Winter has hit Villa hard. Students are coming down with colds, the flu, strep throat, and all kinds of other illnesses that seem to breed in schools like bacteria in a petri-dish. But despite the varied absence of students, faculty, and staff members, there is still a great deal of fun happening on campus. The lower school had their performances of “Winnie the Pooh” a couple weeks back, and rehearsals for the upper school’s version of “Alice in Wonderland” have commenced. Even though the holidays are over and there are no more echoes of “Jingle Bells” and “Rudolph the Red Nosed-Reindeer” filtering through the halls, the music and magic continue in different forms.

Yesterday was Villa’s annual talent show. This year’s circus theme was quite the contrast to last year’s Broadway theme. The day was cloudless but cool, and the sun seemed to fuel the students’ talent show prowess. When 1:45 rolled around, boys and girls dressed in their circus and performance best poured down the stairs and ran to the gym to prepare for their moments of fame. The stage was set up to look impeccably similar to a circus tent, and there was quite a vivacious crowd present.

The eighth graders did a great job hosting and “mc-ing” the event. They were dressed as various circus performers, such as an incredibly strong man, ringmasters, unicyclists, mimes, and animals. While introducing the acts, the presenters would tell jokes and comment on the outstanding performances. The student performers entered the stage fearlessly. Some did gymnastics, sang, or danced, while others played a variety of musical instruments, told more jokes, hoola hooped, or pogo-sticked across the stage. Led by Mr. Arteaga, the sixth, seventh, and eighth grade Spanish classes demonstrated the dance skills they acquired throughout the year, and surprised everyone with some pretty technical movements to Puerto Rican music. All around, the talent was impressive. Heads were bopping and feet were tapping to beats ranging from eclectic Spanish music to Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, Hilary Duff, Justin Timberlake, Vance Joy, Rachel Platten, and Fitz and the Tantrums.

Consequently, I was brought back in time to past talent shows when I was a student at Villa. Back then, there was a great deal of dancing and lip syncing to songs by artists like Backstreet Boys and Nsync. In fact, in 1999 when wearing bandanas on your head was a thing, two of my girlfriends and I busted out some mediocre dance moves to “Bye Bye Bye.” I also remember one girl even painted a smiley face on her stomach and did a belly dance. She was really good and I’ve heard teachers at Villa reminisce on that spectacle to this day! And then there was Mr. Hagen, one of the previous music teachers at Villa, who rallied the teachers to do a Arabian theatrical musical performance back in 2000. Those were the days.

The talent at Villa continues to progress and improve each year in a variety of forms. Some students got on that stage yesterday who I rarely hear utter a word. But once they had the microphone in their hands poised to sing, or had their heads down and arms up ready to dance, it seemed that all fear or shyness faded away and they dominated the stage. I’ve always viewed Villa as such a talent incubator. Whether it’s scholastic, sports-related, artistic, musical, or theatrical, Villa attracts students who exhibit such an array of skills. Talent shows in general really draw kids out of their shells and comfort zones. I felt like I was a middle-schooler yesterday as I looked on, feeling my own nerves build up just remembering how I felt back in the day on that stage.