The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

Fashion and dance spread black culture

  • The AFAHYE Art Show debuted as part of the Pan-African Month celebration
  • The show celebrated African, Caribbean and African American cultures and fashions
  • The African Students Association, Black Student Council and Society of Caribbean Ambassadors presented the show
  • Participants were happy with the show and would like to host it again next year

As a culmination of culture, fashion and dance, the first annual AFAHYE Pan African Art Show dazzled the audience with a display of African, Caribbean and African American style Saturday night in a crowded Weasler Auditorium.

"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 Students 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 practiced on Saturday and Sunday for sometimes two hours and sometimes four," said Minneka Bookhart, a model for AFAHYE and a sophomore in the College of Business Administration. "They were pretty long, but it was fun."

Directors cast 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 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.

Shipley said the energy of the models and actors helped make the event a success. More than 100 people filled the Weasler to see the show.

Organizers choose costumes based on current fashions in each country. Shipley said some coordinators of AFAHYE call Africa and the Caribbean home, and have 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.

She 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 e-mails 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."

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