Sounds of the World gives cultural experience through dance, sounds

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Roberto Hodge

Sunrose Maskey, a freshman psychology major performs a Napali dance to Shakira’s “Waka Waka” song Friday evening for Sounds of the World.

Roberto Hodge, Multicultural Editor

Kneeling under a dim spotlight wearing a bright red, translucent dress in gold trim with a matching veil, she slowly rose up, bouncing gently on her feet and waving her arms eloquently.

Kalpana Pinninty, a graduate technology major, danced to the Indian song “Des Rangilla,” which is meant to describe the colorful country of India.

As Pinninty danced to the music, her dress would flow with her movements; many times the song sped up forcing her to spin rapidly.

The performance was part of the annual “Sounds of the World” event Friday, which was hosted by the Association of International Students.

“Our country should be colorful in every way, and that’s the meaning of the dance,” Pinninty said.

Students from all backgrounds gathered at the event wearing their traditional garb from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

Many times the students would gather on the dance floor smiling, jumping and gyrating to the song of their nation.

The students seemed at ease and comfortable in the environment, as they spoke freely in their accent to one another, shouting, whistling and cheering on fellow students who performed.

Gracefully moving his body like an elegant ballet dancer, Sunrose Maskey, a freshman psychology major, performed a traditional Napali dance to Shakira’s “Waka Waka.”

Posing and moving his body to the song, audience members would clap and cheer on his dancing, as he has done this before in front of the president and prime minister of Nepal and India.

In between the dancing and performances, the show was broken up with mini games for audience members to participate in keeping them on their feet throughout the night.

Members of the association of international students would open up the floor to the audience to play games like musical chairs, M&M counting and even a cultural trivia game.

One mini game had audience members dancing chest-to-chest with a balloon in between them. They would move to the beat of the song without popping the object.

Aside from the dances and mini games, there were also performances by students singing and playing instruments.

One student sat in front of the audience and played oud, which is a Middle Eastern guitar.

Reaab Bukhari, a freshman technology major who performed on the guitar, said he has been playing the oud for 10 years and is self-taught.

Bukhari said he plays three different instruments. The song he played is from Saudi Arabia.

Bukhari said he loves the feeling of playing instruments and plays from his heart.

He said he even performs with his friends back in Saudi Arabia.

One the performances had as many as seven women on the dance floor, all wearing colorful dresses ranging from bright orange to violet and flailing their arms, hips and legs to a Bollywood mash-up.

Their performance, deceptive with a calm instrument playing, soothed the audience members before a beat drop allowed the girls to be more energetic in their dancing.

Many of the women would dance in a circle bending their bodies down and picking them back up clapping; the crowd loved it—especially the men as they would all clap and cheer calling for more.

Mellowing out the evening was a Chinese flute performance by Xueting Sun, a graduate accounting major.

She played “Bamboo by the Moonlight” using a hulusi, which is a Chinese wind instrument with a gourd mouthpiece.

Sun said the performance is a love song about a girl in love with a boy.

“They depict their own country’s element and it makes the performance unique,” said Shifa Shamim, the president of the association.

Roberto Hodge can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].