Ward Melville held its first talent show this year, featuring twenty-two amazing performances by talented singers, dancers, and musicians. However, only a few acts were particularly exceptional. One of the best acts was arguably Eric Chiu’s spectacular Chinese yo-yo performance, one of only two acts that did not involve music. Eric, a current sophomore, stunned the judges and audience with his multitude of tricks. He was also one of only two acts to earn perfect scores of 10 from all the judges, making him place in the top 3 acts.

Eric started learning the Chinese yo-yo at the Long Island Little Dragon Chinese School Summer Camp (also known as LILDCS Summer Camp). He has been playing it since the middle of elementary school, and practices whenever he has spare time and the weather outside isn’t too bad.

Despite having little free time, Eric prepared for the Ward Melville Talent Show by practicing a few minutes everyday. “I can perform a lot of tricks, but my favorites are probably Horizontal Spider Spin and Whip Trick. I’m still trying to figure out some of the more difficult tricks and learning new ones every now and then,” he explained.

When asked about the experience, Eric replied, “It was nerve-racking all the way through, but at the end I was pretty happy with the results. Considering the fact that most of the judges were music oriented, it was good to have gotten into the top three. To be in the talent show, I feel, is more of an opportunity to show-off and less of a competition. It was a good experience, similar to the Murphy Talent Show of 2014.”

Eric was unfortunately not able to win the prize for first place at the talent show, but he remains satisfied with his performance, commenting, “I was pretty glad about the results, although I didn’t make first place. I got top three and I think that is something to be happy about.”