On February 29th the Lower Merion Black Student Union held their second Shades of Black showcase to close out Black History Month. The event took place during the evening, welcoming families from across the district.
The idea to host a showcase during the monumental month was a collective decision between the BSU officer team and the advisor Ms. Cooke during the ’22-’23 school year. The members wished to host a culminating event that would deviate from the lessons of slavery and mistreatment towards African-Americans, and rather celebrate and empower various identities within black culture. This message—that African-Americans are not a homogenous community—thus inspired the title for the showcase: Shades of Black.
This year, the showcase consisted of performances from the LM Drill Team, “Finesse” by 2023 Amazing Ace Winner Danielle Esan ’24, DAT Dance Studio, and the Zion Baptist Church of Ardmore Choir. Bethea and Ms. Cooke spearheaded outreach for these performances like the Zion Baptist Church.
The Drill Team opened the show with an impressive performance inspired by four prominent black step sororities: Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Sigma Gamma Rho, and Zeta Phi Beta—the idea first proposed by drill team sponsor Ms. Bowser and brought to fruition by captains Laila Jackson ’24, Danielle Brady ’25, Ayanna Easley ’25, Daelyn Ballard ’25, and Nyla Numan ’25. They selected songs that were recognizable by the black community and were also signature songs from each sorority. The team was divided into multiple small groups to represent the sororities, in which Captain Danielle Brady explained that the team wanted to “illuminate each of the dancer’s personalities while also presenting the group as a sisterhood,” which led them “plan who would be in what sorority group based on what characters best fit.”
Not long after her taking Mount OlympACE, Danielle Esan ’24 returned with her adaption of Bruno Mars’s and Cardi B’s 2018 Grammy performance of Finesse. Afterward, dancers from DAT Dance Studio performed 3 numbers, ranging from contemporary, lyrical, and acrobatic genres. The Zion Baptist Church had performed in the previous year’s showcase, and readily returned to perform four gospel songs to close out the show.
After enjoying the lively performances, viewers could enjoy concessions such as soul food and Girl Scout Cookies. Additionally, Bethea coordinated a photography display with art teacher Ms. Robb. She contacted a former LM student Kai Davis ’25, a passionate student photographer whom she met during her freshman year in the Black Girl Magic Book Club. Davis sent an impressive array of photos, one of which especially caught Bethea’s attention: A series of three photos that compared life in a largely black populated Philadelphia to the predominantly white city of Providence, Rhode Island. Through this powerful artwork, Bethea intended to showcase that African-Americans’ role in art is not limited to rap and R&B music, and can express themselves in various forms.
The event was another success overall, showcasing how the African-American community has grounded itself through the arts. Bethea explains the event is especially valuable because “there are many white-centered events at LM or events we don’t expect to see many black people performing, so having an event that showcases different talents and skills that black people possess means a lot to me.”
Ms. Cooke, Bethea, and Esan agreed that they wanted to improve awareness and promotions for this year’s showcase compared to the previous year, emphasizing that the event is truly open to all students and families, regardless of their background. The club maintains this goal for future years, and by doing so they hope to establish Shades of Black as an LM tradition, similar to the Pep Rally and Maroon Madness.
