Music, dance, and flow arts took center stage at Collin’s Got Talent, Nov. 8 at the Plano Campus. The now annual event entertained the crowd and collected donations for the North Texas Food Bank.
This year’s first-place winner was Kayla Fryz, a Health Sciences major originally from Canton, Michigan, who has been studying dance since she was 3 years old. Fryz said that while she started in tap dance and studied multiple styles, her tastes have evolved into the hip-hop style that she choreographed and performed at Collin’s Got Talent.
“This is something I have always been passionate about,” Fryz said. “Dancing runs in my family. I wanted to share that joy with the audience.”
While Collin’s Got Talent is known for vocal and instrumentalist acts, this year’s show included Fryz and another dancer, Shreya Jadav, who performed a Bollywood-style dance. It also included Caleab Hutto, a flow artist who mixed movement and juggling into a choreographed show that impressed the crowd.
Musical performance remained a strong favorite in the contest, with second and third places going to pianists performing in different musical styles.
Kyle Cornelison, a senior home-schooled dual-credit student from Wylie, took second place with an abridged performance of Rachmaninoff’s Polichinelle. Cornelison began playing the piano formally at age 7 but said he has never competed in a talent competition like this one.
“There was a lot more camaraderie between the contestants,” he said, noting that the contestants hung out for a soundcheck and supported each other in the wings as they waited to perform. “I think I have missed that in a lot of competitions and performances.”
Gina Haley, who took third place performing Won’t Be Long by Aretha Franklin, enjoyed the camaraderie as well but said that this performance was a bit more nerve-wracking than others she has done.
“I hadn’t performed in a really long time because of COVID,” Haley said, mentioning that her last live performances for an audience were a series of shows in England in February 2020. “It was great just to have an audience and to enjoy a performance. I just haven’t been able to do that.”
Other performances included guitarist Leila Dandan performing an original song, Annaliese Penix performing Unlove You by the cast of Star, and Morris Mims singing On Broadway.
The event also collected 125 donations for the North Texas Food Bank. Audience members were asked to bring a non-perishable food item to the event as an entrance fee.