Campus Events + Entertainment’s Texas Traditions Committee hosted the 125th annual Texas Revue talent show in the Hogg Memorial Auditorium Friday.
The competition showcased 13 different contestants including musicians, comedians and even performative poetry before winners were selected by a panel of judges and audience members.
What separates this event from other campus talent shows are the cash prizes, emcee Neel Gaitondei said.
“I’m not here to perform for anybody,” public health junior Gaitondei said. “I’m just here to give support to those putting their best efforts forward and just showing so much courage by performing here today.”
This year’s champion and runner-up were selected by a panel of judges right after the show, while audience members were able to vote on their phones for a crowd favorite.
Jordan Cordel, a business administration master’s student, won the top prize of $1500 for performing an original song. The Indian classical dance team Nritya Sangam won the runner up prize of $1000 and musician Martin Leon and his band won the vote for crowd favorite and were awarded $750.
Public relations sophomore Leon said he felt elated to have been voted crowd favorite among such a talented group.
“There’s really no words for it,” Leon said.
A psychedelic rock artist, Leon said he started as a performing musician after he began learning to play the drums.
Leon said his band’s performance, an original song called “Feel the Same,” was one of the first songs he wrote while at UT. He sees winning the crowd favorite award as a full circle moment for his career as a singer-songwriter.
“I want people to enjoy the music and to dance and laugh and cry and have emotions attached to performances and songs,” Leon said. “Being able to present one of my songs that I wrote here in Austin is really special.”
UT Nritya Sangam practices Bharatanatyam, a traditional Indian dance form, and competes in competitions throughout Austin, member Amrutha Mummidi said.
Journalism sophomore Mummidi said what makes Nritya Sangam’s performances so special is the group’s goal of adapting their traditional dance form with modern popular culture.
The team has been practicing their current set, a dance based on the Tale of the Three Brothers from the book Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, over the course of the past semester, Mummidi said.
Nritya Sangam member Avyu Ambati said she was proud of the group’s performance and hopes this will help make Bharatanatyam a more known dance form at UT.
“Showing (Bharatanatyam) here was something that was very special to us, especially getting to present for the UT community,” business sophomore Ambati said. “We’ve been competing and performing in different areas around and we haven’t really competed at UT yet. It was fun to be here and be able to compete and share the art form.”