For eleven consecutive years, the Africana Student Organization (ASO) has hosted a fashion show to embrace their members’ unique heritages, to provide a night of appreciation for the beauty individuality harbors and to celebrate the future by giving a platform for Central’s pioneers to shine.
This year, ASO decided to spotlight a smaller historical country with a very rich history during the event, which was held in Welte Auditorium on April 26. The fashion show’s name, Mansa Fanga, is derived from Mansa Musa, the king of the Mali Empire, who was deemed the richest man in history by historians and archaeologists alike.
Mansa Fanga took attendees on a cultural journey with each scene offering a distinctly unique perspective of what wealth and divinity means. One of the scenes, cultivated by ASO Vice President Favor Uwaya, focused on the effect love has on loyalty.
Uwaya said she was trying to establish the importance of what devotion to love meant generations ago.
“For my scene, there were men offering women and riches to Leo (Mansa), but he always had his four wives in mind,” Uwaya said. “He rejected all the women that were brought to him, and towards the end, his wives came from the crowd in beautiful gold gowns to show they weren’t like any of the women before them.”
Like Uwaya’s scene, there were many defining moments that left a lasting impression on members of the audience. Whether that be the flag show encapsulating the different faces and emblems that make up the ASO, or the gender specific scenes that allowed the models to display their collaborative magnificence through a shared characteristic.
However, there were moments some say will be very hard to forget. Many guests of the night said the swimwear scene was an amalgamation of alluring provocation, raw intimacy, and the shock of the artistically creative vision. The only thing between the audience and the models was the stage they stood on. This allowed for a scene of passion to feel so much more real.
But that wasn’t the only segment to impress the audience. Clubs from Eastern Connecticut State University, Southern Connecticut State University and the University of Hartford all showed off their talents in different yet exhilarating ways. The visiting choreographies oozed unity through fluidity and not only proudly represented their respective universities, but also the culture they shared showed how diverse Connecticut is.
With the incorporation of other schools and the effort poured into everything leading up to Saturday night, Uwaya said it was worth it.
“I’ve been hearing that people think this was the best show that we’ve had,” Uwaya said. “The planning process starts in the summer, where the e-board members decide what the theme is, what our scenes will be, and pick the designers for what we’re envisioning. This is one of the biggest events on campus, so we try to get a variety of people a taste of cultures they may not have experienced before.”
