The Black Student Union and Dance Club are holding a showcase at the College Center’s Performing Arts Center on March 21 and 23, where the community can witness different cultures, talents, and forms of expression and have a chance to learn more about the diversity of Middlesex College students.
Nyala Castro, club president of the Dance Club and main organizer and overseer of the Fashion Show, said the Black and Women’s History Month Fashion Show had their third rehearsal on Feb. 22, and the performers are excited to give a fun, energetic, and informative show soon.
“The Fashion Show is a beautiful showcase of fashion, art, poetry and dancing. It’s loud in a way that speaks through art and not screaming in your face,” she said.
Karen Edema, Club President of the Black Student Union and one of the planners, said the show will be opening with a few different walks, including a flag walk.
Edema said a bunch of individuals who are part of their respective countries would be part of this walk.
“I’m Nigerian, and there’s also a couple of other members who are Nigerian as well, so we are going to be walking with and repping our flag, she said”
Edema said performers will sing the national Black anthem, perform a live skit, dance their self-made choreography and recite spoken word poetry.
Laila Wilson, a model for the show, said the show is meant to give an expression of what Black culture is through fashion, interpretation of dance, and the expression of certain styles throughout the years.
For example, Castro said, a lot of the fashion featured in the show is mainly hip hop and streetwear, which is created by their staff designers.
Castro said, “It means a lot to me, as an Afro-Latina woman, to get to represent and show my Afro/Black side and for the campus to embody more diversity. I feel this show is very important because a lot of people don’t know a lot of things about our culture… and having students get involved and show that is important.”
Wilson said the Fashion Show represents the bond that the Middlesex community has with each other, especially its Black students, and will encourage a motivation to stand together despite the segregation and oppression that African Americans have faced throughout history.
Castro said the Fashion Show participants are working hard in each of the rehearsals to make their ideas come to life.
Castro said that she oversees everything.
“There is poetry, photography, dancing, etc. It can be hectic, I watch the models, give ideas, and help choreographers. People who love fashion give input on what they feel, (they) bring (it to the) table and conversate about it.”
Elijah Abdul Moore, another model performing in the show said, the rehearsals consist mainly of walkthroughs and rehearsing walks over and over with partners.
“Also, we are doing a walk based on Poetic Justice and multiple other movies, he said.
“We come in, do walks, rehearse… with each other and make sure everyone is in the same boat. It’s a village here; iron sharpens iron. That’s how we move here,” Moore said.
Chisom Olisa, another Fashion Show model, said that rehearsals are based on Black culture songs, such as rap and R&B, and movies such as Poetic Justice.
Olisa said, “One of the Poetic Justice songs is by Kendrick Lamar and that song is used for a group walk called the Poetic Justice Walk. A boy and a girl couple walk together and try to act like a cute couple; it represents Tupac and his love interest.”
Besides the walks, the participants in the show plan to showcase their poems written to inform, educate, express, and celebrate Black and Women’s culture.
Moore said, “The poem is about what we have been through in this country, so… slavery, the Black Panther movement and the elimination of segregation; and how Martin Luther King Jr. has made this country the way that it is today for us Black people.”
Castro said not only do the Fashion Show performers get to express their pride in their culture, but they also are building soft skills throughout their rehearsals and preparations for the show.
Edema said that through rehearsals the participants are improving confidence, learning teamwork, building bonds and a community, gaining experience, and having something tangible to put on their resume when the show is done.
Moore said, “The Fashion Show is doing wonders for my life. It is opening me up to a lot of new things and it’s also getting me out of my shell as I’ve always been a nervous person. I want to be a model in the future, so it’s helping me experience modeling in general. You meet a lot of wonderful people here, too.”
Castro said she hopes that the Fashion Show rehearsals and the show itself will give these students the experience they need for the real world and the confidence that follows.
She said, “Hopefully the experience can put them in a space for what they want to do and get the choreography experience on the fly. Poets get into writing and get a topic they sync in. We want to bring light to creativity and want to learn from each other.”
Moore said, “I think the Fashion Show will bring unity and enlightenment to everyone here who didn’t know our history. I also believe it’s going to inspire more people to speak out about whatever they have on their mind in terms of making a political statement.”
Moore said, “The Fashion Show represents Black excellence, unity, the greatness and extraordinary things you are able to do as a group. And I’m really excited for this show and Black History Month. I think we are going to show everyone else in this show what our race is capable of producing.”
Castro said she recommends any and everyone to come to the Fashion Show’s opening nights, whether they are students, professors or even a person without a specific fashion interest.
She said, “Hopefully more people can see that Middlesex is more than we show, we want to bring more people into the college and inform more about Women’s (and Black) History Month.”
Edema said that she hopes the Fashion Show will inspire others to create and lead events such as the Fashion Show on their own.
She said she expects the audience, especially its Black and female members, to feel acknowledged and represented by the show.
The Fashion Show will take place on March 21 at 2:30 p.m. and March 23 at 5 p.m. in the black box behind the main stage of the Performing Arts Center.