Several hundred people attended the Laurier Hub for Community Solution’s third annual Fusion Beats talent show on Wednesday, November 19, 2025.
The free event, which was held in partnership with the Sanderson Centre, Laurier’s International Student Support, the City of Brantford and the Downtown Brantford BIA, with additional funding from Laurier Brantford Grants, was first held in September of 2023.
In an interview with the Brant Beacon last year, Christina Han, Director of the Laurier Hub for Community Solutions, said the idea for the event originally came out of a discussion with Glen Brown, Theatre Manager for the Sanderson Centre.
“Around two [now three] years ago, Glen Brown said to me ‘you know, Laurier students aren’t coming to our shows even though we’re right downtown in the middle of campus,’” recollected Han. “I said to him, ‘why don’t you give me a day or two to look into it and maybe we’ll try to put together an event that students would love to go to, but also where we can showcase some student talent.’ We thought it was just a great way to introduce our students and the public to the Sanderson Centre and get them coming back for more.”
Since then, the show has given both students and community members a chance to show off their various talents on the big stage.
This year’s program featured nine different acts and three dance numbers by the event’s headliners, R.P.M. Dance Crew, a group of Toronto-based K-pop performers.
Opening the event was the Mumbo Jumbo Combo, a salsa group led by Laurier graduate Noah Abrahamse. The performance was followed by Irene Matthews, Akhil Prahbu, Brantford’s STOMPtastic line dance team, Liam Thomas Whitehouse, Kaya Kanashiro, Olivia Marshall, Kaylynn Spencer and Sreekar Kanchi.
Occasionally in between the acts, members of Laurier’s theatre club also got on stage to help promote some of the Sanderson Centre’s upcoming shows, getting the audience laughing with their playful banter.
While some, like Matthews, danced on stage, others performed a mix of original songs, covers, flamenco guitar pieces and musical theatre numbers, all of which garnered cheers and support from the audience throughout the evening.
Kanashiro, a third-year Laurier student from Mississauga who’s been acting since was 13 on shows for Netflix and HBO Max, said performing her original song ‘Eden’ and seeing the audience’s reaction felt special.
“That was so heartwarming for me,” she said. “I think that had to be my favourite part, I even teared up a little bit because I was so happy.”
The User Experience Design student added this was her second time participating in the Fusion Beats event and encouraged others to try out next year.
“It was really fun and it was just so nice to see all the new performances this year,” she said. “I think if anyone is interested in taking part next year, they should definitely audition. Even if they aren’t a performer, they should come and check it out because it’s always a new show every year; there’s so many different acts and genres so it’s really a fusion of everything and I encourage everyone to check out.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
