Last Friday, an audience gathered to watch the performances of its peers at the Black Students Alliance’s annual Night of Free Expression. Night of Free Expression served as a closing ceremony to Black Awareness Week. With performances ranging from poetry to spoken word to singing and dancing, the evening was a great success and a fitting wrap-up for the week.
DeSean Moore ’08, Master of Ceremonies, kept the show running smoothly. Night of Free Expression started off with poetry selections by various students. While some poems were written by the students themselves, some were inspirational published poems which were shared to enlighten others. The night started off with two original selections by Tamara Sobers ’08. Brought back by popular demand was a piece entitled, “I Want My $18.99 Back,” which speaks of today’s music and lack of thought-provoking content. A few of the poems that stood out were “Second Corinthians Equals Love,” by Whitney Coleman ’09, which combined her unique style of poetry with popular verses from some old-school hip hop and neo-soul to remind people of what real love is like. Another was an emotional poem written and recited by Kevin Wells ’08 called “Disorderly Development,” which touched on the sensitive topic of child abuse. On a lighter note, a funny but witty poem called “Love and Facebook,” by Travis Carless ’08, speaks of a man who falls in love with a person on Facebook. This person turns out to be Carless himself!
Night of Free Expression was not only about your ability to write poetry and recite it. After the poetry, the talents of other participants were displayed. There were songs, duets, original pieces, an interpretive dance, and even a dedication. The songs were powerful, the duet was touching, the dance was inspirational.
Some favorites from the performance section of the show was “I Am Ready for Love,” by India.Arie, performed by freshman Tequisha Hendrickson, accompanied by Gene Williams on the saxophone and Jose Suazo on the piano. Hendrickson had a powerful performance, and blew the audience away with her strong voice. Another favorite of the night was senior Stephanie Robinson’s performance of “I Have Nothing” (originally sung by Whitney Houston) as a dedication to her special someone. Robinson did an amazing job with her song, leaving a romantic atmosphere by the end of her performance. To wrap up the student performance section of Night of Free Expression, Sam Simmons ’09 blessed the mic with his skills. He blew the audience out of its chairs and into a standing ovation. After hearing Simmons’ message, the audience was left contemplating the powerful words dealing with the lives of black people and making something of themselves.
After 14 amazing student acts, you would think the night was over. But the BSA still had one more performance left for the audience. Closing out this year’s Night of Free Expression, Def Jam Poet Dana Gilmore took the stage. Gilmore is a fairly new, but well known and widely talked about poet. Gilmore, originally from Missouri, has appeared on two seasons of HBO’s hit show “Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry.” She brought her real, down-to-earth style of poetry to the stage at Night of Free Expression and performed some of her favorite poems with the audience. Gilmore’s poetry is “in the moment” with emotional content, and is very powerful. One of the more touching poems that she performed was “Sweet 16,” which told the story of a young girl dealing with a rough family life, abuse, and turning to the streets. Gilmore also performed hit poems “Wife, Woman, Friend,” Parts I and II, which engaged the audience in her own personal life, and discussed her emotions as she felt one way toward a man but was forced to act in a different way. More information can be found by going to Gilmore’s website http://www.DanaGilmore.com/.
Few people could think of a more powerful or more emotional closing to one of the best Black Awareness Weeks in RPI history. The program left everyone in attendance refreshed.
