| November 21st, 2016

Caribbean Student Association Turns Up in Lee Hall

By: journeymagazine

Words By: Amanda Jean-Mary

The Caribbean Student Association ended a concert on a lively note Thursday night in Lee Hall.

CSA was one of the final acts for the African Caribbean Concert sponsored by the Department of Visual Arts, Humanities, & Theatre in the College of Social Sciences, Arts, & Humanities at Florida A&M University (FAMU).

Jahaana Chappelle, secretary of CSA and a sophomore veteran dancer in the organization, was very proud of this semester’s dancers made up of 90 percent new members. She had the opportunity to teach all the new members the different dances in preparation for the performance.

“Me and two other girls were actually veterans of these dances,” Chappelle said.

“Everybody else had to learn this from scratch. And then most of them were freshmen so this was their first time.”

Chappelle said the organization has been practicing for the concert since the summer time, preparing the newcomers with a myriad of dances to choose from for the performance.

“We usually plan dances ahead of time so by the time a show comes up, we just pick from a pool of dances that we have,” she said.

Jan DeCosmo, producer of the concert and professor of humanities at FAMU, hosts the concert every semester and calls for a CSA performance every time.

DeCosmo has been producing the concert for 25 years now in her 35-year tenure at FAMU. She calls on local groups to perform in the concert, hoping to give the community an opportunity to lern about different cultures in a fun and exciting way.

“It’s just a way to show people culture they don’t know too much about,” DeCosmo said. “The energy, the excitement, just the vibrancy of these cultures; it’s a fun way to teach people.”

Daphne Abange, a senior Business Administration student, definitely felt the vibrancy and excitement as she was able to relate to the music as a descendant of Cameroon, Africa.

“It was everything and then some,” Abange said. “I felt like I was listening to the beats at home.”

The African Caribbean Concert included other performances from local groups such as the Excellence Dance Studio, African Caribbean Dance Theatre, Veve Espri & FAMU Dance Class, the Azucar Dance Company, the Tallahassee Capoeira Group, and the Tallahassee Community College African Drum & Dance Ensemble as well as spoken word from Avis Simmonds and Segun Williams.

For information on the spring concert or to find out how to participate, contact DeCosmo at 850-702-6433 or email her at jans-trips@comcast.net.