For one night, music groups, dance groups and comedy groups will come together to raise money for one cause.

TAP and Nourish International will host their first ever Spring Showcase, Friday, April 18 in Grant Auditorium. TAP, a Syracuse University student tap dancing team, partnered with Nourish International, an SU service group, to raise money for Nourish International’s summer project in Uganda.

The idea behind the event was to combine diversity and talent.

“It’s both to bring together talents from across campus while also contributing to an important cause and another student organization,” said Molly Linhorst, TAP president and a senior international relations and political science major. “It’s really embracing the student power here.”

When recruiting groups to perform, TAP and Nourish International tried to incorporate performances from different cultures and mediums. Performers include TAP, First Year Players, Mouse House Players, Orange Pulse Dance Troupe, comedian Samantha Ruddy, The Lulus, Kalabash and the Syracuse Ballroom Dancing Organization.

Taylor Denton, marketing coordinator for Nourish International, said the diversity of the groups will provide something to see for everyone.

“There’s a different collection of performances and everyone is so different that every three or four minutes there’s going to be something brand new on the stage and something more exciting than the last,” said Denton, a sophomore advertising major.

The idea for collaboration of the two groups came from personal relationships between Linhorst and members of the Nourish International executive board. It wouldn’t be enough to put on a showcase with different groups — they wanted a cause attached, Linhorst said.

“I thought that was very thoughtful of her to include us because they certainly could have just made the money and bought TAP shirts or something cool,” said Ellen Moore, a senior international relations and policy studies major and president of Nourish International.

This summer, 14 SU students will spend six weeks in Uganda as part of the Nourish International trip. They will focus on improving hygiene by building pit latrines, providing education for women about how to run their own businesses and giving knowledge about sex and reproductive health. The partnership will allow students go to Uganda two summers in a row.

Denton said each year the end goal is to leave the place of service better than they found it, and the showcase will help raise enough money to do so.

Moore said the event gives them the opportunity to get their name out on campus, while allowing them to reach their monetary goals. They have already raised more than $5,000 and hope to raise more.

“We’re just glad that we’ve been able to raise a significant amount of money for our organization, for the organization that we’re partnering with in Uganda, because we weren’t really sure what to expect when we started out, and we’ve far surpassed our goal,” Moore said.

All proceeds from the event go toward the efforts in Uganda. Going to the show will allow people to contribute to a big cause in an easy way, Denton said.

“For people who can’t always make a difference by traveling to Uganda, the tickets are $3, that $3 can go a long way when a bunch of people do it together,” Denton said. “It’s definitely a good way to help in a small way.”

One of the things Moore is looking forward to is watching her peers do things they’re passionate about, while she presents about Nourish International, something she is passionate about.

“It’s a great cause and a great way to be a part of something bigger,” Moore said. “At the end of the school year where we’re all getting kind of selfish and thinking about the things we’re going to miss, or we’re looking forward to for the summer, to kind of just take a step back and realize how much we can do together and what impact that will have.”

Published on April 17, 2014 at 1:00 am

Contact Emma: ekbaty@syr.edu