More than 100 students and community members came to Akin Auditorium March 29 to see Expressions, the Caribbean Students Organization’s 17-act demonstration of the collective ancestry of the Caribbean islands.
Deborah Pierre, CSO member, said, “It’s very worthwhile for students who have never been to the Caribbean to come and see a part of our culture and experience it outside of Caribfest.”
Expressions started more than 10 years ago as a counterpart to Caribfest which takes place in the fall. CSO members started planning this year’s show in November to prepare the 17 acts that covered poetry, dance, music and fashion.
“This is my first MSU event,” lbert Slusher, junior in fine arts, said. “There was so much advertising in the school, I couldn’t avoid it. I had to come.”
The Caribbean Students Organization also reached out to Caribbean students from Cameron university to take part in ‘Expressions.’
“I saw a post on Facebook and it looked interesting,” Delvis Simmonds, Cameron graduate, said. “I wasn’t doing anything else so I drove down from Lawton to see the show.” Cameron University representative Dentricia Morton, senior in business management, sang with the CSO band.
The show started with a dance of African origins as the master and mistress of ceremony came out to give the opening remarks. Midway through Expressions, a fashion show featuring two designers showed off their designs merging Caribbean and African dress with Western styles.
Lauvin Phillip, senior in management information systems, said, “It explains the Caribbean culture, bringing unity and awareness to the different organizations and the people all around Wichita Falls.”
The MSU Pans Ensemble played ‘Happy Birthday’ to celebrate the 20th anniversary of CSO.
“I think it gave general knowledge to students because we’ll see persons on campus and we don’t know where they are from or what their actual culture is like,” Iman Mendes, junior in management information systems, said. “We just want to share awareness and let them know what we are about in the Caribbean.”
At the end of the show The Island Boys danced their way into the hearts of the women and brought energy into the grande finale.
“The show was very entertaining. It’s great that everyone came out to support the show,” Antoinette Henry, MSU alum, said. “It’s good to see Caribbean students coming together and participating.”
