Student dance groups gathered Thursday evening in the Abbot Hall cafeteria to perform as part of an event called The Vibe, which was organized by the Mason-Abbot and Snyder-Phillips intercultural aides.. The event aims to bring different cultures together through the art of dancing and also gave attendees the opportunity to learn dance moves.
Skirts twirled, music filled the air and bodies swayed Thursday evening as the Abbot Hall cafeteria was transformed into a multicultural dance floor.
Groups including the Breakdance Club and the Ballroom Dance Club performed and taught students dances ranging from the hustle to the rumba.
“(The dance will) bring people together of different backgrounds,” said interdisciplinary studies in social science and community relations junior Devin Evans, an intercultural aide at Snyder and Phillips halls. “People have the chance to interact with others who are different from them.”
The event was organized by intercultural aides from Mason, Abbot, Snyder and Phillips halls.
Attendees watched a performance of an artistic fighting style called capoeira mandiga. The dance has African roots, said Lorenzo Herron, an African American and African studies senior and Capoeira Mandinga MSU group member.
At slave plantations, African-Brazilian martial arts were outlawed, Herron said. Capoeira developed as a way to disguise the fighting.
“It was performed in an unthreatening way as dance,” Herron said. “Capoeira mandiga is an art, it’s a lifestyle.”
International studies freshman and intercultural aid Angelica Ortega danced the Viva Aguascalientes, the dance of the Mexican state Aguascalientes.
“It originated from cockfights,” Ortega said. “(The dancers) impersonate cocks fighting.”
Most groups taught attendees a cultural dance after performing. The Ballroom Dance Club taught students the rumba and Evans taught the green light hustle.
Evans said aides picked the dance to promote interaction among attendees.
“This is a more interactive setting as far as cultural aid,” Evans said. “We don’t want to have programs where you sit down and get talked to.”
After the organized dances, attendees were encouraged to take to the dance floor.
Educating students was an important part of the event, Ortega said.
“The big purpose is to educate people of the different dances and cultures that they’re surrounded with everyday,” Ortega said.
Ortega said dance is understood across cultures, which makes it important in cross-cultural relationships.
“Everyone, every culture is connected through dance,” Ortega said. “It brings people together because they see everyone has something in common.”
The event brought individuals of different cultures together in a positive way, Residential College in the Arts and Humanities freshman Taylr Holbert said.
“I really like when everybody comes together and we can have a positive experience instead of criticizing one or the other,” Holbert said. “It’s a way to get to know people.”
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