Ethio-Show delivers to enthusiastic audience

The Ethiopian Club presented their sixth-annual Ethio-Show in the auditorium on Friday, May 28 to a crowd that shared their heritage.

The club showed off months of hard work and preparation through various forms of cultural dance, dramas and costume.

Members of the group participated in the many traditional dances that the club choreographed themselves. For instance in the Amarigna Dance, five club members (four girls and one boy) performed for the audience in colorful cultural outfits against a red background.

In other dances, such as Wolaytigna, six girls wore white shirts with scarfs around their waists the length of mini-skirts and adorned their outfits with red anklets and green headbands. The two males in the performance wore straight, white, knee-length shirts and white pants. The group danced to upbeat, Amharic music. The event was filled with numerous dances, all of which were well-organized and performed to cultural music appropriate to the individual performances. Each performance aroused cheers and excitement from the very attentive and supportive crowd.

Ethio-Show also presented a fashion show. Girls wore both long, traditional gowns as well as modern, shorter-length clothing—all of which were colorful or contained many patterns. Each member involved in the show modeled and danced to musical selections that enhanced the overall portion of the show.

Except for the dialogue spoken by one of the hosts, Ethio-Show was presented mainly in Amharic from the music to the comedic portions of the event, making it difficult for English speakers to understand a majority of what was going on. One host who spoke Amharic entertained the audience with jokes that the crowd could relate to while allowing performers backstage a chance to prepare for the next segment.

A special appearance was made by popular Ethiopian emcee known as Conquer, who the host said was difficult to book. Conquer presented a rap performance that energized the crowd.

A guest speaker also spoke at Ethio-Show. The college graduate and representative of the Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement (EASI) urged the crowd to "respect yourselves in every way." She encouraged people to visit E.A.S.I.'s website to learn more about the organization that she represents.

Towards the end of the show the Ethiopian Club presented a slide show about the AIDS epidemic and its tremendous effects on Ethiopia, one of the countries with the most cases of the disease.

The show ended with rounds of applause as all who contributed to the event reappeared on stage and took a bow. Special thanks were given to club sponsor Allen Campbell, who was also presented with a gift. Recognition was also directed towards all the Ethiopian Club officers, which include President and show coordinator Adey Solomon, junior Vice President Eskinder Bezabeh, second Vice-President junior Rut Beyene, Secretary senior Eyuel Abebe and Treasurer junior Semira Ali.

Contrary to what the program indicated, the African Club did not perform in the event.