UHS IDEAL hosted its second annual Cultural Dance Show on Feb. 23 in front of the Big Theatre, marking an eventful conclusion to Multi-Cultural Week, which ran from Feb. 20 to Feb. 23. IDEAL stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, Access and Leadership: all components of the club’s goal of fostering community and uniting cultures across campus. Multicultural Week featured daily activities, from poster decorating and cultural games to a scavenger hunt, for students to learn about the diverse array of cultures at UHS.
The cultural show consisted of captivating dance performances by UHS students from various cultures and nationalities. Persian Culture Club kicked off the show with a stunning two-part routine that began with a traditional Persian scarf dance and ended in an original choreography to the song, “Gori Pari.”
Senior Jed Lee, one of the lead organizers of the event, worked hard for the show to live up to students’ high expectations after its warm reception last year, which was the first time UHS had a cultural dance performance.
“Music and dance are something that universally connects us all,” Jed Lee said. “The cultural performances were something students really enjoyed last year, so we wanted to bring them back even bigger and better this year.”
Since the goal of the performance was to represent as many cultural dance styles as possible, showtime preparation required effective communication with UHS cultural clubs, third parties, administrators and staff.
“The IDEAL team had a lot of meetings with all sorts of people in order to plan and organize the performances,” Jed Lee said. “We reached out to different cultural clubs on campus to ask if they would be interested in performing.”
Showcasing Korean culture, junior Adriana Lee performed a K-Pop style dance alongside a group of friends. Dancing to the song “Blue Flame,” by LE SSERAFIM, the group learned the choreography from an online tutorial they found on YouTube. The dancers were poised and sharp, pulling together a routine that had audience members hooked from start to finish.
“I wanted to be part of the cultural dance performance because a lot of my friends were doing it and I thought it would be cool to share some of my culture [with other students],” Adriana Lee said. “Even though I almost fell off the stage at the beginning of the dance, it was still really fun and I am glad I did it.”
Beyond the captivating visual and artistic elements of the show, the cultural performances support a deeper purpose that members of IDEAL aim to accomplish through their events: to combat racial bias by spreading cultural awareness.
“Oftentimes, racism and harmful racial stereotypes stem from ignorance about other ethnicities and cultures,” Jed Lee said. “We wanted the cultural performances to be an opportunity for people to learn more about other cultures and have a greater appreciation for the diversity of UHS.”
