A dancer performs at last year’s first-ever #Black365 dance event on Feb. 15, 2025. Credit: Courtesy of Afaliah Tribune
The second-annual #Black365 dance event will be held Friday in the Barnett Theatre of Sullivant Hall from 7 to 8 p.m, where attendees can expect performances from dancers and artists from Ohio State and the Columbus community.
Hosted by the Department of Dance and featuring multiple dance-focused student organizations, the event’s purpose is to celebrate both Black History Month and Women’s History Month through performances by students, alumni and local artists, according to the Department of Dance website.
Creator of #Black365 and graduate student in dance, Afaliah Tribune said the success of last year’s event made her want to put on the event again this year.
“February is, as we know, Black History Month, but we celebrate everyone all year round, so we wanted to combine Black History Month and Women’s History Month together, because we really didn’t get to do anything for Black History Month here in the department,” Tribune said. “I held the first event last year for Black History Month and it was great. It was a full house. We had a lot of community organizations come perform, so we wanted to do it again this year.”?
An aspect that makes this year’s event different from last year’s, Tribune said, is this year’s event is in honor of Aziza West, a prominent dance instructor in the Columbus community. She said West started an African dance company with her late husband, Tony West, around 40 years ago.?
“I really want to honor the work of women in our community,” Tribune said. “We’re honoring an elder this year. Her name is Aziza West of Tony West and the Imani Dancers. Her husband, Tony, has passed on, but she is still here, dancing, performing and running the company at 86 years old. So, we want to give folks their flowers while they’re here.”
Among the student organizations participating in #Black365 are Breaking Club and Zuvaa Afro-Caribbean Dancers, Tribune said. She also said the event will include performances from several dance majors who created original choreography for the show.
Shyah Sample, a third-year in dance who will be performing at the event, said she found out about #Black365 in a class and was drawn to the event’s theme.
“I have a professor in one of my classes that I’m taking, and she mentioned it to us,” Sample said. “I thought it was interesting [and] I wanted to perform more, and especially because it has to deal with Black history and Women’s History Month, I felt like it was a great opportunity for me.”
Beyond dancers from Ohio State, Tribune said the event will feature performances from a local singer, dance company and dance team.
“We have someone named Monica Guidry [and] she’s running for Miss Ohio,” Tribune said. “She’s singing and we have a dancer dancing to one of her songs to promote her platform. We have a dance company here called Dance ELITE with Samara Tillman. They’re a competition dance team, but they’re amazing … We have a West African dance company, Thiossane, [and] their home is the Lincoln Theatre, so they’re a pretty big deal. They’re performing here as well.”
Tribune said she created #Black365 to celebrate culture and highlight the dance department’s choreographers and dancers.
“The overall goal is to celebrate culture and community, and that Black history is everyone’s history,” Tribune said. “There was no event at all here in the dance department and we have such a huge dance community here, like very gifted professionals and a lot of well-known dancers here. I feel like we should have something, so it’s a place for choreographers to show their work.”
As a 1997 graduate — with a degree in dance — and current student pursuing an MFA, Tribune said the event is also meant to bring the Ohio State community together.
“A part of my research is creating community events where other artists can show their work and emerging artists can kind of take a step forward and show who they are,” Tribune said. “So that’s one of the goals, and the other goal is just to bring people together. I feel like there’s so much going on today where everybody has different opinions. People are not getting along and it’s like, I love everyone from every culture, so [#Black365] is a way to just gather everybody and be one.”
Sample said she hopes attendees develop a deeper understanding of Black history through the event’s performances.
“I [want the audience to] gain understanding by hearing Black voices, Black [organizations] and also the history of our movements through interpretation,” Sample said.
Tribune said she’s most looking forward to honoring West during the community dance circle at the end of the night.
“I think I’m most excited about the dance party at the end, because we’re gonna have Aziza West in the center — we’ll have a special chair for her — and dancers can come and offer her a dance, and I know she’s going to get up and dance with everybody,” Tribune said. “I can’t wait for that part. It’s going to be a moment.”
#Black365 is a free event and all are welcome to attend, according to the Department of Dance website.
