NE Campus students and employees celebrated international cultures with music, food and dancing at the annual International Festival. There were tables across the NSTU patio, trailblazer café and center corner.
“I think it’s amazing that they’re displaying a bunch of cultures and having that inclusivity,” said NE social work student Khadija Mohamed.
This year’s event featured a Brazilian dance and martial arts called capoeira, A fashion show put together by The Cultures of Other Languages club, “Ode to a March Hare” poetry by Dr. Perez, JK Wong academy performed kung fu and a Lion Dance, NE campus dance group Movers Unlimited performed as well as The Bandan Koro West African dance group.
Students got to dance and sing along with the performers. At one point everyone was singing ‘Hakuna Matata’ along with the Bandan Koro.
“To be able to see different people from around,” said Mohamed “different parts of the world is amazing. To see their culture being portrayed in all the awesome thank you so much appreciate it”.
Students walked around between performances and checked out the tables of universities, student clubs, career services and many others.
“I finished my class, and I walked out here bumped into an old friend from high school,” said NE film student Lore Weber. “They took me over here [to the T-shirt table] and I was like, this is going to be awesome.”
Holi is an Indian Spring celebration of colors and dancing. The school provided color powder and a blank t-shirt to participants.
“My favorite part so far is honestly the community just because TCC on a whole”, said NE student Eva Wood. “it’s just very bright and vibrant. And it’s really cool just to like, share just these kinds of experiences with a fellow classmate.”
This event is something happens on campus every spring, and students have taken part in it many times.
NE Dance group Movers Unlimited under the direction of professor Kihyoung Choi drew a large audience at the event, some members of the group have been dancing for a number of years before joining the group.
“I love dancing like just in general but the culture in the family is what gives me the most gratification,” said NE student Joshua Garcia.
The event isn’t just for entertainment but cultural education as well where students can come and learn about different cultures. The dance group performed a traditional Korean drum dancing, that many don’t get to see.
“One of the things I love about the company and is that we are also diverse, and so we get to have diversity within each other but then also bring another aspect of diversity to other people,” dancer Isabel Soto said.
The dance group is about more than just dancing, it also teaches students the different areas, such as choreography, and how to teach dance.
“My favorite thing I think is just how they give us the ability to be creative and to really like work with each other and hone our skills,” said dance education major Nathan Burgess.
