Arts & Entertainment

P.S. 229’s got talent!

February 13, 2015 Anthony Izaguirre
BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/Photo by Anthony Izaguirre
Share this:

Small packs of children donning face paint and brightly colored costumes scurried around the crowded auditorium of P.S. 229 to get the best angles of their classmates’ performances during the school’s second annual talent show on Friday, February 6.

Teachers, parents and friends cheered on the student performers as they sang, danced and joked their way throughout the night.

“They’re amazing! It’s such a pleasure to see as a teacher,” second grade teacher Daria Zarski said.

Subscribe to our newsletters

“This is the night I get to see the students shine in their own light,” P.S. 229 Principal Robert Zappulla said. “I marvel at their accomplishments.”

Early on, the breakdancing Vladimir Kalinovsky was a crowd favorite.

“Vlad’s dance was awesome,” said a giddy third grader named Clemens Siu.

“I don’t like to sit still; I love to move,” Kalinovsky wrote in a playbill that contained short biographies of all 21 performers. “I have been learning hip-hop and breakdance for three years. I hope you like what I have learned so far.”

Marianne Kelly, a third grade teacher with three students in the show, said “I love them! Vladimir was amazing!”

“The dancing was so professional,” said parent Amy Siu.

The shows announcers, Jake Cadotte and Preston Ferraiuolo, kept the crowd laughing between acts with quick costume changes including wizard hats, blond wigs and long beards.

Eric Cherny, a 10-year-old comedian who’s already working on his first book of jokes, amused the audience with jokes like, “What do you call a bug that works for the C.I.A.?….A spy-der.”

Elvira Garipov, whose nine-year-old daughter Maria sang and danced along to Sabrina Carpenter’s “In The Middle Of Starting Over,” said she was grateful for all the hard work that went into the show.

“It was wonderful. I appreciate the job everyone did, both the teachers and the kids,” she said.

Garipov, like many other parents, gave children congratulatory bouquets of flowers as they met them after the show.

“They are wonderful,” Monique Oppel, a music teacher at the school, said. “They’re very creative.”


Leave a Comment

Related Articles

Leave a Comment