North Texas

North Texas Teen Explains ‘Weird Faces' In Viral Video

When Anna Eberhart took to the field to perform with Boston Crusades Drum & Bugle Corp early in July in Rhode Island, it was just a typical day for the 17-year-old keyboardist from Denton.

But what Eberhart did not know, was the cell phone video focused on her that day that would launch her into the spotlight around the world. [[388136612,C]]

Mike O’Neill captured the young keyboardist’s performance that includes her playing music, but also a wide range of facial expressions and random acts of twitching during the song.

“I make the faces when I perform to get across the emotions to the audience of what’s going on in the story,” Eberhart said.

The Boston Crusaders were performing Quixotic, a musical reflection of the Spanish masterpiece “The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha.”

Since the video was posted online, it has been viewed almost four million times on O’Neill’s Facebook page and countless more times on various online sites around the world. It's given Eberhart much unexpected attention and thrust her into world of viral video fame.

“After the video went viral, people started recognizing me more and taking pictures with me and asking me question about all of it,” said Eberhart.

Eberhart’s artistic abilities don’t stop on the keys. Her mom says she plays many other instruments and is an accomplished flute player. She's also a straight ‘A’ student at John H. Guyer High School in Denton, where she will be a senior in the fall.

The Boston Crusaders is a highly intense program where musicians under the age of 22 travel around the country each summer and performing in more than 40 competitions and exhibitions. Monday night, Eberhart will return to Dallas with the group to perform at the Wildcat-Ram Stadium at Lake Highlands High School at 7 p.m.

She’ll be coming home for a short period of time to perform in front of family and friends who find the viral video of Eberhart’s facial expression amusing.

“My friends think the faces are really funny and strangers either think they are really weird or that they really enjoy my performance,” said Eberhart. “I’m fine with all the publicity. It’s great to see Drum Corp getting all the attention. And I’ve never had my face a on a shirt before.”

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