Pruis Hall took a fantastic voyage Saturday, taking everyone in the event through the history of Black dance and style step-by-step.
Back in Black: The Fuzion presented a progression of Black dance and fashion of the 70s, 80s and 90s with traditional modeling and dances from each time period. Break-dance, house, hip-hop and other styles of dance were featured, each performed to music from the corresponding time period.
Jhanelle Baker, a junior apparel design major, and Karome Bennett, junior dance performance major, organized the second annual fashion and dance show. The Black Student Association sponsored it, but Bennett and Baker put it together because they wanted to provide dancers and clothing designers on campus some exposure.
"We [organized it] to give Ball State designers a chance to showcase their talent," Baker said. "Also, we did it to celebrate Black History Month and get people more involved."
While they weren't forced into organizing the event, the two owe the show's existence to someone else, Bennett said.
"Dr. Derrick Virgil, the old Multicultural Center director told Jhanelle and me to put our talents together and do a show, so that's what we did," Bennett said. "We just asked for models to come out to our practice session and then we used members of Outlet, the dance group that I'm in charge of, so that's how we got our scenes done."
Janay Cobb, a member of the Ball State hip-hop dance group Outlet, said people realize how meaningful dance is when they see how it changed over time.
"I feel like this is an excellent opportunity to showcase dance as not just being something that we like to do and show that it's a lifestyle," Cobb, a freshman marketing major, said. "I've been dancing since I could walk and I've been doing it forever, so it's my life."
BreakSk8, a travelling dance group that performs a combination of break-dancing and roller-skating, performed near the end of the show with positive reception from the crowd. Matt, a member of the group who refused to give his last name, said he has been dancing for about 10 years and that BreakSk8 brings a different angle of dance to the scene.
"We like to bring skating out whenever we can," he said. "We all started skating and then we ended up dancing more. We started travelling more and entering B-Boy competitions so we just made that [our theme]."
Ian Truelove, a freshman dance minor who has been dancing for about three years, said the show lives up to its name of Fuzion.
"There's never been anything done like this," Truelove said. "It is a great fusion between dance and fashion. [It's great that] we wear the apparel that was worn in the 70s, 80s, 90s and now."
Bennet said the show was a success, but the two organizers feel there's still room for improvement.
"In the future, [we] hope to incorporate more dance styles into the show," Bennett said.
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