Celebrating Sheffield University’s cultural diversity, the International Cultural Evening is an unmissable event. Forge Press went along to find out more.
Flights in the UK may have been grounded during the final weeks of April, but even volcanic ash couldn’t stop the international societies from bringing together hundreds of students for a truly Cultural Evening.
On April 24, the International Students Committee hosted its 38th annual International Cultural Evening, where students from over 15 of the university’s international societies performed their own cultural representations of their respective countries.
In the form of song, music, dance and performance art, students of the international societies combined traditional customs with modern twists in a competition for the title of international cultural evening winner.
“It was a lot of hard work, but I think it all works well,” said Barbora Novakova, an international student committee member from the Czech Republic. “The atmosphere we had was one where everyone was really excited about the night.”
The evening proved to be a very high energy event as both performers and their supporters attempted to boast one of the common links among everyone in attendance: pride.
“Culture means accepting that the same thing can mean different things in different parts of the world,” Davind Seesurn, one of the evening’s hosts, said.
From the traditional folk dances and white and red garb of the Bulgarian society to the vibrant hunting dances of East Africa to the beautiful and graceful red lantern dance by the Chinese Students and Scholars Association, each society was simply trying to tell a story.
“Through our performance, we hoped to show how Chinese people celebrate Chinese New Year, which is also known as Spring Festival,” Grace Du, the captain of the CSSA Pixie dance team, said. “The red lantern, as a symbol of luck and festivity in China, is favoured by Chinese people.”
And these are not just any old stories, but the stories of heritage and culture for their respective countries. The stories that also contained similar themes, including love; loss; courage and strength, transcend cultures.
The ancient folklore of the Brunei Society and the tale of Sri Lanka’s creation and the journey of Vijaya and Kuveni by the Sri Lanka society both suggest that the reoccurring theme of instant and eternal love are shared by cultures across physical and time distances.
Similarly, the Kazakh Society’s recreation of the story of two ill-fated lovers; Tolegen, the brave warrior, and the beauty Zhibe, shares an eerily similar plot with Shakespeare’s renowned Romeo and Juliet. Both stories were written late in the 16th century, though in very different parts of the world, and share themes of the endurance of true love as well as the violence associated with love.
“They’re dancers, they’re warriors, they’re story tellers; but at the end of the day, they’re also students just like you,” Mina Kasherova, the international officer elect, said.
The students also attempted to mix the traditional practices of old with the more modern trends of today through an elaborate cultural fashion show.
The Vietnamese Society, for example, mixed very traditional styles of loose fitting silk pants and blouses with patterns and designs from the Mod era of the 1960’s. The Pakistani Society used the fashion show as an opportunity to match some of their traditional dance and costumes with more Electronica background music.
The Chinese Students and Scholars Association claimed the title of international cultural evening winner with their rendition of the traditional red lantern dance. The Pakistani Society was named the first runner up.
“It was incredible and stunning to hear that we are the winners of the International Cultural Evening, as other societies displayed brilliant shows as well,” Du said. “All the girls in my team were so excited when we were informed we’d won that some of them even cried.”
The International Student’s Committee also gave out two other awards at the event, including naming the East Africa Society as the international sports society of the year and the Arab society as the international world food festival winners.
But at its very core, the evening was truly about bringing students from all different backgrounds and places together to encourage cultural awareness and acceptance.
“I hope students gain a greater understanding of the diversity of this student body,” Alex Edrlenbruch, the current international officer, said. “This night is the international student committee’s most anticipated event of the year.”
And even though the committee members were discouraged from performing, their work on the event provided them with a first-hand understanding of the importance of the evening for cultural unity.
“I’ve met so many people from countries that I wasn’t even sure where they were located,” Novakova said. “Culture is definitely the language, the traditions and general lifestyle of where you’re from.”
And Edrlenburch said that he believes the night is not only for the students who were able to perform in the show, but for every student taking the international leap.
“I think that every student should be recognized for taking that step to go into another society,” Edrlenburch said.
Despite the evening’s focus on displaying the differences in culture, at the end of night, every person from the International Cultural Evening still shared the privilege to call him or herself a Sheffield student.
“Mostly, I feel really proud to be a student in place as diverse as this,” Kasherova said.