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The annual Cultural Outreach show, by the Trent International Student Association (TISA), took place at Showplace on March 14 and displayed a wide variety of different cultural music and dancing.
The event was hosted by a hologram named ‘Eureka’, who is struggling to understand why humans obsess over different nationalisms. As far as Eureka is concerned, nationalism is just ‘being proud’. She claims she is made by many people of different nationalities and does not belong to just one national identity.
There were also a lot of fun experimental combinations of different cultural music, including a combination of different national anthems combined into one ‘global anthem’. As explained in the program this anthem ‘smash-up’ “symbolizes what it means to be a global citizen like Eureka”.
The different acts are displayed as if Eureka is downloading different YouTube videos to help her understand culture, and made an effective hook to capture the audience’s attention.
The show was separated into three acts. Act one was titled ‘Faiths and Beliefs’ and included some shows like the “International Anthem” and the “Caribbean Melting Pot”, which aimed to show “how people from different countries can band together to create a unique cultural identity”. Act two was titled ‘Emotions’ and some of the shows included were “Rainbow”, “Celtic Alarm”, “Sawa Sawa” and “Change”. “Rainbow” is a Japanese song that encourages you to “overcome the pains and sorrows” and “to find happiness just like after the rain spans a rainbow in the sky”. “Change” is a contemporary dance that “speaks to freedom and channelling the confidence needed to accomplish anything they set their mind to”. Act three was titled ‘Life’ and included some shows called “Tango”, “Nibuzhidaodeshi – All the things you don’t know” and “Infused sound”. “Infused sound” is an “Africa and Asia sensation blend [of] melodies to become one harmony”.
The event was filled with lots of smiling faces, excitement and fun. There was even a dance routine to the popular song “Uptown Funk” by Mark Ronson, and the well known song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” was played on an xylophone.
