Magician pulls victory out of the hat

Magician Rosemary Reid. (Bruce BottomleyPhoto)

After six months of students performing and voting in theDalhousie’s Got Talent competition, magician Rosemary Reidwas announced the winner at the results show held recently in theGrawood.

She was up against some tough competition. The band SlightlyDusted came in second, followed closely by singers and songwritersIain MacNeil and George Woodhouse. Heather Jordan Ross came infourth place with her fresh sense of humour.

The finalists each put on one last performance before theresults were announced. Slightly Dusted kicked off the resultsshow, and was welcomed by the crowd with enthusiastic cheers.

Ms. Reid, a second-year student in the acting program, had acheering section of her own. For her final performance, she had puttogether a story using cards—two queens and a king who werehaving a threesome. Whenever a character appeared or reappear inthe scandalous story, Ms. Reid would magically pull the card out ofthin air, impressing the audience with her nimble hands.

Brittany Benedict is a close friend of Ms. Reid and has attendedevery single Dal’s Got Talent show. “(Rosemary) reallydeserves to win. She is very talented,” said Ms. Benedict,20.

She says her favourite trick she saw Ms. Reid do was in the veryfirst round of the competition, where she made a card appear insideof an orange.

“The reason I decided to compete was because I’m 20years old and I decided that if I’m going to be serious aboutmagic, I need to get myself out there,” says Ms. Reid, whoenjoyed the learning experience of performing onstage. She wasnervous because close-up tricks are her specialty, rather thanperforming tricks on stage.

Iain MacNeil, George Woodhouse and AnthonyManuele relax after the show in the lobby of the SUB. (Photo credits here)

Mr. MacNeil and Mr. Woodhouse performed their signature songthat they did at the beginning of the competition, the StudentPoverty Song. They were accompanied by electric guitaristAnthony Manuele, who was originally in the competition as asoloist. He joined the songwriters near the end of the competitionto add some incredible guitar riffs to their songs.

Ms. Jordan Ross wrapped up the finalist performances with hercomedy. She started off my explaining how, at the previousperformance, she had not realized that her father was in theaudience. It just so happened to be the night when she did her jokeabout how she and her father are both dating 25-year-olds.

Ms. Jordan Ross says she considers her experience a success.Having never done stand up before, she joined the competition lastminute. “I’m open to a whole new world of stuff. I planto follow doing stand up comedy... I want to see how far I canget.”

Kris Osmond, VP Student Life of the DSU, came up with the ideafor the competition in the summer, and since then, has been workinghard to put it together.

Dalhousie’s Got Talent is one of the last events Mr.Osmond completed in his two-year position as VP Student Life.“This is for sure what I’m proud of the most because itwas something from nothing. Orientation week was something that Ibuilt on, but this I built myself. I’m kind of sad it’sover.”

He says he is glad the event worked out so that students couldvote for the winner. He hopes the competition will take place againnext year too.

Mr. Osmond says his favourite aspect of the competition is howhappy the performers are. New talents were discovered and friendswere made.

“I’ve never bonded with any two people musically onthe level that I’ve bonded with these guys,” said Mr.Manuele about MacNeil & Woodhouse. “Honestly, Iwouldn’t trade my musical experience for a thousanddollars.”