 "Photo: Danielle Augeri / Collegian")
Students rehearsed for hours on the 12th floor of Coolidge Hall in Southwest as they prepared for Cape Verdean Student Alliance (CVSA) night. The CVSA event was held Saturday in the Student Union Ballroom, where students practiced Pasada and traditional dances to Cape Verdean music.
Anthony Bingham, president of CVSA described Pasada as "a dance from Angola that we, Cape Verdeans, adopted into our own culture.
"We took in the dance and it involved into our culture and we made it our own," he said.
Pasada did not originate in Cape Verde, but their culture adopted it and enjoyed dancing to it.
"I was brought up into it myself," said Bingham.
There are also traditional dances which are performed within a community. More drums and instrumentals are heard during this dance. Traditional dances came from the roots of African culture.
"Pasada is modern like a new hip hop," said Amanda Dasilva, the secretary of CVSA.
Some festival dances they performed are masurka, cola and kuduro.
Traditional and Pasada dances are different from one another because Pasada has a slow, calculated tempo and is danced to music such as zouk. Pasada is more intimate, slow and sensual.
Four dances were prepared for CVSA night.
Jasmine Renee Pina can be reached at jpina@student.umass.edu.
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