A Cultural Explosion

My daughter attends the University of Wisconsin Whitewater (UWW). On Thursday evening Feb. 21, 2008 she asked me if I would like to attend an event that was going on that evening.

Now remind you, I didn't treasure the idea of going out in the cold or the hour drive to UWW. But I did like the idea of spending time with my daughter and to see what the Cultural Explosion was all about.

This was the 5th Annual Black Student Union (BSU) Cultural Explosion. It had been started in 2003 by Andre Douglas, who at the time was the BSU president. He wanted other opportunities to learn and celebrate diversity, other than just in a classroom.

For a $2.00 donation, it was an evening full of music, dancing, poetry and art. After the welcome, the first to perform were the UWW Gospel Choir. These young people were not only very gifted with their singing abilities; they had a unique way of getting the audience involved with the music. It was an absolute pleasure to hear them sing. They preformed two additional times throughout the evening.

Next on the program was a drum presentation by Wunk Sheek. Now I do have to admit I did not know what 'Wunk Sheek' was. Wunk Sheek is a Native American student organization, which serves as the communication center for the American Indian students. They did an outstanding job.

They had some poetry readings that were exceptional. But one stood out among the rest to me. This young woman wrote a tribute to her father, which had passed away. She had the audience in absolute silence. She has an incredible talent for expressing herself. You could feel how her heart ached for her father.

ALMA was a group of four Latino dancers. These four young ladies mixed together a presentation of Salsa, Mambo and Rumba. Their dance technique was absolutely dazzling. You could tell they had such a feel for their music.

TIFU (This Is for Us) Cultural Ensemble, a group of men and women of different races and ethnicity. They specialize in dance, music, theater, poetry and singing. A group of about thirty preformed a choreographed type street dance. It was easy to see the passion they had for dance.

We were fortunate to see four budding artists exhibit their work that evening. Each displayed one painting and gave an explanation of why they chose that picture from their collection. Each one of them showed extreme talent.

The last performance of the evening was a young lady who did an expressive dance routine. Her creative talent was amazing and she just beamed with energy. It truly was 'poetry in motion'.

The evening proved to be a cultural experience of music, dance, poetry and art.
UWW is to be applauded for implementing their diversity organizations and programs. This can only better the campus, community and Wisconsin.