Belmont students convened in the Curb Event Center Sunday night to raise money for Special Olympics, cheering on the Belmont athletic teams as they competed in the annual Battle of the Bruins talent competition.
For the second year in a row, Belmont’s own Antonio Peebles opened the show with his band Antonio and The Southern Bruins Band. The band played “Treasure” by Bruno Mars, as well as its signature “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire.
The softball team was the first to take the stage, with a modern take on “Snow White.” The performance was comprised of skits that went along with dance numbers, and for the final one, the entire team came out to dance to Beyonce’s “Single Ladies,” after Snow White came to the conclusion that she, in fact, didn’t need a man.
The women’s basketball team performed its rendition of “The Greatest Showman.” Two of the players — dressed as older versions of themselves — reminisced on the good old days of their time in Belmont women’s basketball: the greatest show.
This included a rendition of “Rewrite the Stars,” but instead of a love ballad between Zac Efron and Zendaya, it was a poster of Bob Fisher and the possibility of a football team. With “Never Enough,” the team poked fun at Belmont’s coffee addiction.
The girls made a slam dunk with their performance, taking home the first place title of the night.
Although, it wasn’t just student athletes stealing the show.
Courtney’s Corner Choir — an organization that works to empower students with special needs to shine through the creative arts — took the stage to perform “Let It Go” from Frozen, and the Metro Parks Disability Program warmed hearts with a sign language performance of “This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman.” Both performances earned standing ovations.
Baseball seemed to be a crowd favorite with its spelling bee performance — poking fun at the player’s reputation of not being the smartest. They narrated it ESPN style and won over the crowd as they genuinely didn’t know how to spell.
The cheerleaders were the closing team, performing a rendition of “Bikini Bottom Day,” from “Spongebob the Musical.”
Sadly, it didn’t live up to their Dora the Explorer performance last year, as the team came in fourth.
The night ended with every performer on the stage as Courtney’s Corner Choir led in a performance of “Can’t Stop the Feeling.”