On November 2, UC High student participants will compete in the school’s annual male beauty pageant, which is held in the gym, to find this year’s Mr. Centurion.
“All the [Mr. Centurion contestants] will perform a dance as an opening act, and then they will either have a group or a solo part where they’ll do an entertainment act,” said ASB President Jared Stahl. The show will include around twenty five contestants, he added.
Stahl explained how as a preview, on the day of the show, a lunch date with each contestant will be auctioned off. The contestants will bring prepared lunches for two, and anyone can bid to spend their lunch with the contestant and eat the food provided by him.
That night, according to Stahl, the show will begin with a dance performance featuring all of the contestants. After that, the contestants normally perform some type of speech and are asked to thoroughly answer given questions. Each contestant will then perform either a solo or group entertainment act, like a dance or a song.
According to Stahl, to try out, potential contestants filled out applications from ASB Advisor Donna Fallon. The applications were due on October 13. Once the contestants turned in their applications, they were approved and moved on to dance tryouts. These auditions normally take place about a week in advance of the show. The time in between the auditions and the show allows for other events in anticipation, such as the annual leg contest and the lunch dates with the contestants.
Stahl explained how contestants are judged on the combined abilities of their short speech, talent performance, and ability to answer questions. The winner is then chosen by a panel of judges. “We usually have a counselor, a teacher, and administrator,” said Stahl.
According to ASB Member Lula Cotsirilos, the show costs from five to seven dollars, depending on when tickets are purhased. The money from the show will go to the ASB funds.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Former Contestant Luke Macknight. “Most of the people that were in it I didn’t really know last year, and I got closer to all of them,” he added. Last year, he explained, contestants had practices once or twice a week, mostly for the opening act dance.
About the choreography of the opening dance, Macknight said, “At first, it was really difficult, because the instructors are people from the Dance Team, so they know what they’re doing. We’re just a bunch of guys who don’t know what we’re doing.”
