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Meet a Knoxville dancer trying out for America's Got Talent

Yasmine Nicole is a lifelong performer who was one of thousands giving it her all at America's Got Talent auditions in Knoxville today.

Just hours into America's Got Talent auditions, performer Yasmine Nicole found herself in the middle of a televised dance battle.

“As soon as I got here it was like lights, camera, action. I was in performance mode," Nicole says. "I been pumped since I woke up."

That the 25-year-old Knoxville native commanded the undivided attention of cameras, spectators, and other performers as soon as she stepped into the Knoxville Convention Center surprised even her. She's a self-proclaimed international drag queen proficient in at least ten different styles of dance and holds four pageant queen titles.

Still, she had yet to dance drag in such a public space.

Choosing the biggest stage in America to do it didn't prove overwhelming for the AGT hopeful, but she was surprised.

"I never came out like this in public. So I’m trying to bring us. We’re here. We're human. We're all equal. We all deserve a right," she says. "You may dance in your style. We’re all human. Let’s blend it together and make history."

Nicole began dancing in fourth grade, quickly becoming adept at a range of styles from ballet to Afro funk. That fluidity of styles, and an ability to tell stories in a way that connects with people, is what she loves most about dancing.

"I love to be out. I love to be seen. Visible. Heard. All of that," she says. "I’m a people person. So you get the music going and I’m back up with it. Maybe when the music goes down, I go down a little with it. But as soon as that music is back up, I’m ready."

The opportunity to change someone's mood with a performance is ultimately what pushed her to try for a spot on the mainstage.

"I like to express myself through my music. You never know what somebody's going through," she says.

Photo by Madison Stacey.

Right now, she doesn't even know if that dance battle will be featured once the show airs. But Nicole, like thousands of other hopefuls who showed up in Knoxville with a dream today, prays she is one of the lucky ones chosen for the mainstage in February.

"I’m like fingers crossed, toes crossed eyes crossed," she says. "I hope I get this.”

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