Story by Hannah Everman
Photos by Luke Hausman
For forty-eight years the University of Oregon has hosted International Week, culminating in a night dedicated to celebrating the variety of cultures on campus. This year the night fell on Sunday, April 17. Audience members began the evening in the EMU Fishbowl for a hand-prepared dinner with a variety of dishes from around the globe. They then moved upstairs to the EMU Ballroom to enjoy the night’s performances.
To demonstrate the evening’s theme, “Tune In,” event co-host and UO student Brad Green appeared on stage wearing a cardboard box, representing a TV, with the words “Tune In’” written at the bottom. The International Week committee joined Green on stage to perform dance routines to music such as Ke$ha, MC Hammer, and Taio Cruz to get the show off to a fun start.
The performances began with a short concert by Eugene Taiko. A cultural and musical art form that originated in Japan, nine drummers created music that echoed throughout the room. Next up was Turkish belly dancing by UO student Lal Pekin and Myahri Annayeva, a performance that led to many a whistle and cheer from the young adults in the audience.
A rendition of the modern Chinese song, “Lan Ting Xu,” and a Cuban salsa by local group Azucar followed. The US Tae Kwon Do College then demonstrated techniques and forms featuring students of all ages. The crowd cheered the young children on with cries of “You can do it!” as they broke wooden boards with flying kicks. The audience cheered even louder in encouragement when one youngster didn’t break the board on the first try. US Tae Kwon Do also demonstrated self-defense moves for adults and children, which proved to be quite comical when a young girl no higher than mid-thigh took down a fully-grown man with sharp kicks and fierce determination.
A solo interpretive dance piece performed by Carolina Caballero Segura and musician Kenji Ota, and a concert by Eugene-based band The Manes followed with the final act of the night taking audience members back to Japan. Students of the UO School of Music and Dance led by fellow music major Steffen Schmidt performed two songs dedicated to those impacted by the earthquake and tsunami: “Memoirs of a Geisha Suite” and “Sukiyaki.” This last piece featured a saxophone solo performed by UO student Yuki Hirota, who appeared on stage in a traditional kimono.
Despite rave reviews from an enthusiastic crowd, International Week committee co-head Chi-hung Liao says there’s more to be done.
“There is definitely a lot of room for improvement,” Liao says. “More people who could be involved. International Week and Night is for everyone, not just for international students.”
