Last Saturday, the Office of Multicultural Affairs hosted its 26th annual Culture Show — a Carmen Sandiego themed event that featured performances by 18 Hopkins student organizations.
Though the show did serve its purpose of displaying the talent of a large number of multicultural groups on campus, overall, the night was a mixed bag of highs and lows.
From the beginning, the house didn’t seem to be too enthused.
A bit of prodding and more than a few stilted comedic sketches from the three emcees — senior Tola Lawal, junior George Vincent Alvarez and freshman Ronann Carrero — finally roused some return energy and participation from audience members. All of this culminated in a memorably hilarious and impromptu Gangnam Style session in the middle of Act Two.
As funny as this and several of Ronann’s one-line zingers were, though, the highlight of the show was most definitely the performances.
Several Hopkins mainstays – Jaywalk, Hareepa, Temps d’Afrique, Modern Dance, Shakti, JOSH, etc. — took the stage alongside some new and/or fairly unknown talent such as saSON, an a cappella group that focuses on Latin America and Caribbean music, the Turkish and Filipino Students Associations and classical Indian music group, Surageet. One of the best numbers of the night came from the Turkish Students Association.
Seven of their members put on a completely integrated show that included two student singers, three musicians, each on multiple instruments, and a pair of ballroom dancers to a version of Dean Martin’s “Sway” with a Turkish tune.
Not only was each and every section formidable in its own right, but they all blended together seamlessly to form a truly wonderful ensemble piece and, moreover, and fantastic end to the first act.
True to form, Hopkins Hareepa, Temps d’Afrique, Masti, and VIVAZ all delivered fun, energetic performances in their respective dance styles that left audience members both pumped and convinced, to use the words of the girl sitting behind me, that “they must be so tired!”
JOSH, on the other hand, fell a little short of their typically put-together standard; the female Indian fusion dance group performed a rather lackluster set to a choppy medley of candy-themed music. The girls did get better and better as the piece went on, however, and ended on a relatively strong note.
Similarly, Jaywalk — usually a consistent deliverer of lyrical, impressive dance numbers — strayed from this expectation with their Mayan-apocalypse inspired routine.
The dance seemed to be little more than a string of tricks that, though well-executed for the most part, were largely unrelated to Culture Show’s spirit, and were by and large a bit overdone.
Balancing out the show’s more exuberant performances were the JHU Gospel Choir’s serenely powerful rendition of “Awesome,” as well as a highly controlled and masterful traditional number from classical Indian dance team Shakti.
Following in this vein was the JHU Modern Dance Company with “Avenging Angels,” a darkly compelling piece based on the movie The Crow. The three dancers on stage certainly channeled this inspiration well with sharp, craning neck movement and crazy, turned-in side extensions.
Claiming the title of ‘most unexpected performance of the evening’ would have to be JHU Surageet.
Formed in 2010, this Indian music group is small and relatively unknown on campus.
After their entrancing performance Saturday night, however, it would be surprising if they continued to be obscure; the cohesiveness and overall talent of the group really shone through their performance.
Clearly, Culture Show comprised of some really wonderful talent on the part of the student groups that were chosen to perform.
As a result, it really is unfortunate that the show was so long (over two-and-a-half hours) that not all of the groups had the opportunity to exhibit this talent to the entirety of the attending audience. Students began leaving steadily after each successive performance in the second act.
In an apt evaluation of the show as a whole, junior Michelle Ploch stated that it “showed a great diversity of student culture,” but she wished that “they would have filtered some acts.”
Though it was great to have such a large number of multicultural organizations represented, it would probably serve everyone better if the show had condensed either the number groups showcased or the maximum length of time for which each could perform.
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