The BYU Student Connection and Leadership Center hosted the “Brigham’s Best” talent show featuring juggling, beatboxing and standup comedy on Friday, April 9.
The event took place in the Wilkinson Student Center ballroom with attendees wearing masks in a socially distanced setting. In between acts, members of the audience could participate by being called on stage to perform lip-syncing battles and air guitar contests.
One of the acts was Dallin Bohn who performed beatboxing. The freshman said he’s been beatboxing for six years and this was his first performance at BYU. “I just love to perform, it’s a passion of mine. I just saw this and I was like, ‘I want to do it.'”
The show closed out with a performance from the K-pop club. The team was clad in matching black ensembles with gold chains and combat boots. K-pop dancer Rebekah Horikami said the group didn’t know they were the closing act until they checked into the event.
“We were really proud to be able to have that kind of opportunity to be the last act, so we’re just really happy,” she said.
The event was made possible by Jordan Watkins, an event specialist who serves on the Student Connection and Leadership Center activities committee.
“I really just wanted to have an event that would highlight all of the amazing talents that our students have,” she said. “In a year that has been so hard and taxing on everyone, I think it’s so important to remember and acknowledge the good.”
Watkins said the event was in the works for the past year. The activities team started with a virtual event in mind and kept developing the program and realized they wouldn’t settle for anything but an in-person show.
“We researched all protocols and spent hours making plans that were in accordance with all COVID protocols. We didn’t hear back from anyone for months about it and we honestly thought it wouldn’t happen,” Watkins said. About three weeks ago, the team unexpectedly got approval.
On top of other events the center is working on, it put a lot of work into this program a few weeks before, said the show’s master of ceremonies Anthony Holt.
“I’d say there’s probably (200-300) man-hours that have gone into this event at least, not to mention all of the volunteer hours. We’ve got a crew of 28 to 30 volunteers that have been working to actually make all of this stuff function,” Holt said.
Watkins said she is so happy about how this event went. “I think everyone had a wonderful time and our performers were amazing. Considering the time crunch we were under, I have no complaints. It was a wonderful way to end the semester.”
