On Sunday, March 23, Christopher Newport University’s premier hip-hop dance club, Hypnotic Control (HC), hosted its annual talent show “Unleash the Talent.” In the Gaines Theatre of the Freeman Center, families, friends, CNU staff and students gathered to cheer on their fellow gifted peers as they performed. This was the ninth year that the event has been hosted by the student-led hip-hop organization for the CNU community to enjoy. The show is an opportunity for the troupe’s dancers to showcase their self-choreographed pieces from the Spring semester, as well as a supportive environment for local students to debut their skills.
Hypnotic Control danced twice, serving as the opening and closing exhibition number of the talent show. They started the night off with a bang in their 2000s hip-hop inspired number featuring songs from iconic rappers such as Kanye West and Missy Elliot. For their final act, representative of the talent show’s 2025 theme “Out Of This World,” the HC dancers performed an outer space themed production. They included crowd favorite songs from Kendrick Lamar and SZA, such as “All the Stars” from Black Panther and “Luther,” which you may have heard for the first time at the SuperBowl a month ago. They donned silver reflective sweatpants, similar to an astronaut spacesuit, with cool starry glasses. All of the dances were choreographed by students elected on the choreography team and performed by dancers of all grade levels and any prior dance experience.
The talents for this year’s line up mainly consisted of solo or group acts of dancing, singing and playing instruments. Junior Claire Vivian played a beautiful rendition of soft jazz singer Laufey’s “Serendipity” on her piano, which coincidentally was her first time performing a piece in front of a crowd. She garnered lots of applause due to her smooth singing voice and flawless playing on the keys. Freshman Ryan Larson is a folk singer-songwriter who premiered a self-written piece on the guitar. His raw talent as a musician stunned the audience, as he sounded reminiscent of bands like “Bright Eyes” of the American indie genre.
KPC, the Korean Pop Choreography Club on campus, is a returning talent from the prior years of Unleash and a tough competitor, as their energy always gets the audience rowdy. They returned to perform at Unleash 2025, earning the crown as “The Judge’s Choice” award for their entertaining facial expressions, sharp movements and coordinated costumes. This is another win under KPC’s belt, as they served as the previous winners of 2023’s Unleash the Talent show.
Freshmen Ziana Medina, Jewel Yarney and Kate Cohee took home the title of “Crowd Favorite” for their unique mashup of Christian worship songs. The trio sang gracefully from their soul, causing some members of the audience to sing along to the well-known hymns. The three met in a fellow campus organization, Reformed University Fellowship, and gathered together on the stage to share their love for God and singing.
Freshman Ziana Medina reflected on her performance, sharing that “At first it was intimidating for us to perform in front of an audience where the majority don’t know us since we are freshman. Hearing the support of the crowd really took the nerves away!”
For an hour on Sunday, the crowd got transported into another world of stellar talent and transcendent support for their fellow Captains. The beloved Dana Dudley from Regattas and Cynthia Huynh of the Office of Student Involvement served as the expert judges on the panel who crowned the winners of the talent show.
