On an unusually warm evening last night, a group of Obies gathered in Finney chapel to attend the sixth annual performance of Colors of Rhythm. The much-anticipated multicultural performance Colors of Rhythm offered a place for artists of color to express themselves freely and to honor their distinguished heritage. The goal of Colors of Rhythm is not only to provide a performance space, but also to build and reinforce coalitions amongst students of multicultural backgrounds.
Created by students of color for students of color, Colors of Rhythm was born six years ago in an attempt to support and represent non-Western dance and art forms. “As a performer, I feel as if it was nice to see people of color group together and have fun, share that kind of energy. It’ll be nice to be on the front of the web page this year. And hopefully, next year we’ll get a real tech week space,” junior Chimyelu Ndubisi said.
The show consisted of a series of nine eclectic performances. The evening started off with a piece entitled “POC solidarity.” Here, a group of Oberlin students came together in solidarity to embrace their differences and struggles. Many in the audience were mesmerized by the their captivating talent and enthusiasm.
“I thought it was beautiful to see brown people being honest with themselves and with the audience. There was great dialogue between the performers and us. They communicated with us really well,” first-year Ronni Armtead said.
The next two performances were both meaningful and satisfying. The second act, “Waves,” was a dance interpretation of migratory patterns of immigrants within the Philippine Islands. The performers in the following piece, “Sancocho,” invited the audience to join them as they salsa danced to fiery beats from the Caribbean and Latin America.
“The show was well-organized. There were a lot of different mixes — I like variety,” senior Josephine Lukoma said. In “Shristi Shukher Ullashey,” performers Shahriar Kabir, Mujaddid Mohsin and Dwaipayan “Buro” Sen recited a poem written by the national poet of Bangladesh, Kasi Nazrul Islam, while dancer Shahana Siddiqui moved to a visual interpretation dealing with those who died in the Bengali language struggle of 1952.
“The show was good — it showed a good range of performances. Menna and Aaliyah were admirable. It was just a good mix,” senior Malaika Jeter said. Performers Aaliyah Bilal and Menna Demessie fascinated those in attendance with a piece that portrayed the traditional dances of Ethiopia. Called the “scista,” it is an energetic dance with intense shaking of the shoulders.
“Another thing that I really liked was the fact that the pieces embraced differences. Some of the pieces incorporated different styles in one dance. This is symbolic — we need to work on embracing our differences,” senior Natalie Wills said. An example of such a piece is “Hip Hop Mix: Shake it Up,” a combination of modern hip-hop (including the “Harlem Shake” and the “scista”). The performers of this dance portrayed the connections between all peoples of African descent.
After the intermission, the audience was offered a chance to participate in “Salsa 101,” as a dance dialogue fashioned by Jorge Sanchez and Katherine Fernandez. Next, was the sizzling performance “Force De Frappe” (French for “the strength of power”). This dance style, called “Shaku-Libondance,” comes from the Democratic Republique of the Congo, and requires a sensual rotation of the hip.
“It was nice to have our voices heard,” dancer and junior Taye Amegboh said.
I am fascinated by how the energy of the performers and supporters of Colors of Rhythm has been maintained through the last years,” Oberlin College alum Erika Englund remarked. The last piece was indeed a magnificent way to end the evening.
“Guantanamera” reflected the diversity of the experience of Latinos in the Unites States. By incorporating a mixture of traditional song and spoken words, the vocalists spoke about resistance — the resistance that is shared by many amongst communities of color in and around the Americas.