More than 300 students took a trip around the world Thursday night without leaving their seats as they celebrated the defining features of a culture: food, music, art and dance.
The third annual Cultural Fusion Night, organized by the S.T.E.P. Multicultural Honor Society, took place in the MU Arizona ballroom.
“I’m glad I came to this event because it was an opportunity for me to come see the different cultures I’ve been studying,” Spanish senior Ramiro Arroyo said.
Ileana Salinas, psychology sophomore and S.T.E.P. member, opened the event singing the U.S. national anthem.
“This was very different from other events I’ve been to,” she said. “There was a piece of something from every culture on campus.”
Tempe campus group American Pankration performed a demonstration of the ancient Greek art of Pankration — a mixed martial art — in correlation with the event’s theme: the 2008 Olympics.
Jeff Funicello, president of the group, said the art is a “melting pot of fighting styles and was among the first games played in Greece during the first Olympics.”
Also in attendance was ASU alumna Linda Wells, pitching coach for the Dutch softball team in the 2008 Olympics.
“The opportunity to be in the Olympic village, where there are athletes from all around the world, kind of feels like standing here looking around, just as there are students here from all around the world,” she said.
Dance performances — ranging from salsa to swing and Hawaiian to Indian — were scattered throughout the event.
“This is a night dedicated to bringing different groups together by the one thing that most cultures do — dance,” S.T.E.P. President and electrical engineering senior Andres Sandoval said.
In the event’s opening year in 2006, dance was the main agenda, but it has evolved to include more art forms, said James Randall, anthropology student and S.T.E.P. member.
“It was innovated to introduce other aspects of culture: music, food poetry, singing and beautiful arts,” he said during the event.
Sandoval said attending cultural events, like Cultural Fusion Night, is important for students because the campus is so big.
“It’s way for people to become aware of their environment at ASU and the different kind of people that are here,” he said.
By looking back in history and learning about the different immigrations that created the U.S., people can appreciate their indigenous roots, Sandoval said.
“If they see a dance in present day form, it may help them get in touch with themselves and realize more about where their culture came from,” he said.
Reach the reporter at jodi.cisman@asu.edu.
