By Katie Potzick And Tytianna Wells
February may be the designated month to celebrate black history and achievements, but here on the University of Louisville campus the contribution of the black students is praiseworthy year round, especially in the arts.
The Black Diamond Choir and African American Theatre Program are two programs that offer artistic outlets for black students on campus. These programs showcase works unique to the African American community and give students a chance to show-off their talents.
BDC is a one credit-hour musical performance class offered by the university to help students appreciate and explore sacred/gospel music as an art form and for its cultural significance in the African American Experience and mainstream American music. BDC was organized in 1969 and has since performed not only in Louisville but in various venues in the U.S. In 2000, they performed their first international concert at the RAF Croughton Air Force Base in London, England.
The BDC is also a charitable force in the Louisville community that sings at least twice a month at various churches and civic organizations. The annual event, “Feed Families for Christmas Drive,” is sponsored by the BDC and provides food for over a hundred needy families during the holidays. The choir has been showcased in several national recordings and in 2007 was included in the cable network CW’s “Sound of the Season” television special. This April, BDC will have its thirty-fifth annual spring concert.
Students who become involved with the BDC love the sense of community and the chance to perform it offers.
Jamil Anderson the director of the BDC praised the group for being an organization that contains and celebrates its diversity and its place in the African American community. “The main focus of BDC traveling to churches and other off-campus events is so that we can have an opportunity to spread ‘The Gospel’, which means ‘good news’. I believe that BDC stands as a pillar of hope, showing people of all ethnicities that we can all stand as one unified body and that when we work together, there’s nothing that can’t be accomplished.”
AATP was established in 1993, as a special program in the Theatre Arts Department at U of L.
AATP has received recognition for their productions and has also been commended globally. In 2003, the program went on their first international trip to South Africa to perform at one of the largest festivals in the world, Grahams Festival.
The program organized a second international trip last semester. The AATP will perform three plays, “Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters,” “The New Harlem Renaissance,” “Revue” and “Seven Stops to Freedom.” The plays highlight the African American experience through traditional, African folktales. They also show the journey into pre and post-African enslavement for students, faculty and staff at Xiamen University and Beijing Foreign Studies University in China.
“The departure from China doesn’t seem realistic,” said sophomore Frances Lewis, who is a theatre major.??She contributes this to the process of a semester-long rehearsal that has allowed her to become more patient with the tedious process. The difficulty lies in mastering the basic elements of theatre arts.
According to Randy Johnson, senior business marketing major, “It is most difficult getting into character in the ‘Seven Stops to Freedom’ play because I need to move like a slave and think like a slave.”
“It will be more difficult for the Chinese community to understand African American history, especially with the language barrier,” said Johnson. “The talk back after our performances in China will be crucial when explaining the context of the African-American experience.”
Theatre arts is the performance component of the study abroad trip to China, the main purpose of the performances that Natasha Lindsey, a first year Pan-African studies graduate student addresses is being able to “understand the historical and cultural context of the plays and to use it as an opportunity to educate others.”
According to the performer, they would not have been as successful with finishing the finishing product of the plays without the presence of Dr. Lundeana Thomas, who is the Director of the AATP.
“It’s been a sculpting experience, with Dr. Thomas being the sculptor and me, the marble slab,” said Johnson. “I bought by confidence and she made me into the character that she wanted me to be.”
????????According to Dr. Thomas, it is important to connect with those in China as, “cultural ambassadors, who will go over there and light a candle and bring it back with more knowledge.”
