Jacqueline Perlin
Assistant News Editor
Over 300 club members and students braved the rain and the cold Sunday afternoon as they gathered on campus to film York’s first-ever lip dub.
Vanessa Hunt, president of the York Federation of Students (YFS) explains the October 2 lip dub is “something like a music video.”
Lip dub filming has become popular at campuses across Canada. Hunt says they give a chance for students to express their creative side through song and dance.
“We’ve had a pretty rough semester at York,” says Hunt, referring to recent criticism over safety issues on campus. “We noticed it was pretty popular with other schools. […] It really brought communities together.
The lip dub, she says, presented an opportunity to showcase the positive aspects of life at York.
“There are so many positive things about York that people don’t even realize: our city-like culture, our diversity on campus, and the talent on campus,” Hunt points out.
Daniela Rocha, vp of PorColombia at York, is a member of one of the student groups that participated in the event. She calls the filming a “unifying” experience.
“We just wanted to represent the university,” says Rocha. She says the filming illustrated the multiculturalism that is so heavily embedded in the York community.
Hunt says many of the participants wore traditional clothing to represent their culture.
“People came in full costume from their cultural backgrounds,” she says. “People brought out flags, people came dressed up in the most fun styles I’ve ever seen.”
She says that everyone was on an energy high for the filming, which lasted about seven hours from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
“It’s cool that new people who come to York will get to see how enthusiastic we are,” says Rocha, noting a lip dub is more than a video, but rather a representation of student life.
The video will be available on the YFS website in about two weeks.
