Joseph the Sand Artist made full use of his unique talent as he played with the emotions of the audience and the judges to become the Ultimate Talentado of 2011.
As the Ultimate Talentado Joseph brought home P1 M in cash prize, a brand new Chevrolet Cruze worth nearly P1 M, a 4-year scholarship (transferable) from the Immaculate Conception International College , and the chance to be one of the Philippine Representatives to the World Championship of Performing Arts (WCOPA).
The WCOPA is considered to be the Olympics of performing arts.
For his finals performance, Joseph created a series of sand art that told the story of a daughter-father relationship as the music “Dance with my Father” played in the background.
Since Joseph was young, he has always been fond of drawing. Born to a carpenter father, Joseph’s schooling was a struggle. He wanted to pursue fine arts in college, but his father advised him to enroll in a more practical vocational course instead. Joseph enrolled in an electrical course but even in school his drawings had been appreciated by his teachers through the plates and circuit plans he submitted.
He also used his artistic talent to help augment his family’s finances by submitting his works in a comic publishing house. And when his salary still proved insufficient, he worked part-time as an assistant shoemaker in a neighborhood shoe shop. Back then, the neighbors weren’t that too friendly to Joseph. He was often the butt of jokes because of his polio-stricken legs. He was often called names by his neighbors, and because of this Joseph dreamt that one day, his neighbors would look up to him.
Joseph’s family didn’t escape the onslaught of Ondoy. After the flood, Joseph’s family saw nothing but dirt and sand. One day, when Joseph was sifting dirt from the sand, he realized that he could do something with it. From there began his sand art.
He edged out eight other Hall of Famers that included master Fire Attraction, beatboxer Beatbox Gor, Broadway princesses The Believers, sensuous singing trio Newborn Divas, fiery pole dancer Sfazhiva, real-life acrobatic partners Zion Show, isolation dance duo RR Friends and wildcard finalist Belinda Adora’s Stepkids, a talented group of young ballroom dancers.
Ciara Sotto and the Far East Acrobats on the other hand won the Celebrity Talentados edition besting Valeen Montenegro with the Tribal Dancers, Regine Tolentino with Makata Tawanan, and Rosanna Roces with Leah Patricio.
The Battle of the Champions performance night also broke TV records garnering a whopping 56.5% audience share according to AGB Nielsen Philippines, last year the finals episode registered 48% audience share.
Here is Joseph’s championship performance.
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