The big-top circus descended onto Arbol de la Vida Friday night for a “party underneath the stars with mesmerizing entertainment.”
Free food including hand-spun cotton candy, pizza and a chocolate fountain kept guests full while carnival-themed games and fire-breathing performers kept them entertained throughout the night.
Providing a social event for students is something the University of Arizona residence life student executive board wants to bring to the dorms, creating an environment where freshmen, and students of all ages, can come together and have fun.
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Events like these have been happening annually for about 18 years throughout all of the residence halls, according to Vincent Jasso, a freshman at the UA who is a part of the executive board through residence life.
Arbol de la Vida, one of many residence halls at the UA, has created similar events for students to come out and have a good time while building community.
“I think this event gives the opportunity for everyone to come into one place, meet some new friends, get to see what another dorm looks like and what the life is like,” Jasso said.
The circus party staff planned many live performances for students going on throughout the night. There were magic tricks performed by a professional magician, who enticed students watching with open mouths as he made a table float before the crowd’s eyes, as well as juggling tricksters who joked with students about how many bowling pins they could juggle. Acrobatic dancers hanging from silks kept students on edge as they skillfully maneuvered their way through the long strips of fabric, the audience in awe of their grace despite the complex and demanding maneuvers.
“What makes this event special is all the hard work that went into this,” Jasso said. “We spent countless hours planning this, I think that’s what makes it truly unique from everyone else.”
Students could enjoy other attractions at the event including a photo booth, henna tattoos and caricature drawings. Fair games were also set up for students to challenge each other in a game of ring toss or milk bottle toss.
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“The free food and fire dancer, we’re super excited about that,” said Lauren Burrow and Estefania Camacho, both freshman students living at Arbol.
The most anticipated performance, according to Burrow and Camacho, came toward the end of the night when students were treated to a fire breathing show. The performers had multiple torches lit while tossing them back and forth between each other, while rhythmically dancing and twirling the blazing torches.
The night ended with the fire dancers and an eruption of cheers from the crowd. Arbol will plan similar events in the future to bring everyone in the community together and foster quality relationships within the residence halls.
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