News Popular Performance Group Returns to Hartwick College for a Black History Month Celebration

At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 28, the ZUZU African Acrobats return to Hartwick College’s Slade Theater to perform traditional Kenyan and Tanzanian circus culture acrobatics – all set to soulful African beats. This interactive 60-minute show includes human pyramids, dish spinning, stick balance, contortion, chair balance, unicycling, juggling, hand-to-hand balance, pole acts, hoop dancing and comedy.

During each performance, the ZUZU African Acrobats celebrate the two-thousand-year-old Bantu culture of East Africa. Each member of this Tanzanian troupe has received special instructions from elders in the Bagamoyo Arts and Cultural Institute to perform these ancient traditions to audiences worldwide.

The ZUZU African Acrobats performed virtually at Hartwick College on Feb. 9, 2022, and then came to campus on Feb. 17, 2023. Those who attended last year’s show are still talking about the interactivity of the performance, in which the acrobats brought guests on the stage to participate in some of the acts. This event is free and open to the community thanks to a grant from the Foreman Institute of Creative and Performing Arts at Hartwick College.

The performance is hosted by Hartwick College’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging Center. If you have any questions, please email DIB@hartwick.edu or call 607-431-4373.