day Two of the Talent Quest’s preliminary round was officially concluded with the spectacular showcase of Steven Chen’s hip-hop dance solo to the tune of Runaway Baby. His act brought a thrilling performance, with his groovy moves and slick style leaving the audience hyped and yearning to join him in dancing to the upbeat tunes.
“Talent Quest was amazing and it’s great to see Macleans really has talent. Seeing that talent on display was simply spectacular”
Lucas Xiao, Year 11 Student
Each act over the two days of the Talent Quest’s preliminary round was nothing short of a spectacular performance, all unique in their own ways and blowing the audience away with ease. The preliminary round of the Talent Quest has left everyone excited, wanting more, and their much-anticipated wait will be fulfilled next Friday at the Talent Quest Finals
August 8th, 2023
Written by Aaron Huang, edited by Clarissa Oblefias and Emma Li
Photography by Joseph Zhang and Kanishk Soni
