Global food and talent hit Logan
A showcase of diverse cuisine and talent that stretched from the United Kingdom to Japan was hosted by the International Student Council Saturday night.
The International Banquet and Culture Show in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom gave the audience of 400 students, faculty and Cache Valley residents an opportunity to experience culture and customs from more than a handful of different countries.
ISC president Michael A. Addo, who co-hosted the culture show, said the event is the biggest activity for international students during spring semester.
“It is an opportunity of unification,” he said. “It is also a time to see what people can contribute.”
Kaori Sasakura, ISC executive vice president who co-hosted with Addo, said, “Some 95 countries are represented in this student body at Utah State.”
The event began with a banquet as people lined up to fill their plates with authentic dishes represented by nine countries. It was a chance to taste Turkish potato salad and fried vegetarian soba (noodles and rice) from Hong Kong in the same meal.
Gabe Carter, a junior majoring in philosophy and Associated Student of USU diversity vice president-elect, said the food was great.
“It’s not very often you can get a selection like this in Logan,” he said.
Members of the international community submitted recipes and worked with USU chefs to prepare the food.
Mimi Kalala, a business administration junior, came a few hours before the banquet to cook for her recipe, poulet kedjenou au couscous, a Congo dish that includes African pasta, chicken, spices and more. Kalala said this event was very special.
“It’s all international students coming together as one,” she said. “It’s a way of getting to know the different cultures from everywhere.”
After a few opening remarks and everybody settled at their tables, the lights were turned off and the culture show began with a “Diya Dance” or lamp dance from India by four female performers each holding two lit candles.
The performance introduced the show’s theme: “Lamp unto the world.”
Sasakura and Addo hosted the event as conversational emcees. They joked around and made the audience laugh, but also explained the performances.
“The songs and dances are more than songs and dances,” Sasakura said while on stage. “They are rituals that reflect aspects of culture.”
The cultural show included many kinds of performances from around the world. Some were choreographed dances with multiple performers like the “Bon Odori,” a dance about mine workers in Japan; the “Manna Leo,” an upbeat Hawaiian dance; a Tai Chi presentation and in one performance – five Chinese traditional dances.
However, some performed alone on the stage, such as Tanushree Biswas who performed “Kathak” an Indian classical dance with elaborate hand-arm movements and mesmerizing facial expressions and Aram Arekelyan, from Armenia, played the emotionally charged Maurice Ravel’s “Jeux D’eau (Play of Water)” on a grand piano.
Shyam Kumar sang a traditional Indian song early in the show and later sang an upbeat tune, “Deewane” from India, which had the audience bouncing in their seats and clapping their hands.
The show, primarily with music and dance presentations, changed pace when Les Graham, representing the United Kingdom, took the stage in formal British attire complete with a derby and an umbrella for a cane as he recited William Wordsworth’s poem “Daffodils.”
But for the final performance: Two Indian Michael Jackson impersonators.
The finale, called “Fusion,” began with Anoop Menon and Charles Mallela in Michael Jackson costumes (including the white gloves and hat) pulling the “moonwalk” and other moves until they paused on the stage and Anisha Arora and Anuradha Badri entered in traditional Indian clothing and danced to Indian music. Arora and Badri then paused and Menon and Mallela took over again.
It went back and forth until the performance became a modern versus traditional dance-off until they and the music came together as one choreographed dance.
To finish it off, the earlier performers returned to the stage with lit candles and joined in.
-joelfeathers@cc.usu.edu
People dip spoons into many different foods at the International Banquet Saturday in the TSC Ballroom. The dinner was composed of dishes from nine different countries, ranging from Nepal and Thailand to Brazil and Turkey. (Photo by Michael Sharp)