Harbor Middle School / PS 676 had their second annual Pride celebration and talent show on Friday, June 14. The auditorium was packed with parents, staff and the community.
This year’s talent show drew inspiration from Beyonce’s Renaissance Tour which celebrated LGBTQ+ culture, vogue, ballroom and black queer joy. The Beyonce tour also focused on promoting inclusivity and fostering a welcoming environment.
The show honored the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community and honored talents and individuality of the students in the school.
Paraprofessional Michael Hisry was the creative director of last year’s show, which was the first. This year’s show was even better with more participation.
Principal Figueroa spoke about the celebration.
“It gives us the opportunity to ensure that our students can, in a very safe welcoming way, represent who they really are, their individuality, their personalities and their identities,” she said. “They all have the opportunity to exhibit that here.”
Hisry said this is one of his favorite things to do during the year.
“It’s all about acceptance, inclusivity and community,” Hisry said. “The whole reason the show started was because as we know in other states there are students who do not get to be themselves. We wanted last year, this year and every year from now on to let our students know that we support them no matter who they are.”
He added that this show would not have happened without the help of many people. One person he thanked specifically was Ms. Coya, the co-creative director. She was the choreographer of Da Elite Dance Crew, who performed two times. Everyone gave a round of applause for her dance team when she came to the stage.
The evening beagan with a video that showed different experiences, accomplishments and trips that the Harbor Middle School had throughout the school year.
The first performance was Da Elite Dance Crew. Next was the school band Haute Spaghetti. They sang Black Bird with two students singing and a teacher playing the guitar.
The third performance was a student doing the worm. Next a student and Mr. Volpe performed the song “A Whole New World.” This was followed by a student juggling three red balls.
There was a YMCA video showing the kids talents and what they had spent time on in after school during the year. After the video, there was a performance with 14 students on stage with songs from Flo Rida, Abba and Whitney Houston.
A halftime show then started with “Empire State of Mind” playing and the principal playing piano and another teacher coming on stage performing “Fight for Your Right to Party” by the Beastie Boys. Another performed on stage while “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X was playing and then another staff member entertained the audience with the Cher song “Believe” playing.
A student performed a mystifying card trick. Da Elite Dance Crew performed with 11 students for a second time. They were wearing black and white and “Texas Hold ‘Em” by Beyonce was playing.
Judges decided on the winners. The halftime show won first place and the choreographed dance got first place for the students.
The winners went up to the stage and all the performers got a round of applause for their efforts.
There was a special surprise performance at the end from Kimiyah Prescott. Hisry, the show’s organizer, knew her from high school and reached out via Instagram inviting her to perform. Prescott is a dancer who was a contestant and won season three of the HBO Max series Legendary.
