UCA’s Delta Sigma Theta sorority continued their celebration of Black History Month by including an Ivorian Dance instructional class to Jabberwock Week, held virtually on Zoom on Tuesday night at 7:13 p.m.

The Dance Around the World: Ivorian Edition was led by three students from the Ivory Coast, and allowed a peek into different dance culture than students are used to seeing.

Ashley Mackey, President of the Delta Sigma Theta Chapter at UCA, was the chair organizer of the event, and relayed positive feedback from it, including some personal thoughts about what made the event great for her and the sorority.

Mackey did not allow the virtuality of this event to lead to any loss of hype from anyone, however, since in past years the sorority has had many more opportunities for dance in person, of course.

The dance event was originally called Afrobeat Edition, but after conversing with the dance instructors, Mackey learned that Afrobeat was not something they usually did on the Ivory Coast, thus changing to Ivorian Edition.

Mackey shared that the dance instructors brought a “more modern Ivorian dance” to the table for the virtual event.

The music and dance routine were West African Style, and the sorority seemed to have a lot of fun learning the steps with the girls.

The music was found on YouTube, and titled “DJ ARAFAT DOSABADO.”

In past years, Mackey said there were other editions to Dance Around the World put on by Delta Sigma Theta, where Hispanic and Carribean dances have been explored and learned.

The three students created the dance themselves and picked out the music for the event, which showed through their comfortability of the steps and rhythm.

The dance was broken into two parts, with the first part being a bit easier to learn than the ladder.

The Delta’s were able to ask questions to the dance instructors, but they did a good job at explaining exactly how to carry your body with each new move.

The event advertised the need for “workout attire” for the dress code on the Delta Sigma Theta Instagram page, @uca_deltas.

During the event, it became apparent that the dance was much more of a workout than anticipated for the sorority, with Kori Scott adding to the chat, “I had to turn the fan on for this one,” but fun was in place at all times during the event.

“I enjoyed the whole routine,” said Mackey. It was “something different” and said she had never done anything like it before this.

The dance instructors brought so much confidence and passion for the dance, it was fun to be involved in.

Mackey said, “It wasn’t hard for them, they were passionate about the dance.”

Each of the dance instructors took turns explaining certain dance moves, all radiating positivity about the virtual event.

With Jabberwock Week coming in as a giant success, more events in the week were held virtually by Delta Sigma Theta, all encompassing the celebration of Black History Month.