Wrapping up Black History Month, the Barbea Williams Performing Company and Team Keeping the Culture Alive are reuniting for the Tucson “Our Blackness, Our Heritage ” Step Show. 

The theme for the fifth annual show is “Trailblazers of the Divine Nine,” which will pay homage to living and past ancestors of the organization. 

The show will be at 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26 at the Berger Performing Arts Center at the Arizona Schools for the Deaf and Blind.

“Our Blackness, Our Heritage” is sponsored by the University of Arizona Africana studies department and includes partnerships and collaborations with five Black Greek organizations. Among the performers are the Greek chapters of the Divine Nine, two youth step groups and special guests, Zuzu African Acrobats.  

The dances will incorporate hip hop, contemporary and West African dance and drum. The show will start off with a drum call and then a drum procession as an homage the former members and ancestors who paved the way for the Black alumni and students in the Greek chapters. Memorable alumni from these chapters include Vice President Kamala Harris and the late Representative John Lewis.

The Pretty Precise youth step group will perform an anti-bullying segment and the Zuzu African Acrobats will perform the last half of the show as a competition for scholarship prizes. 

Beah Williams, the show’s producer, said that the event is open to people from all backgrounds.

“I would hope that people take away a sense of empowerment. History, culture, a connection with it being February, being Black History Month and truly understanding that we, as a population that is probably about 4.5% here in Tucson, are very active in the community and we have a big presence here in the Southern Arizona community,” Williams said. 

More information and tickets can be found online. 

 *El Inde Arizona is a news service of the University of Arizona School of Journalism.  

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