Inspiring Stories from Winners of City’s “Talent is Timeless ‘24” Contest

“I came to life after the age of 60,” said Rosemarie Hameed, who took home first place honors in the city’s second annual Talent is Timeless contest for her rousing rendition of “Inseparable.”

Over 2,000 spectators packed into the historic United Palace Theater in Washington Heights Oct. 10 to watch twenty-two acts perform music, comedy, and dance routines. The contest, now in its second year is hosted by NYC Aging, the city agency that hopes the talented performers age 60 years old and above will help dispel ageist stereotypes.

Diversity was on display. Second-place winner David Husney featured some fancy footwork as he danced with a mannequin to the song “Power.” And third place winner Joshua Popeno wrote an original comedic song, “Josh’s Signature Song,” for the finale.

Unlike the other two Grand Finale winners, Hameed said she was not a performer before she entered the competition; her only prior vocal performances were karaoke.

The three winners were culled from over 1,000 entrants that came from senior centers across the city; Hameed, came from downtown’s the Henry Street Settlement Older Adult Center; Husney, from the Food Bank Older Adult Center; and Popenoe, from the Greenwich House Center on the Square Older Adult Center in the Village.

They had to survive three tough rounds and beat out the other finalists performing on Oct. 10 to get to the winners circle. All three agreed that their ages don’t affect their arts negatively. If anything, they use their ages and life experiences as points of inspiration for the creation of new art.

“The voice is an instrument,” Hameed said, “and I will gladly use it until the day I physically expire.”

Although the audience at the finale was her largest to date, Hameed said that she didn’t feel nervous during her performance. The emotion, she added, came after.

“When Mayor Adams handed me the award, the only thing from him that I felt was pure joy,” Hameed said.

“And that was a wonderful experience, the joy that I felt from him, because he made it a little bit easier to swallow the fact that... I didn’t have my mama there.”

Unlike Hameed, Husney — who danced to “Power” (and was the first place winner of last year’s competition) — has been a performer for most of his life. Being of Syrian and Turkish descent, he said that both sides of his family knew belly dancing. Husney remembers dancing for money with his siblings in the Bronx, at the age of five or six. He started performing in front of audiences in his 20’s and continues to dance and mentor younger performers.

“One time, a youth came up to me and introduced me to somebody as an ‘OG’,” Husney said.

“I wasn’t hip with the terminology yet, and I thought she was calling me an ‘Old Guy.’ And yet she was really complimenting me by saying I was an ‘Original Gangster,’ which is true! I was at the onset of the hustle right from the beginning; so it was more of a compliment than anything else.”

Similarly, Popenoe has been singing and writing songs all his life, although his involvement in this year’s competition (capped by his performance of his original comedic song, “Josh’s Signature Song,” at the finale) was his first. In addition to singing and writing songs, Popenoe also works as a professional voice actor, as well as an English language instructor; in fact he wrote a new song after his experience at the finale, titled, “You’re Going to Get Old, If You’re Lucky.”

“Elderly people often buy into the values of society, which is, ‘Now that I’m older, I’m losing my power, my ability...’ and become depressed and just are not able to live in the most fulfilling way that they can,” Popinoe said, adding that he will turn 71 next week.

“[I want] to show other elderly people and younger people in the world that we still have power. And in fact, our power can increase. Maybe our physical power doesn’t increase, but our emotional power, our intellect, our spiritual power...you only understand what life is really like if you live a long time, when you gradually hone in on what’s really important in the end.”

The event’s returning emcee was comedian Jackie Hoffman, and this year’s guest judges were dancer Lillian Colon, comedian D’yan Forest, director Guy Stroman, actress and singer Lillias White, and actor, director and performance coach Kristine Zbornik.

“New York City has always been a place that has attracted the most talented people in the world, and today, older New Yorkers have once again shown they are a vital part of our talent pool,” Mayor Adams said after the event.

“Getting to see Talent is Timeless bring together older residents and allowing them to perform at a level many of them may never have imagined was truly inspiring,” said Adams “and shows that talent does not run out with time—it only gets better.”