Residents of Charleston and Eastern students filed into the theater to see Tarim: Uygur Song and Dance Ensemble at the Doudna Fine Arts Center on Saturday.

The event was the ensemble’s capstone performance after Tarim spent the week performing at schools and participating in workshops near the area, at places including Marshall Middle School and Charleston Rotary Club.

Tarim’s visit to Charleston is apart of the Arts Midwest World Fest program that travels around the country with musical groups from around the world.

Shigeyo Henriquez, the road manager for the Tarim: Uygur Song and Dance Ensemble, said that the purpose of the tour is for Americans to learn about their culture.

“It’s to bring different cultures to smaller towns who might not know (about them),” Henriquez said.

Some audience members, like Bonnie Irwin, the dean of Arts and Humanities, really enjoyed the performance.

“I’m just really glad we had a chance to bring them to Charleston,” Irwin said.

Minutes before the show started, slides of photos of the performances through the week flickered for the audience, while some of the performers anxiously peeked out onto the crowd.

After an explanation of the culture of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in China, which is where the ensemble is from, the lights in The Theater dimmed.

The 13-piece ensemble appeared onstage in vibrant, colorful traditional costumes and began to play.

Tarim played lively and spirited folk music that transported the crowd into the Uygar world.

Ximing Kronenfeld, a Charleston resident, said she liked the music.

“(I liked that the music was) uplifting and fast paced, that was really good,” Kromenfeld said.

Dancers, including nationally acclaimed Tuerxunnayi Yibulayinjiang, floated and spun in glittering costumes that had every color of the rainbow.

The ensemble also performed the song “Edelweiss” from the musical “The Sound of Music.”

They performed the song with just as much feeling as the Western original, but with an exotic twist. The music was played with traditional Uygur instruments.

Some of the performers began to play instruments and dance in the aisles, which brought smiles to audience members’ faces.

At the end, the performers invited the audience to the stage to give them a taste of the limelight. They played instruments and sang while the dancers danced with some audience members.

James Kuhn, a Charleston resident, saw Tarim earlier this week and wanted to see more.

“I decided to come back,” Kuhn said. “It was a glimpse into another culture.”

Josie Johnson, a freshman at Charleston High School, said that she learned a lot.

“(People that weren’t there) missed exposure to another culture and so much good music,” Johnson said.

Henriquez said that sharing cultures was beautiful even without understanding different languages.

“(The) language (barrier) has been difficult, but music is universal,” Henriquez said.

Felicia Darnell can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].