Living out their dreams: The youth of the Rep Your Region Talent Showcase
In the corner of the meeting room-turned-talent green room at the Central YMCA, Christian looks on while his brother (and makeshift roadie) carefully checks the strings on the guitar whose notes will later weave through the audience’s ears and emotions. Yana paces the room in a sparkle-laden outfit, her quiet demeanor holding just until it’s time to wow the waiting audience with her energetic dance moves. The many singers—Jenna, Alex, Julia, Natasha, Ashes, Henock, Josephine, and Melisa— sing quietly to themselves, going over that performance one last time. Only the magicians—Kameron and Savio—seem the most calm as they put the finishing touches on their props that play second fiddle to their big personalities during their crowd-pleasing performances.
These youth are the 12 finalists at the Rep Your Region Talent Showcase, which sees youth from across the Greater Toronto Area compete in regional events showcasing their talents. The top 2 youth from each regional event (Etobicoke, Durham, Peel, Scarborough and Downtown Toronto) perform in the finale and receive career-elevating prizes such as a paid video shoot, photoshoot or studio time.
No matter whether they sing, act, dance or play an instrument, the one quality these young people demonstrate is a healthy development of self-awareness and confidence. For Josephine and Savio—the respective winner and runner-up and crowd favourites of the evening—it’s clear that not only are their adoring fans (their families) proud of them, but that they are just as proud of themselves.
For all of the young contestants, the smiles of relief and satisfaction at the end of the night show that they’re just happy to have made it this far and share their talents with the world around them.
“My dream is to one day show the world that we can live out our dreams and not have to compromise our authentic selves in the process,” says Henock.” The goal to me is not to be famous, but to be a pioneer and change the lives of those who are willing to listen."
