Awesome Talents

When he’s not creating cool originals, musician Xkaii performs unique arrangements of popular and alternative songs that blend vocals with cello. The balance between his warm, soulful voice and string sounds is truly captivating. Be sure to check out his covers of Mad World, Creep, Pumped Up Kicks, and Where Is My Mind?

Have you ever played with one of those toys where you had to catch a ball in a cup? It takes a little practice. Now, try catching 40 of those balls in 40 cups at the same time. Thirtyz “Jaa-chan” of the Japanese Kendama performance group DEN-SHOW proves it’s possible to pull it off with one smooth move.

The Funkin Lady Korea Showcase offers talented women a place to show off their mad dance skills. Blu G Dancer scored extra style points by performing her entire “Wave” concept routine with her baby strapped to her chest. Not to be confused with the Dancing Baby meme.

Comedian and beatboxer Afonso Rodrigues has a impressive and uncanny talent. He’s able to make it sound like his voice is creating an echo. He doesn’t just have one echo sound either – he can create doppler effects and can pull off echoes in both English and Portuguese. His echo mountain trick is crazy.

Clint Mansell’s Lux Aeterna from Requiem for a Dream is one of the most incredible pieces of movie music ever composed. Beatboxer Helium shows off his mad skills with an amazing cover of the track performed without looping or sound effects other than those made with his mouth, tongue, and throat. His LanigirO 2.0 is similarly mesmerizing.

What’s more impressive than flying over the water with a jet pack? Adding fire to the mix. This performer strapped on one of those foot-mounted Flyboard jet packs while carrying a pair of cages filled with fire. He’s basically a human fireworks show. The traditional Chinese Huohu (fire pot) show is already quite the spectacle when performed on solid ground.

Lennie Simo has a fantastic sense of rhythm. But instead of playing drums, his instruments are a tabletop, a couple of pens, and his cheek. Watch as Lennie taps his way through the 12345678 Challenge, nailing every beat, and adding some amazing flourishes in between. His collab with the Jabbawockeez dance crew is some next-level stuff too.

Dancer Maikon Alves can do the robot about as well as anyone we’ve seen. In this clip, he shows off his android-like moves set to a laughter-filled track called HAHAHA, which only serves to make his precise moves and facial expressions creepier. Can’t get enough? Here you go.

With enough practice, you can learn to break bricks with your hand. But this martial arts master doesn’t stop at a brick or two. We watched in awe as he demolished over 110 bricks back-to-back with his bare hand. If you look closely, you’ll see broken bricks ahead of where he is, so he must have tried this more than once.

We know it’s possible to fly an airplane through a tunnel. Now, another skilled Red Bull athlete has paraglided through a tunnel. To pull of the stunt, Patrick Von Känel jumped off a mountainside in Italy’s Dolomites and took aim at the 498-foot tunnel. It required the perfect mix of preparation, precision, and a custom wing to fly through without touching.

Otto Nyholm is an expert stuntman. In this short compilation video by fellow stunt performer Ida Rømo Bakk, he shows off a few of the bone-crunching reaction falls that he uses during gun battle scenes at a Wild West show he performs in. Those ragdoll physics are impressive.

Malaysian dance group Budayawan shows off a traditional dance from Borneo’s Murut people and their headhunting warriors. Known as Magunatip, the dance requires incredible skill and timing from both the blindfolded dancer and his teammates as they rapidly move bamboo poles beneath his feet. Video by MySabah.com.

If you’ve followed The Awesomer for a while, you know that we appreciate people with unusual talents. Christina Julian is a lip sync master. But what makes her performances extra special is how she uses her bathroom mirror to turn her one face into three to level up her performances. So let’s get down with the sickness to start, whatcha say?

The musicians of GlasBlasSing use glass bottles as their instruments. One of their members shows off his talents with a brief performance of In the Hall of the Mountain King on a wall covered with Jägermeister bottles. Each green bottle is filled with a different amount of liquid to create a note when struck with a mallet. Want more? They also bottled some Bizet.

Musician Bonnin Gabriel connected a hurdy-gurdy to the spinning wheel from a vintage Singer sewing machine to maximize its playing speed. In this first clip, he shows off just how badass the thing sounds with a performance of Daft Punk’s Aerodynamic. Bonnin has also posted some hurdy-gurdy tracks by The White Stripes, DJ Snake, and Die Antwoord.

Artist Eric Warren offers a glimpse into the process of creating an awe-inspiring glass sculpture. The orb looks like a miniature ocean filled with fish, coral, anemones, and other marine life. The finished piece weighs 21 pounds and measures 7.6″ across. It took many hours to complete with the help of fellow artist Jimmy Bayse and the facilities at Hot Glass Alley.