Over the course of several weeks, a good number of Filipino acts impressed the judges and viewers of AXN’s “Asia’s Got Talent.”
So when David Foster, Anggun and Jay Park finally decided on the eight contestants that will advance to the semifinal round of the talent search series, it was no surprise that two Filipino acts emerged as among the cream of the crop.
One of them is beatboxer Neil Ray Garcia Llanes from Davao City. The other is 17-year-old contortionist dancer Deniel Sarmiento from Boracay.
In an interview with InterAksyon following his impressive audition, Deniel said he started dancing as early as he was three years old. Drawing inspiration from both his father and sister who are also dancers, Deniel first gained national prominence when he auditioned for Season 5 of “Pilipinas Got Talent” last year and reached the semifinals.
“I decided to audition on ‘Asia’s Got Talent’ to fulfill my dreams and also to show billions of people what I love to do which is to communicate using the art of dancing,” he replied when asked why he decided to join another talent competition show.
Still a student, Deniel moved to Quezon City to pursue his dream. He admits that while he does not currently dance for a living, he often gets invitations “to perform in different events, conventions, concerts, and photoshoots.”
Asked why dancing is such an important part of who he is, Deniel said, “I’m just a normal teenager that does normal things but when It comes to dancing I’m different, I’m more disciplined and dedicated.”
“I love how it really makes me happy and free,” he said during his video introduction on the show.
At the Judges Audition, David Foster gave him a standing ovation along with the rest of the studio audience.
“That was poetry to me…I see an amazing future for you,” said the usually hard-to-please judge.
“You got these long legs and long arms and you know how to use it,” added an equally astonished Jay Park.
Anggun was likewise impressed. “What are your bones made of?,” she wondered.
The other six acts who made it to the semifinal round are The Sisters, a singing duo from Singapore, illusionist Andrew Lee from Malaysia, B-Boy dance group Power Storm Crew from Thailand, singer-musician Angela July from Indonesia, “Popopera” singing trio Ekklesia from Korea and multimedia dancer Canion Shijirbat from Mongolia.
In each semi-final episode, the eight acts will perform a dazzling new piece. At the end of each episode, the act that impresses the judges most will win the Judges’ Pick and head to the Grand Finals directly.
The seven remaining acts will be up for public voting, and the two acts with the most votes will head to the Grand Finals. Voting starts next Thursday via Facebook Hashtag and Facebook Messenger and Google Search. For more information on voting, visit www.AXN-Asia.com/AGTVote.
The first semi-final episode of Asia’s Got Talent airs this Thursday at 8:30pm on AXN. To follow the journey of this season’s acts, check out #AXNAsia and #AsiasGotTalent.
AXN is available on Cablelink Channel 38, Cignal Channel 121, Destiny Cable Channel 61, Dream Satellite TV Channel 20, G Sat Channel 51, and SKYCable Channel 49. AXN HD is available on SKYCable Channel 247.
Watch Deniel Sarmiento’s amazing audition at “Asia’s Got Talent” here:
