Salocin

The Wharton International Cultural Show

The international cultural show was last night, and while the trend is to rave about how talented our fellow students are - and it would never cross my mind to disagree - the show succeeded more than this - it provided an emotional and enchanting look at beautiful aspects of cultures, inspiring emotions that linger and inspire.

What a show. I don't say this lightly. With over 1600 students in the school, you could guess that a fair amount of talent had to lie beneath the surface, but when you see it on the stage in such condensed form, it inspires and motivates.

Held in the Annenberg Center on the Penn University campus, the show sold out (as far as I could tell) the 970 seat capacity of the Zellerbach Theatre. In its 3 short years of life, the reputation of the event has reached a level where it can sell out Penn's largest venue. And there's another showing tomorrow night.

The show started strong, with a Chinese Ribbon Dance from the Chinese New Year celebrations. There was much cheering as we saw faces from our classes and our social lives here in Philadelphia demonstrating an art form that was unfamiliar to many, and clearly being performed to a high level - this was to be the theme for the night: Our friends have been rehearsing for months.

Most of the acts involved dancing: we were treated with the Chinese ribbon dancing, Azerbaijani traditional dances, Argentine Tango (one of my favourites), Persian dancing, African gumboot and several forms of Indian dance, to name but a few. Some acts involved song or music, such as the Jewish Klezmer, American bluegrass, the Whartones (Wharton's acapella group) and Bateria, the Wharton drum group. Brits showed a video spoof of Trigger Happy TV, African students and partners treated us to some folklore and songs, martial arts were demonstrated and our hands were sore from the clapping by the time the French Can Can took the stage to round off the evening.

At 3 hours long, with most acts lasting between 3 and 5 minutes, you may think that the show had its ups and downs, but every act had a soul and power reflective of the culture it was drawn from. The students here have many hidden talents that are too seldom taken to the stage, but I knew that already. More than that, and regardless of previous travels, a show such as this reignites the desire to see the world and experience the powerful artistic expressions that are infused with the spirit of so many cultures. This is very much a high point of Wharton life.