Emma Esteb –  Staff Writer

The Pan-African Student Organization (PASO) sponsored Africa Night 2022 ‘Unapologetically Black.’ To start off the week, the organization hosted a Kizomba Dance workshop in the Aerobics room of Lund from 6:00-7:30 pm. This event was high-energy, engaging, and a fun event to kick off Africa Week.
The goal of this event was to showcase a dance from an African country and get students to interact in new ways. Kizomba is a genre of dance that originated in Angola in 1984. The word Kizomba itself means “party” in Kimbundu, a Bantu language spoken by Ambundu in Angola.
The dance is characterized by a slower and more romantic rhythm than the traditional Angolan semba music. A lot of other dances derived from this style have originated because of Kizomba. With that, PASO wanted to showcase this dance at the beginning of the week to emphasize the importance and relevance that comes from this style.
The event started with a Minneapolis based artist named Delphin instructing the class in the Aerobics room. Delphin is a skilled artist and dancer who knows about Kizomba. Members of PASO reached out to Delphin to ask if he would be willing to instruct at this event.
He started the night out with a very basic two-step for all of the attendees to try. As the night went on, Delphin progressed into harder, more complex moves including a three-step and partner work. There were about 13 people at the event. Meaning, each person took turns being the lead and being the follow within the routine.
The dance itself required the lead and follow to touch chests as they perfected the steps. The event “was a very fun time that kind of forced the individuals to bond and interact in a different way than we are used to” said Barimmeziga Deebom, Secretary of PASO and co-chair of this event.
There was a lot of student engagement and interaction as Delphin instructed the students to switch partners every so often in order to mingle and try the dance with a new person.
This event was the perfect way to start off the week and encompasses many core values and beliefs that the organization stands for. The members of PASO at Gustavus Adolphus College make an effort to foster amiable relationships between themselves and the campus community.
They strive to promote cultures of the African homeland and Diaspora while also supporting each other to the best of their abilities to uphold, cherish, and embrace African cultures and welcome non-African members while still holding true to the practice and belief of the unity of the Black heart, the Black mind, the Black body, and the Black soul, according to the Gustavus website.
This last point is very prevalent within the events of this week for this organization. PASO is taking this week to encompass the idea of being unapologetically Black. They are dedicating this week to bring light to the African community and ultimately end with Africa Night 2022, which will be on Friday, March 11 in Alumni Hall from 6-8:30 pm.
Starting the week with this event was the “perfect way for student engagement and a super fun activity that went really well” Deebom said. The rest of the week had exciting events including on Tuesday, an open mic event from 6:00-7:00 pm in the Center for Inclusive Excellence where students were encouraged to sing karaoke, on Wednesday, an African Diaspora Kahoot from 6:00-7:00 pm in the Center for Inclusive Excellence where trivia and snacks were served, on Thursday, an African Movie Night from 5:00-7:00 pm in the Center for Inclusive Excellence for a movie and snacks, and lastly, will end the week on Friday with Africa Night in Alumni Hall.
The eventful week has been off to a great start with this Kizomba workshop. PASO within the Gustavus community has been doing an amazing job of welcoming all individuals of all backgrounds to embrace and learn more about different cultures. These events capture what it means to be a Gustie and how each student can expand their mind as they learn about different cultures.