By Tracy F. Harris
Everyone’s heard of the story “Around the World in 80 days,” but on Saturday night, it was “partially around the world in two hours,” said Kaushik Nagendran. Nagendran is the president of the American International Relations Club, which hosted its annual International Banquet on March 5.
This year’s theme was “Spread the Light,” which emphasized a common thread between people of all ethnicities. Nagendran said the night was about “widening cultural horizons.”
The banquet, an annual event for over 20 years, drew several hundred people to the Swain Student Activities Center for food and performances. Food was provided by local restaurants and included European, Latin American, Indian, Persian, African, Chinese and North American cuisine.
Live pre-dinner music, ranging from lounge-jazz to violin duos, made the clear plastic plates and utensils seem more like fine china and silver.
The evening’s guest speaker, Alvin Herring, is the executive director of the Muhammad Ali Center for Peacemaking and Conflict Resolution. Herring is also a graduate of the University of Louisville and a former administration member.
Herring said he hoped the banquet would not only make a difference in individual lives, but “make a difference in our lives together as a community.”
He encouraged people to say hello to the others at their tables filling the Multipurpose Room. He then taught everyone a traditional Zulu greeting, meaning, “I see you.” The response, “I am here,” puts people on the level for friendship, he said.
He explained that everyone needs to realize “our difference are our gifts to the world,” and knowing and embracing that fact brings the world “closer to the day when we can finally say, ‘I can’t remember a day when we weren’t at peace.’”
The grand opening was a dozen people in various traditional and modern dress lighting candles to represent the banquet’s theme and walking onto the stage.
Masters of Ceremonies Taraneh Momeni, the AIRC Special Projects coordinator, and Adam Arabian put on a very awards-style show to introduce the performing acts. The opening act was a Chinese Ribbon Dance, performed by five very serene girls with long pink and yellow ribbons.
Other performers included a Middle Eastern Fusion group, which combined Iranian, Indian, Egyptian and Greecian dance; a French song about the Champs-Elysee; an Indian classical dance performed since 500 B.C.; a solo South Korean fan dance; an African dance called Makossa; a PowerPoint presentation about Turkey; and a Latin American dancing group. The grand finale was an Afro-Cuban dance by the African Student Union and Asian-American fusion.
Door prizes were given out between acts and a best-dressed award was given to two audience members.
AIRC officials did not announce the best-dressed award was going to be given; it was a surprise to the audience when it was given. The winners were a man wearing traditional African dance and a girl in traditional German attire.
