Worldly fashion show attracts large crowd
A variety of cultural performances impressed the audience by dancing, singing and exhibiting martial arts.
Published March 8, 2005
Indian dance, dozens of African fashions, Eastern marital arts and dancing: A variety of cultural performances by seven international student organizations captured more than 1,200 attendees during the annual International Fashion Show on Saturday night in Jesse Auditorium.
The International Programming Committee, a subcommittee of the Missouri Students Association Department of Student Activities, organized the event.
"This show is a showcase of different nationalities, music and cultures in one night," said doctorate student Ullas Pedmale, who choreographed performers from the Cultural Association of India.
IPC Chairwoman Kandi Hardt said the fashion show was successful.
"The number of attendees was higher than I thought," she said. "It was just wonderful."
The free show started at 7 p.m. and each organization performed for 15 minutes.
Led by Mizzou After Dark coordinator Justin Scott and IPC Junior Chairwoman Persephone Dakopolos, the show began with a dance by six pairs of students from the South Asian Students Association.
"We put a lot of hard work into this show," said SASA President Runjhun Misra, who led the performance. "We practiced five to seven hours every day."
The Cultural Association of India displayed clothes from different regions of India.
"India has approximately 8,000 languages and dialects, with different cultural and linguistic regions, and is a big country," Pedmale said. "We are reflecting this diversity of India in different types of clothes and music."
The Japanese Students Association performed a dance by Japanese women dressed in traditional clothes: kimono and yukata. Japanese men demonstrated Japanese sword fighting in traditional clothes.
The Korean Students Association began its performance with a song by children. Korean men demonstrated Tae Kwon Do as the way of self-defense, performing the scene of a man beating up five men with Tae Kwon Do.
The Thai Student Association performed slower dances and music that contrasted the first two demonstrates. With a background of a Thai beach, a number of Thai students dressed in colorful clothes walked on the stage and bowed to the audience.
In a program titled "Around Africa in 15 minutes," the African Students Association showed a variety of African clothes that represented five African regions. Their performance also included a West African dance and an African song.
The last performers were Taiwanese students who showed a lion dance that is part of the New Year tradition. They also discussed their origin, Taiwanese Aborigine, and their identity as the Taiwanese.
After the show, many attendees tried to meet with the performers to take pictures with them.
"I was very pleased with the show," junior Brandon Stewart said. "I thought it was really worldwide presentation."