Fourth-year broadcast journalism student wins annual competition
A few minutes before competing against each other, a group of performers circled a piano in a backstage Russell House hallway and belted out Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’.”
Catherine Ramirez stood chatting a few feet away, waiting for Carolina Productions’ USC’s Got Talent finale to begin.
“I’m not musically inclined, so I can’t contribute to this atmosphere over here,” the fourth-year broadcast journalism student said. “I feel bad, but I can’t sing.”
But out of a 10-act field rife with musical performances, Ramirez, a feature twirler in the marching band, came out on top.
Her performance saw raucous cheering at Wednesday’s well-attended event — when she came on stage, when she broke out glow-in-the-dark batons and when she was announced winner.
Watching Ramirez juggle batons, roll them around her neck and jump across the stage to Avicii’s “Wake Me Up” inspired men’s basketball coach Frank Martin, one of three judges, to reference “Dancing with the Stars.” He suggested that even notoriously tough judge Len Goodman would have given her a 10.
“As a coach, I understand how many hours you have to put in to be good at your trade,” Martin said. “I can only imagine how many hours you’ve practiced to be as good as you are.”
Ramirez said that she has been twirling “forever” — since she was 2 years old, she guesses. She picked it up from her mother, who runs a twirling program.
For Wednesday night’s performance, Ramirez said she’d only hoped to have fun and make the show worthwhile for her friends who came out.
But she was confident, she said, just before she went stage, when she clicked into focus.
Staying in focus wasn’t easy for dance group Moksha, who finished the night as runners up. Midway through their performance, which blended classical Indian dance with hip-hop and Bollywood influences, their music started to glitch.
So they cut the music and counted their rhythm aloud.
“Any time something like that happens, it’s always a surprise, but we just went for it,” said Moksha president Aakash Patel, a fourth-year biology and Spanish student.