The Zuzu African Acrobats performed at the University Union Ballroom on Thursday, Feb. 13 as part of the Black History Month celebration. The show was hosted by Sac State’s UNiQUE program.
The acrobat group shared their Tanzanian culture through dance and various acrobatic stunts. During the performance, the performers also called up volunteers to participate in limbo.
Jessica Nickels is a junior interior architecture major who attended the show with her friend Journey Thompson, a senior recreation administration major. The two said they were impressed with the performance.
“It was shocking, each move they made,” Nickels said. “I’m so excited and so happy that we went.”
The group performed various moves such as chair balancing, human pyramids, dish spinning, advanced jump rope and hand-to-hand balancing. Live music was also performed using a ngoma drum. Performers engaged the audience by encouraging sing-alongs and teaching various Swahili terms, like hakuna matata, which means no worries, and jambo, which means hello.
“I thought that was incredible and a great ode to Black History Month, and I want to see more of that,” Thompson said.
UNiQUE program advisor, Ajamu Lamumba, said that this was not the first time Sac State has hosted the acrobats for Black History Month. Lamumba said that Sac State first hosted the acrobat group sometime around the 2019-20 school year and intended to host them again in 2022, but the show was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts.
“I think we need more like it so that we can really enjoy and understand the cultures of some of the folks that we go to school with,” Lamumba said.
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One of the performers, Hassani Muya who goes by B-Boy Secky, enjoyed the experience of performing at Sac State and said he hopes the group can return next year.
“I would like to share that this was one of the amazing audiences we have made so far in America,” Muya said. “We love them, and also we love to come next year again.”
Muya and Stephen Huller, the Zuzu African Acrobats’ manager, said the group started over 15 years ago in Tanzania and would practice acrobatics on the streets. They honed their skills at the Baba Watoto School for Performing Arts before performing internationally. Their popularity soared after their appearance on America’s Got Talent in 2009.
The group seeks to continue to express the beauty of Tanzania through their acts and educate audiences on their culture.
“I just think that this show is ‘seeing is believing,’” Huller said. “We’re so used to seeing incredible things on our screen and only when you see something live like this do you realize that magic can still happen in everyday life.”
The Zuzu African Acrobats’ show was the second to last Black History Month-related event hosted by the UNiQUE Program, and was one of many stops the group has made for their current ongoing tour.
Huller said, prior to their Sac State visit, the group had performed during the Oklahoma City Thunder halftime show for the NBA and they did a show for another university in Las Vegas. After their show at Sac State, the acrobats will have an upcoming performance for the Sacramento Kings halftime show on Feb. 27.
Lamumba said that the last event hosted by UNiQUE for Black History Month will be an Element Brass Band concert, which will feature New Orleans Mardi Gras style music, on Feb. 26 at noon.
