Glow sticks, bright lights, and upbeat music blasting from the speakers of UW-Stout’s Great Hall? That’s right! It’s Cosmic Zumba, an event put on by Stout Retail Association and Silhouette’s to raise money for their yearly fashion show. The night was dedicated to working out, letting loose, and most of all having fun!
Silhouettes Fashion Show is an annual spring fashion show put on by Stout students working in the apparel and design program. Not only do students create pieces for the fashion show, they also produce the show itself; which includes anything from fundraising, or creating awards to finding photographers and judges. Our very own style blog writer Abby Johnson, who is also the Silhouette’s fashion show director, says “Everyone involved is so incredibly hard-working and talented–it’s an experience like none other.”
Since fundraising can be a hard thing to accomplish sometimes, members of the Silhouettes Fashion Show had to think a little outside to box. They started thinking about a fundraiser and thought it would be a good idea to work with Stout Retail Association. Better known as SRA which is Stout’s largest organization on campus that focuses on professional development, specifically working with retail merchandising and management majors. “The whole event came to be when we decided to contact SRA about possibly working together on doing an event to raise money for the fashion show,” says Stephanie Graves, a student working with the Silhouettes Fashion Show. “The apparel program and retail merchandising have always been so separated when it comes to organizations, when really we should work together, so we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to work together,” says Graves. Once the collaboration began, the idea all came about when a member of Silhouettes mentioned that her sister did a zumba fundraiser and thought they should try it out! By adding some glow sticks, neon lights, and funky music, BAM! You have Cosmic Zumba.
The night was centered on having fun while still working out! “We thought this would be a perfect time to do this event with Spring Break right around the corner, everyone is looking for a little workout before vacation,” says Graves. She could not be more right! Zumba is a perfect way to get a killer exercise, while still having a blast. But, zumba would be nothing but silly dancing if it weren’t for the fabulous instructor, Katelyn Mazza. Mazza is a graduate student here at Stout and has been teaching zumba for 3 years, which was pretty obvious! Her energy was through the roof and you could tell she loved what she was doing because her smile never left her face. While Mazza’s energy was infectious she says the groups energy is what she feeds off of. “I love it when I look out into the crowd and see everyone excited, smiling, sweating, and enjoying themselves, it makes the job a lot more fun,” says Mazza. Even going on hour number three of zumba for the night, Mazza was still getting everyone pumped up, sweaty, and smiling for sure. With a great instructor, fun music and glowing bracelets all around, it was a great night of Cosmic Zumba at Stout. Many members of both SRA and Silhouettes say they hope to do more fundraisers similar to this so keep a look out Stout collegiettes! In the mean time, if you are interested in doing Zumba with the fantastic Katelyn Mazza, she teaches classes at the health and fitness center Tuesday’s at 6 p.m., Thursday’s at 5 p.m., and Sunday’s at 4:30 p.m.
Check out more pictures from the cosmic zumba event here!