Intermediate Vocalist \u2013 Jessica Tang<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Intermediate Dance \u2013 Jai Thomas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Senior Acting \u2013 Sophia Brophy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Senior Dance \u2013 Valerie Li<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Senior Vocals \u2013 Ciaro Lee (1st<\/sup> Runner Up)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Senior Vocals \u2013 Scarlett Lau (1st<\/sup> Place, Aurora Teen Idol)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019ve really been inspired by the experience, getting to watch everybody else and seeing all the amazing talent here,\u201d said Lau, a Grade 10 student and resident of Markham. \u201cI\u2019m really grateful for the opportunity to share my passion for the performing arts with everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lau clinched the win with her rendition of \u201cScrew Loose,\u201d a tune from the Broadway musical Cry-Baby, based on the 1990 John Waters film of the same name. She says she chose the song because it \u201cshowcases my strong suit \u2013 which is belting and singing, and it\u2019s a really fun song to sing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A dance student at Unionville High School, Lau says she\u2019s been dancing since she was two-years-old and singing since she was six, and the student at Harriet Chung Performing Arts notes, \u201cI think being involved in the musical theatre and competitive dance has really helped me to get where I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI\u2019m so grateful for everybody who has helped me on that journey,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lau has her eyes set on a career in musical theatre, and would love to tread the boards for Mirvish, the Broadway stage, and even get some experience as a musical theatre performer on cruise ships \u2013 with dream roles being Eliza from \u201cHamilton\u201d and Eponine in \u201cLes Miserables.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Aurora\u2019s 2026 Teen Idol, there will be plenty of chances to gain that experience Lau as a performer as she will be invited to perform at a several municipal events over the next 12 months \u2013 including Concerts in the Park and Ribfest \u2013 and the Top 8 performers in the Senior Vocal category will have the chance to show off their chops at the summer concert series as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Following Saturday\u2019s performances, Marquee\u2019s Sheryl Thomas says she was wowed by what she heard while keeping the show going backstage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI was saying to the senior vocalists they were all nothing but powerhouses, every single one of them,\u201d said Thomas. \u201cI said to them, \u2018Can you imagine if all eight of you got together and sang us something?\u2019 That would be incredible and really powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe were so well attended this year, which is beautiful to see, because they deserve all the support after all of that work,\u201d Thomas continued. \u201cThe value of [programs like this] is beyond measure, in my opinion, because it just hits on so many levels. It hits, of course, to the performer, to their families and to the general public who come to see it in an enriching show. It teaches youth that were participating to cheer for each other. They were all encouraging each other and that’s exactly what we need. We need to make sure that everybody’s being supportive and that’s the environment that creates beautiful, great art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI can’t wait till next year. I’m hoping that we’re going to have more mini-performers, six and under. We didn’t have any mini competitors this year so we’re hoping to get a few of those so we have representation in every category and I want to still stress that acting is still underrepresented. We would love to have some more actors bring something to the table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n By Brock Weir Scarlett Lau has long had a passion for the performing arts \u2013 and she will be able to share that passion with more people than ever before as 2026\u2019s Aurora Teen Idol. Lau was crowned Aurora Teen Idol on Saturday afternoon at the culmination of this year\u2019s Aurora Performing Arts Festival, co-hosted at Aurora Town […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":38343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-38342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-headline_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-06-18-02.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-9Yq","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 19:13:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38342"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38342\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38344,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38342\/revisions\/38344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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