On Oct. 12, the International Club hosted I-Night 2016. To start off, this was an event I was completely excited for, since the theme for the event was holidays, right on the brink of Thanksgiving break. But the twist in the tale was that it included performances from international students, students who are thousands of miles away from home. That raised the intrigue of this event to a whole other level. Apart from that, food from multiple countries was on the menu, raising the hungry man’s expectations.
The night started off with a blend of cuisines, ranging from Iranian Aush as appetizer to Sri Lankan Dosa for the mains and ending with Turkish Baklava as dessert. It also included chai at the end, which is a type of brewed Indian tea. The food was quite simply delicious, and you could sense the efforts of the team who were behind it. I had seen this team working behind the scenes, and even though they seemed tired from the work, they were overjoyed when they saw the guests devouring the food with absolute pleasure.
After the dinner, we started off with the performances. The kick-off was a Finnish dance celebrating the summer season. The Kivajat dancers’ performance depicted a traditional Finnish dance around a midsummer bonfire. Even though there wasn’t an actual bonfire, the heat of this performance was beyond limits. I have never seen such young dancers exhibit such professionalism and it was a perfect way to start this plethora of events.
This was followed by Sangwon Lim performing an instrumental Korean folk song called Arirang, which is considered the unofficial national anthem of Korea. Though it was a slow song, the audience was hooked onto every note that emanated from his guitar. After finishing Arirang, he shifted to a Spanish instrumental theme, which took the audience back to a warm summer afternoon in Spain. A cute moment in this performance was when he missed a note in his music and immediately got up to bow to the audience in the form of an apology. The combined performance was endearing and it left the crowd wanting more.
The MTU Swing Dance Club was up next and they were performing in celebration of Frankie Manning’s birthday, May 26, 1914. They split up into two line dances, one of them decked in blue and the other decked in red. Though I’ve not seen much swing dancing, the enthusiasm in their performances was evident, as were the expressions of pure enjoyment on their faces. That crowd was upbeat during this performance and the dance club fed off the energy of the crowd, to create a passionate performance that would be hard to replicate.
Next up was Masala Chai, a musical group comprised of Indian students. At the risk of sounding biased, this was my personal favorite performance of the entire night. They put their hearts and souls into the music that they played and the crowd responded with absolute delight. Since it was a medley of American and Indian songs, it called out to the crowd in every way possible. Every note was hit with perfection and every heart in the audience beat along with those emanating from the tabla or from the vocal percussion given by the guitarist. My highlight of this performance would be the beautiful flute work by Ninad Gadre, a first year grad student here at Tech and the melodic combination of EnglishHindi songs done by both the vocalists.
After the intermission, Yuika Fukui was set to perform a couple of songs in Japanese. Since she is a close friend of mine, I knew she was nervous going into this performance. But once she got on stage, you could see the tension melt off her face. The audience nodded along to every little progression that she played, and I even observed a Mexican wave of sorts taking place. The songs she played were about springtime and farewell, so it fit into the whole theme of international students celebrating holidays away from their families beautifully. At the end of her performance, the applause that followed told the story.
The MTU Houghton Hoopers were up next, and this was easily one of the most pumped-up dances of all time. The sheer skill which was on display by these three ladies was beyond astounding. Until this point, I did not know that there were so many things that could be done with a hula Hoop. These ladies redefined my understanding of the concept of hula hooping. It was a mixture of athleticism, balance and skill, all combined into an enjoyable performance.
Next up was a performance all the way from China. Three Chinese students sang a song about a Chinese girl who misses home. The interesting part was that they were presenting a slideshow of the English translation of the lyrics. Since many of us are spending holidays away from our homes and our families, this struck a chord in our hearts. Coupled with the sentimental and soothing voices of these performers and the slow and nice rhythm of the guitar, this act made me a bit emotional, reminiscing about the times I spent back home.
Following this, GSG President Will Lytle made a small thank you speech. This was followed by an impromptu dance lesson by Indian students on a very catchy tune. It was surprising to see almost everyone get up and try to learn the Indian dance moves. Being Indian, I was mesmerized by this part, because it was awesome to see people nailing the dance moves perfectly on the first try. You’d almost think that they were taught this before.
Last but not least was an act by the Indian Students’ Association team. They danced to a host of South Indian songs. Needless to say, they blew the roof off the place. The sheer expressions of enjoyment, the cocky styles, the upbeat rhythm and the craziness of the dance motions brought almost everyone to their feet. I could observe people in the crowd dancing along in their seats with this performance. It could be called the perfect ending to a perfect event.
Congratulations are owed to the International Club on a smooth and memorable event. The team was on their toes most of the time, paying attention to the detail and comfort of the audience. The food was delicious. The performances were spellbinding.
