By Tom Interval
Staff Writer
The audience cheered as Michael Jackson jumped off the stage, landed and performed a split.
Stevie Wonder’s mirrored sunglasses twinkled throughout the College Square as captivated spectators listened to him, Jackson and other major recording stars sing “We Are the World.”
That’s right; mega-stars, such as Jackson, Wonder, Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, Ray Charles, Willie Nelson and others were right her at li’l’ ol’ La Roche College.
Well, sort of.
Several La Roche faculty and staff members lip-synced the famous song as they danced around the stage during the third-annual Multicultural Fashion Show, held on Friday, Jan. 26.
The fashion show, presented by the Multicultural Student Organization (MSO) and the Office of Multicultural Education, was one of several activities that took place during Diversity Week ‘96 (Jan. 21 through 27).
The theme of the week was “Free Your Mind,” as indicated by the multicolored buttons people wore.
“I think the fashion show, although it was the most amount of work, was the most exciting piece in the week because you got a chance to work with other people,” said LeRoy Crawford, Jr., coordinator of Multicultural Education.
Crawford said that, because “there were just so many things to be done” for the show, the MSO and his office had to start organizing the event last November. “There would have been no way we could have done this in just the month of January,” he said.
Crawford himself announced the fashions as students and staff walked down the runway in time with the music, modeling athletic wear, casual wear, trendy outfits, business attire, formal wear and wedding apparel.
“I’m really proud of the models,” said Crawford. “They went above and beyond what I had asked them to do.” He said the models consistently showed up for practice; and when they couldn’t, he gave them a bit of advice: “I told them, ‘Well, just practice your steps; give me a lot of attitude.’”
And attitude they gave him.
Even the inexperienced models waked an assured walk as if they had done it before.
Colette Inomata, a La Roche alumna, helped them prepare for the show. “She’s another reason why [the models] were very, very, polished,” said Crawford. “She’s been a model and she’s been in shows; so she was a nice asset to the staff.”
The models weren’t the only performers that night.
After a 20-minute intermission, it was time for the Faculty/Staff Lip Sync. The pseudo stars bedazzled the audience while lip syncing to “We Are the World.”
Dan Soller, vice president for Student Life, who lip synced Michael Jackson’s part, was the guy who did the split.
Sr. Rita Yeasted, professor of English, wore the mirrored sunglasses to portray Stevie Wonder.
Earlier in the evening, before Yeasted went on, she said with good humor, “I don’t know if I can do this.”
But she did it. And so did the other “celebrities.” The audience loved it.
“I thought it was awesome,” said Boris Vilic, president of the MSO and the person in charge of “booking” faculty and staff. “I think it’s important for students to see that they’re human, too. I really appreciate them doing it.”
“Some people I had to beg; but most of them said, ‘Yeah, I want to do it ‘cause this sounds like fun.’”
Overall, people seemed to have fun; and they had few, if any, complaints. But Crawford said he had a couple of regrets. “I wanted two more rock songs in the soundtrack.”
He also said he wished he had a better description of the material used for the clothing. “I got the style and everything; but if I had known, for example, if it was silk or if it was rayon. I mean, it’s nitpicky stuff; but still, you always want to push a little bit more.”
Crawford, who wore a button that read, “I Survived Diversity Week,” said that organizing Diversity Week, in general, was a lot of work. Though he said it was worth the effort, he’s glad he has a respite. “There were a couple of models who said, ‘Let’s do another [fashion show] next week’; and I was like, ‘Oh, no.’
“It was a lot of work; we’re still recovering. But we’ve got our buttons,” he laughed.
