Haley Ruyle
hruyle@lc.edu
In honor of Black History Month, an annual showcase performed here at Lewis and Clark Community College and Alton Middle School went off without a hitch! The reception was overwhelmingly positive, many audience members singing and clapping along at times to the wonderful performances.
Taylor Hudson wrote her own poem “Happy to be Alive!”, about living in the moment and as she performed gave a sense to the audience of her own experience and how she is truly happy to be alive!
Acapella is as hard as it gets for musical performances and can be even more difficult when it’s done between two people. Yet, Miracle Miles and Merical Jackson did indeed give an impression as living miracles while they performed an acapella duet.
Another amazing poet reader Delaney T. Who read the poem “Dear Pride”, that moved the audience in a clear way as he spoke of how succumbing to pride instead of compassion can cost people the things that matter most in life. so motivated!
Jayda Lawson gave us a history lesson on a very interesting and important celebrity for Black History Month. Nancy Sue William was known to be a famous American Black Jazz singer, and everyone visibly loved William’s performance of “Guess Who I Saw Today” played on the big screen.
Janet Miller performed next, showing her own spiritual dance that she performs at her local church. Janet Miller truly showed the spirit of Black History Month through the power of dance and soul, much to the crowd’s enjoyment.
Alton Middle School the previewed their performance of The Wiz, which will be playing soon as an Alton Middle School Production. The young performers had an overabundance of energy and talent that couldn’t help but influence the audience’s joy tenfold.
The Lewis and Clark Community College Gospel Choir was next for the stage, also including the guest musical stylings of Garry Lewis. The Gospel Choir brought everyone to their feet with songs such as “Bless the Lord” and “Sometimes it takes a Mountain!”
Lewis and Clark Community College’s Ensemble Rock Band and Choir followed afterward, performing songs such as “Respect” originally performed by Aretha Franklin. The choir did such an amazing job that for a moment it almost seemed that the audience would beg for an encore!
With any hope, an encore of this event will repeat every year for Black History Month for a very long time.
