A culmination of culture, fashion, and dance, the first annual AFAHYE Art Show dazzled the audience with a display of African, Caribbean and African American style, culture and dance Saturday night.
"We started from scratch," said Rochelle Shipley, a director of the program and a junior in the College of Communication. Shipley said the group of around 30 students who participated in AFAHYE did not know whether or not they would be able to pull the event together under such short notice.
The African Student Association, Black Student Council and Society of Caribbean Ambassadors worked together to create AFAHYE. Organizers thought of the idea to have an art show that coincided with Pan-African month late last semester; models, actors and directors only had four weeks to prepare for the event, Shipley said.
"We practice on Saturday and Sunday for sometimes two hours and sometimes four. They were pretty long, but it was fun," said Minneka Bookhart, a model for AFAHYE and a sophomore in the College of Business.
Directors casted models and actors for the event based on auditions, Shipley said. Models who liked to dance were placed in the African and Caribbean pieces, and those individuals who liked to talk were cast as actors.
AFAHYE opened with a spirited African dance that the Kassumai Dance Group performed to the rhythm of drums.
Actors guided the audience on a tour of Africa, the Caribbean and the United States through three distinct fashion segments. As the audience traveled to each country, they encountered an array of styles and dances from each culture along with original poetry describing each place.
Alberto Uscanga, an actor and a junior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said he was a little nervous before the show, but the chemistry of the actors on stage was great.
The energy of the models and actors helped make the event a success, Shipley said.
Organizers choose costumes based on current fashions in each country, she said. She said some coordinators of AFAHYE called Africa and the Caribbean home, having an insider's track on popular styles of dress used in the show.
For the African American culture, models selected outfits from their own wardrobe, making the event a celebration of their personal taste in style and culture, Shipley said.
Shipley said program coordinators wanted to celebrate not only each distinctive culture, but also the connection and unity the three have together.
"At the end of the day we are all part of the same community," Shipley said. "We are all part of the Marquette community."
Organizers chose the word AFAHYE, meaning Festival in the Twi language spoken in Ghana, to describe the event.
"We wanted the event to be in the spirit of a festival," Shipley said.
The audience and AFAHYE participants alike were happy with the outcome of the show. Shipley said just 24 hours after the performance she received emails complementing their efforts.
"We had to make it fun; this is something we want to leave as a legacy," Uscanga said.A lot of people wanted to cry (after the show) because they were so happy. We did something we honestly didn't think we could do. It was kind of like winning the Super Bowl- maybe not quite, but close."