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Roughly two dozen Harvard students gathered in Lowell Lecture Hall on Friday to celebrate Apollo Night, an annual talent show hosted by the Harvard Black Students Association.
The event featured a total of eight acts — six individual performances and two ensemble acts — with performances ranging from an Arab footwork crew based in Chicago, violinist Maxwell Fairman from the New England Conservatory of Music, and the Omo Naija x The Wahala Boys Dance Troupe.
The event invited undergraduate students from Harvard and other nearby colleges and universities to showcase their talents for the chance to win a cash prize.
Apollo Night is one of BSA’s signature events, inspired by Amateur Night at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. In adherence with tradition, the event has historically allowed the audience to pick their favorite performers through cheering. This year, the organization set up flyers around the lecture hall with a QR code for audience members to vote for their favorites.
Lwam Mahari ’26, senior representative for BSA, introduced the event as “a celebration of Black creativity, passion and talent.”
“Tonight, we gather to uplift each other through art, expression, and joy,” she said.
Fellow BSA Senior Representative Jahrel K. Noble ’26, said the performers at the event were highlighting more than just their individual talents.
“The performers we are going to see aren’t just showcasing talent, they’re sharing stories, energy, and parts of themselves,” Noble said. “This is about honoring who we are and where we come from.”
The talent show was interspersed with breaks that engaged the audience. The first break featured a “fit check" competition that asked members of the audience to come on stage and describe their outfits. The winner was selected through the volume of audience cheers. The second break featured a “Guess that Song” challenge with representatives from each Harvard class. Ultimately, the Class of 2026 came to a victory.
At the end of the event, Maxwell Fairman was crowned as the winner of the 2025 showcase. Omo Naija x The Wahala Boys Dance Troupe took second place, and Kidus N. Yohanness ’29 came in third.
In an interview after the event, poet Mariam “Marri” M. Gebril ’28, said she hopes “to decolonize poetry.”
“Poetry is what we make of it. Poetry is revolutionary. Poetry is in everything that we do. It’s in our everyday lives, in the most mundane things,” she said.
“I really hope that people can understand — poetry looks like this too,” Gebril said. “Doesn’t have to be super classical. It can be fun. It can be rugged. It could be flamboyant. It can be disrespectful, a little bit. It can be unapologetic. It could be rap.”
Nylah R. Jordan ’28, BSA’s political action chair, and one of the performers, said she enjoyed watching how the event connected the audience.
“Seeing everyone join in that community, whether or not they even performed, was something that was so cool to see,” she said. “Just showing how you don’t have to actually be involved or perform necessarily on Apollo Night, but you’re still connected to it in some way.”
—Staff writer Alexander W. Anoma can be reached at alexander.anoma@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @AnomaAlexander.
—Staff writer Chantel A. De Jesus can be reached at chantel.dejesus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @c_a_dejesus.
