On Friday, February 2, 2024, ACE and the African Student Association (ASA) collaborated to host the Zuzu African Acrobats in Memorial Chapel. The event celebrated the culture of the acrobats and kicked off Black History Month on campus.
The Zuzu African Acrobats are a travelling group that performs acrobatic events throughout the US. They are a Tanzanian troup that bases their performances on 2,000 years of Bantu culture in East Africa. “Each member of the cast has received special instructions from elders in the Bagamoyo Arts and Cultural Institute to perform these ancient traditions to audiences around the world,” according to their website. Their performances consist of human pyramids, chair balance, juggling, flexibility acts, hand to hand balance, and more.
Members of the African Student Association brought the team in to showcase their culture. “It represents some of the different cultures that we have in Africa,” Delvin Marimo ‘24, the President of the ASA, remarked. “The flexibility that we have in terms of like creating art, like dances, artwork or paintings, most of it was derived from Africa, like some of the dance names and music. So this type of art they were performing really shows like some of the cultures that we have back home.”
For the dancers, their performances are a way for them to showcase their culture and get to know people around the US. “This is our crew. We do this together everywhere we go. We do this different cities in America since I was 13 years old and now we become a group.” Rama Gala, one of the performers, said. “The art form here is our culture for us, ’cause we all started from the beginning. We see stuff from other people and then we learn from them, and then we pick it up from there. And it is benefiting me. Like everywhere I go, I surprise people, which is good.”
The event was the first in a series of Black History month events on campus. The next event will be a collaboration between the Black Student Union and the French Club to host a Mardi Gras dining takeover in Reamer Dining Hall on February 13th. In addition, the ASA meets on Thursdays at 5 p.m., and on February 23 they will host a fashion show in the CPH ballroom at 6:30 p.m. ACE will also host a craft night on February 9th from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. in Old Chapel.
