If noticing a completely filled Underwood did not draw your attention to Af-Lat-Am’s Coffeehouse on Friday night, the promise of amazing performers should have. The night started out with several strong performances that made the large crowd get more comfortable. As the night continued, there were surprisingly excellent performances by the youngest members of the school’s community: the freshmen. Their performances started out with Will Adams ’11 who proved himself not only an accomplished singer but a skilled pianist as well. His performance seemed to be a risky one because of his song choice: John Lennon’s “Imagine,” but he ended up doing its original composer justice. Another freshman act was Casey McQuillen ’11. The performance of her self-written acoustic song left the audience stunned by both her song-writing abilities as well as her vocal strength. Alexis Dawkins ’10 said, “I love going to Coffeehouses, and I was very pleased with this one in particular. It was surprising to see all the new, fresh talent the freshman class is bringing.” Other superior vocal pieces from Lowers, Uppers and Seniors included Kathryn Quijano’s ’08 and Adriana Flores’s ’08 rendition of “Bubbly” by Colbie Caillat, Tessa Pompa’s ’08 and Flores’s version of a seemingly unknown “From Where I’m Standing” by break-out artist Schuyler Fisk and Avery Stone’s ’10 and Lily Shaffer’s ’10 passionate performance of “Boston On The Radio.” Finally, a stand-out, and extremely sentimental, performance by Tomás Rojo ’08, who exhibited his amazing guitar talent, and Alexandra Tayara ’08 thrust the audience into enthusiastic applause at its conclusion. Flores said, “I really like Coffeehouse performances because they’re really low-key, intimate, and personal. I’m seriously going to miss performing in them next year.” Outside of the usual “Starbucks-like” musical performances, came a fantastic dance routine by Kiara Brereton ’09 and Farah Dahya ’08. Interestingly choreographed to intriguing music, the two well-known dancers on campus leaped, twirled and spun. At the end of the performance, the audience was left shocked at the potential of such a dance on such a small “stage.” This surprise continued towards the end of the show when the on-campus hip-hop dance group, Hypnotiq, with what seemed like every member present, expertly danced their way to the beats of rap music, making the audience want to move as well. Britney Achin ’08 provided much-needed laughs. This Senior is known on campus for being a talented spoken word poet, proving herself at other major PA performances, but she hit a new note when she performed one of her poems about her self-described best and worst feature—her butt. Jen Oesterling ’10 said, “Underwood was packed! There was a lot of talent there and I would have stayed longer if I didn’t have restriction.” As the show came to an end with a finale of sorts involving the entire cast of Coffeehouse, students were remarking left and right about the pride they felt about their ability to attend a school of such diverse talent. This talent, stretching across all grades, proved itself worthy of way more than a Friday night in Underwood. On a high note, it entertained its guests and distracted them from the homework they may have had for the next morning of Saturday classes. And while this Coffeehouse might have been the last time we get to see the Seniors perform on campus, at least everyone knows ’08 went out with a bang.
