When moving into a new neighborhood, the same concerns always apply: Will my landlord be prompt with fixtures? What kind of relationship will I have with my neighbors in and around the house? In my case, the latter question has been relevant, as it seems like the window-shaking bass comes on cue for bedtime. A couple weeks ago in particular, this was accompanied by the sound of steel drums—and it was the same few songs over and over, which got me thinking that they were practicing for a class or band, so I didn’t bother to complain.
Imagine my surprise when the opening act at Lambda Upsilon Lambda, Fraternity Inc.’s 12th Annual Cultural Pride Night was none other than my neighbors from below—and they were really good. Their playlist included, “Beautiful Girls” by Sean Kingston, “Buy U A Drank” by T-Pain, and “Crank That” by Soldier Boy. They had the audience out of their seats, dancing and singing along. “Crank That” was their finale, and some members of the Uncontested Step Team and others danced together on the McNeil Room’s wooden floor. I felt privileged to have had a preview of their show, and impressed that they learned such a difficult art, which dates back to those enslaved in Trinidad in the 1800s under British rule.
This year’s CPN was themed, “Discover Your Roots,” and the opening video examined the differences and common interests between cultures. The evening focused on the various types of music, and in some cases their associated dances, which were divided into “chapters” that broke up different types of art.
The second act of the night was Vanessa Alphonse ’10 and Andrew Abreux ’10 of the Ballroom Dance Team, who performed the Cha-Cha. It is important that the ball of the foot hits the floor first, in order to create a specific sound of the shoes hitting the wood, hence the name of the dance. Also, the Cha-Cha infuses a lot of hip movements—which at times are borderline sexual—but the dance as a whole is beautiful.
After a couple performances, Lambda Upsilon Lambda welcomed back hermano Gil Valadez ’02, one of its more distinguished alumni, who broke color barriers to become RPI’s 135th Grand Marshal. Valadez explained some of the history in the organization as a whole and the RPI chapter specifically. Lambda Upsilon Lambda came to RPI during the 1994-1995 academic year, and the Alpha Gamma chapter was founded in November 1998. CPN itself actually came to fruition first at SUNY Buffalo a few years before coming to RPI. Valadez was grateful for the experiences and knowledge gained from being a Lambda Upsilon Lambda hermano, and stressed the “importance and beauty of bringing people together,” not only with different backgrounds but also different interests.
After Valadez’s remarks, there were two dance performances in a row—the first by the Turkish Students Association and the second by the Philippine American League. TurkSA danced the Halay, which has become the symbol of the lifestyle in Anatolia, Turkey, where it originated. The dancers formed a circle alternating between men and women, and each held the others with a hand on the shoulder, while the two disjointed ends had their free arms behind their backs. After cycling through the song once, they invited audience members to join them and learn. I didn’t participate, but the volunteers appeared to be enjoying themselves. PAL performed its signature tinikling dance, named for tikling birds. The movements are an imitation of the speed and grace exhibited by the birds while trying to escape bamboo traps. Two people held parallel bamboo poles on either end while male and female dancers avoided the poles as they clapped together—it was sort of like advanced jump rope.
The second half of the evening was introduced by Vice President for Enrollment James Nondorf, the evening’s keynote speaker, who has been responsible for bringing more diversity to the Rensselaer community. He discussed just what it meant to discover your roots and embrace your culture, and even shared some of the results of a Google search. Nondorf’s main message of the evening was “don’t just embrace it, share it,” because it is important to not only have pride in your own background, but to also teach others where you came from. He left us by singing the chorus of “Oh Shenandoah,” and he is actually a very good singer.
Kwan’s Kung Fu Studio led the following chapters, first by performing some traditional forms—such as tiger and Cantonese long bow—and their finale was James Kwan ’07 proving he can break a brick with his hand. In order for this to be a success, the person really needs to channel his thoughts and energy into the task. Later in the program, students of Kwan’s studio also performed the Lion Dance, where two people use swift movements to make it look like the lion costume is moving to the beat of drums and cymbals. This was a messy stunt, as the “lion” ate some oranges and a lettuce head which were later kicked in the air, spraying the audience with debris.
The Indian Students Association and the Nigerian Students Association had performances between the two martial arts acts. The ISA was represented by two young ladies, clad in traditional beautifully-beaded dresses and headwraps, and their dance was supposed to blend love and music. A key element to their wardrobe was the bangle bracelets, which could be heard at times during the song. The NSA, founded four years ago at RPI, switched things up by bringing back Ikenna Okoli ’07 to tell an old folktale about doing things right the first time, and not deceiving others. They played a couple songs, and for the second, they were joined by special guest Whitney Coleman ’09.
The closing act for the evening was none other than the Uncontested Step Team, which has become a staple to CPN and other events in the spring. It welcomed its new freshmen, and blew the roof off with its stepping skills—which have earned it awards at other Capital Region schools and an undefeated streak on home turf. The UST delivered a solid performance and didn’t disappoint. Overall, each set was very amazing, and I was overwhelmed by the diversity and talent not only exhibited by the performers, but the audience as well. Coming from Maine leaves a limited opportunity to experience this type of event, so I try to attend as many cultural shows as possible while at RPI.
When asked to sum up the hard work and success of the night, the four Lambda Upsilon Lambda hermanos—Ricky Estevez ’08, Steve Lucin ’08, Josh Clarke ’08, and Jose Medina ’08—finished each other’s thoughts leaving me with this—“It takes a lot of hard work and dedication, but we all do it for the Latino community.” They also added that Lambda Upsilon Lambda was founded to “address the shortcomings of [Cornell] University in meeting the needs of the Latino community,” and an event like CPN helps to “unite the Rensselaer community by bringing everyone together and showing off diversity.” CPN certainly did achieve all those things, as it always does, and this reporter’s only small advisement for next year is to have the programs include performers’ names—only to make it easier to write about.
