Steinhardt junior Aasia Gabbour is used to playing the Chinese violin for her parents. But on Thursday, she performed in front of more than 750 NYU students — and won $1,000 for it. 

Gabbour was the winner of the 21st annual UltraViolet Live talent show, held by NYU’s Inter-Residence Hall Council at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. With performances ranging from original songs to rap to slam poetry, each of the contestants, representing a different NYU organization or residence hall, had already made it through the preliminary contest rounds prior to Thursday’s show. The final 13 students performed in front of a star-studded panel of judges, including former “Dance Moms” cast member Holly Hatcher-Frazier, “Jessie” star Kevin Chamberlin and Casey Likes from Broadway’s “Back to the Future: The Musical.”

The competition, hosted by former “RuPaul’s Drag Race” winner Jaida Essence Hall, fostered an exhilarating, supportive atmosphere among the audience — especially for Gabbour, whose performance of the classical Chinese song “Horse Race” (“Sai Ma”) on the erhu, or Chinese violin, sparked an eruption of cheers and prompted the judges to commend her showcase of Chinese culture. Now, Gabbour joins UltraViolet Live’s impressive list of former winners, including Lady Gaga in 2005. 

“I think a lot of people haven’t heard [erhu] before, so I [was] excited to show that off,” said Gabbour, who represented NYU’s Resident Assistance Council. “When I was [playing] really fast, everyone started cheering and hyping me up.

The show began with Steinhardt first-year Cole Januzzi. Exuding confidence in an all-black suit, the contestant from Rubin Hall performed Michael Bublé’s cover of “Feeling Good” by Nina Simone, captivating the audience within the first minutes of the show. Steinhardt graduate student Walter Miller represented the Commuter Student Council. His performance of Queen’s “Somebody to Love” would have made Freddie Mercury proud, according to the judges. Wearing an all-red leather outfit with thigh-high boots, Miller owned the theater by jumping off stage and walking through the audience during his performance, winning him the Audience Choice Award and a cash prize of $500. 

“I was very nervous, but I’m just operating on an adrenaline rush,” Miller said after his performance. “Once I leave, I’m gonna use that adrenaline to finish my accounting homework.”

Other category winners also won $500 each, including Weinstein Hall representative and Steinhardt first-year Noah Schlondorff, who won Best Solo Performance for an original song written for one of his classes, and Steinhardt sophomore Manuel Hodgson, representing Greenwich Hall, who won Best Group Performance for his original song “Ghost of You.” Hodgson played alongside Steinhardt sophomores Safin Karim, a pianist, and guitarist Reese Hsu.

“I just hope [the judges] saw our souls,” Hsu said. “I hope they saw this wasn’t just a song, this wasn’t just about being good. It was about sharing our art with people and hoping that they felt the same.”

Even though UltraViolet Live host Hall — who ended the night with a cover of Ariana Grande’s “God is a woman” — intentionally came into the event without expectations, she knew that she would be “blown away” by student performances.

“I saw instruments that I didn’t even know existed played on the stage,” Hall told WSN. “There are [performers] who I know for a fact that this is not the last time I’ll be seeing them.”

According to Hatcher-Frazier, the contest was also a treat for the judges, all of whom hail from the entertainment industry themselves. Being able to witness a variety of students perform made them the most excited, especially knowing that many students looked forward to meeting them. 

“When I see young people showcasing their talents in this kind of venue, it makes me proud,” Hatcher-Frazier said in an interview with WSN. “People don’t understand everything that it takes to be an artist. The vulnerability, the courage, the technique, the dedication, the work ethic — for someone to be able to put that on stage for all of us to enjoy, I applaud them because it takes a lot of guts.”

Contact Mariana Arboleda at [email protected].