Official Recap: Kollaboration ATL 5
Photo credit: Ponciano Valinzuela.
We held our fifth-annual showcase this past Saturday at Center Stage with great success! With nearly 800 attendees, the show continued its mission to provide empowering entertainment to the local community and from abroad with attendees hailing from California, Tennessee, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, and more.
Before the show started at 8 p.m., VIP guests were able to meet Clara C, YouTube sensation and special guest performer. In addition, they were able to purchase official Kollaboration Atlanta and Clara C merchandises, handcrafted popsicles from The King of Pops and take photos against the Kollaboration backdrop.
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
Throughout the show, MNET, a Korean television network, recorded footage and interviewed the performers. MNET was there to chronicle host Paul PK Kim and the Kollaboration network.
As the show started, attendees watched the official Kollaboration ATL 5 music video featuring all the performers singing and dancing to a cover of Etta James, Avicii, Flo Rida and Skrillex’s “Good Feeling.”
Afterward, Executive Director Grace Shim gave the opening remarks and introduced PK, the host and founder of Kollaboration, to the stage. Always a fan pleaser, PK provided entertainment through comedy for the night.
Photo credit: Joshua Fu
The guest judges for this year were Dondria, R&B singer and YouTube sensation; Kellindo Parker and Mikey Phillips, members of Janelle Monae’s band; Jason Croom, member of America’s Best Dance Crew‘s Swagger Crew; Kevin Kim, producer at Atlanta Radio Korea; Rodney Ho, TV & radio blogger for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Calvin Parmer, bass guitarist for R&B artist Melanie Fiona; Carlton Lynn, producer at Soapbox Studios; and John Song, studio manager at Icon Studios. Judges rated the performers based on the criteria of skill, audience reaction, originality, and stage presence.
This year, each performance started off with a video interview to get the audience acquainted with the performers.
Emory Karma kicked off the performances with a traditional bhangra routine. Vibrant colors filled the venue as they tossed confetti and glow sticks into the audience.
Photo credit: Joshua Fu
Next, the band Still Undecided took the stage with guitars, drums and keyboard as they performed an original song “Take It.”
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
Photo credit: Joshua Fu
With piano accompaniment from Rudi Han, Bernard Park serenaded the audience with his rendition of Eric Benet’s “The Last Time.”
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
After placing second last year, hip-hop dance company Purple Elephant Society returned to the stage with a new routine.
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
Rapper Sammy Yi utilized both the stage and the pit as he performed his original song, “Pop Champagne.”
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
Performing with a full band, consisting of guest judges Kellindo Parker and Mike Phillips of Janelle Monae’s band, Clara C sang four songs from her album Art in My Heart including “Heartstrings,” “The Camel Song,” and “Offbeat.”
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
After intermission, PK announced the Freestyle Dance competition and six contenders from the audience were selected to participate. For the Freestyle Vocal competition, three ladies were chosen from the crowd to battle it out. Winners were selected by audience vote and both winners received $250 each.
Photo credit: Joshua Fu
Photo credit: Joshua Fu
A Twitter contest using #kollabatl5 and #clarac was held throughout the night to give away a pair of purple Kollaboration Atlanta sunglasses and T-shirt, both signed by Clara C.
Hip-hop dance group Innonim played up Clara C’s earlier performance by incorporating “Offbeat” into their routine.
Photo credit: Joshua Fu
GT Qurbani showed another side of bhangra by fusing it with bollywood and hip-hop.
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
The last performer was Kavi Vu, who won the final slot from the people’s choice poll taken at the mixer. She gave a spoken word monologue titled, “On Graduation.” Her words touched the audience and they chanted her name as she left the stage.
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
Last year’s winner, Adam WarRock returned to the stage to remind the audience why he had won. He ended the night as he rapped his way through the crowd.
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
After tallying up all the votes from the guest judges, PK announced the 1st and 2nd place winners of Kollaboration Atlanta 5: Kavi Vu took home 1st place and was awarded with the official Kollaboration trophy and $1,000 grand prize, while Innonim took home $500 for 2nd place!!
Photo credit: Johnny Cheng
“I feel so honored to win Kollaboration, especially because the whole Kollaboration 5 show, to me, was flawless,” Kavi said. “Everybody brought something amazing to the stage, so I am still pretty much in shock that I won. Now that I’ve won, I definitely feel more pressured to write more pieces because now … I have a voice!”
Kavi plans to continue writing and being a voice for the Asian community.
For updates on Kavi, you can find her on Tumblr, YouTube or Facebook.
Thanks to the photographers, Ponciano Valinzuela, Daniel Han, Joshua Fu and Johnny Cheng, who helped capture every moment of the night.
None of the videos for the show would have been possible without Kollaboration Atlanta’s very own videographer, Kris Valeriano and his production team, Bush Jumping Productions.
Stay tuned to Kollaboration Atlanta for more video footage from the show! For photos from the show, visit our gallery on Facebook.
About the Author
Emily Yang Emily is a blogger for Kollaboration Atlanta. Send news to her at emily.kollabatl[at]gmail.com.
