New Historian “Steps” Up

Erin Barlow

By Matthew Rogers

Texas State student

Senior member of the Texas State Harambee Step Team Erin Barlow “stepped” into a new position. Barlow became Harambee’s most recently appointed officer as the team’s historian. 

Barlow is a senior at Texas State and has been a member of Harambee for almost three years. Harambee was founded in 1995 as Texas State University’s official hip-hop dance company. The word harambee is Swahili for unity, something Barlow cites as the group's most important quality.

“In a campus that is very diverse it’s sometimes hard to find unity within the diversity, and within [Harambee] I believe we have plenty of both,” Barlow said.

Barlow was a dancer long before Harambee. Her love for dancing developed when she became a member her high school drill team. She cites her love for dancing as her reason for joining Harambee at Texas State.

“I loved the dance aspect but not so much the “drill” part of it and its restrictions,” Barlow said. “I came here my freshman year and just fell in love with how laid back and dance-centered the organization was.”

Harambee has seen many changes since Barlow has been its historian. As a historian, Barlow is responsible for taking pictures and publicizing the organization.

“I have done a lot more with videos as opposed to pictures,” Barlow said. “I have made available to our teammates videos of our choreography and steps so they can practice at home.”

Barlow said that as a member of Harambee she is more comfortable being herself among a campus of over 30,000 students.

“Its fun," Barlow said. "You meet tons of new people and you get to perform all the time."

Barlow says that anyone can dance but not many can perform; being a great performer requires confidence in every step you take.

“I used to dance while thinking to myself: 'Is this right? I hope I don’t look stupid doing this' but now I’m like: 'Oh I know I look good!'" Barlow said.