‘A showcase of Black excellence and Black 快乐’: The annual Ujima 时装表演

Bringing awareness of African, African American, and Caribbean cultures to the campus 和当地社区是宇岛的使命. 3月，学生俱乐部举行了一年一度的活动 时装表演. Organized entirely by students, the campus tradition (which goes back 到20世纪90年代)是对黑人才华和创造力的颂扬. 露娜·佩拉尔塔23岁，a senior studying environmental science from the Bronx and Ujima’s club president, described 她执导2023年剧集的经验. 

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宇岛是校园里最古老的多元文化团体之一.

“Dedicated to support and sustain the Black community both on and off campus, we're 一个充满爱、支持和庆祝的社区. 我认为宇岛将永远如此，也应该如此 永远为那些需要帮助的人提供一个安全的空间.

Ujima also creates a great space for people who want to be future leaders by being 这是我们全年执行董事会职位的一部分. 我用这个电子白板有 三年担任多个角色.

We have various events on campus, but spring semester is our biggest semester with events during Black History Month and of course the Annual Fashion Show.”

Ujima’s 时装表演 has become a tradition for the club and Skidmore.

“These shows are meant to mark the end of our Black History Month series. 这个节目 dates all the way back to the 1990s, and it is a staple for our club to host it.

Due to the pandemic, many people in my class and below did not get to experience a full-on 时装表演 until last year when our past co-president Erica Smith '22 held 这是自2019年以来的第一场名为“渗透”的时装秀.’

Luckily, this year our show got more models and more performances so now people are 知道我们的时装秀有多精彩. 我非常感激地补充了这句话 to this tradition and to have been able to document it for future participants to 看到.”

The 时装表演’s 2023 theme was ‘The Four Elements of Blackness.’

“This show’s theme was taken from the theme of the show that would have happened in 2020年春季. The theme was created by alums Simone Hadebe '20 and Kadi Diallo '20, who granted me permission to adapt this show into my own vision during my planning stage.

The purpose of ‘The Four Elements of Blackness’ was to show Black beauty through various 这些行为是自然的四个要素:

Earth is meant to represent the connection to our roots in Black culture and the Pan-African 离散的犹太人.

Fire is representative of the summer cookout, which is a tradition in the Black community. (Ujima将在学期末举办自己的活动.)

Air is representative of being a part of a more than human experience in connection 对灵性.

水只是纯粹的流动性. 剧中的歌曲与每一幕都有联系，我尝试过 在为节目制作混音时很难表达出来. 例如，对于水 act, the songs played were those that are typically meant to make people feel good 火博体育他们自己的个性.

My overall goal for this show was just to showcase pure Black excellence and Black 快乐.”

Directing the show required nearly two semesters of love and labor.

“As the director, my job was to organize many aspects of the 时装表演 including 主题、地点和参与者. 我开始为秋季的演出做准备 和工作 在我的寒假和这个学期的大部分时间里.

I have done many things as the director, which have provided me with skills that I did not know I had: I choreographed and organized the walking sequences for each 场景 (my models got their walks down perfectly), and I got to practice my Photoshop skills in order to create the posters for the 时装表演, which my photographer Jose Santos 我和他一起拍的. 由于时间冲突，我不得不把所有的音乐混在一起 独自表演. I am proud of myself because I had never produced or mixed music before.

Thankfully I had amazing stylists, Djeneba Sanogo '26 and Elina Grooman '26, who took their roles very seriously in creating ensembles with thrifted items and clothing 由模型提供. 我也感谢我的舞台助手 Yainy DeJesus Guzman '23 and Jennifer Carretero '26, who helped with decorations and the lighting of each 场景. Lastly, this show would not have been possible without the help of all the models that practiced nonstop in order to get their walks down perfectly.”

这个节目 is also an opportunity to highlight students’ passions outside the classroom.

“Deidri-Ann McKenzie '26, a first-year student, has shown so much talent through her 并成立了舞蹈团 Extrava-Gemz. 我们的演出是 extra - gemz的 first performance so I could not wait to 看到 everyone's reaction.

Anesu Mukombiwa '24 sang a song, and her voice is utterly beautiful and can captivate 任何愿意倾听的人.  

Additionally, I am going into grad school for film directing and this experience solidified 我想进入这个领域的原因.”