Last Friday night the 1962 room was the place to be. The room was transformed to feel like a “Space Odyssey,” complete with galactic video imagery and trash-bag alien costumes.
This was I-Nite, ATLAS’s spring cultural show (similar to CCASA’s Fusion, held in fall), which included a wide variety of cultural performances, as well as skits explaining human culture and behavior through alien eyes. This ultimately showed the hope for humanity lies in the power and diversity of cultural art forms in the world.
Below is a recap of the night’s performances:
“Alien Dance”: A brief skit and dance, setting the premise for the show. The best part was the hilarious short animated film entitled “A Brief History of Pretty Much Everything.”
“The Sharma Seven”: A rock band organized by Mihir Sharma ’12, that performed two songs, including a smooth rendition of the Indian song “Roobaroo,” with vocals by Siddharth Ratho ’11, Alex Zarecki ’12, and Mariam Tabatadze ’13.
“Latin Love”: Following a brief skit about how humans can never decide what they want, was a smooth tango and salsa dance number, performed by Manuel Jimenez ’12 and Claribel Marmol ’10.
“Moroccan Folklore Dance”: A very lively performance, complete with sparkling costumes and a synchronized, shoulder-raise dance, with choreography by Majda Kahiam ’12.
“Juxtaposed”: A multicultural dance, with a medley of songs including “Summer Love” from Grease. Three girls, three guys, and lots of red spotlights.
“It Was Due”: A passionate acoustic performance of Aaron Niequest’s “Here Are My Hands” by Alex Zarecki ’12, in synch with the fervent dancing of Wayne Ong ’11.
“The Palestinian-Israeli Skit”: Time to add some seriousness. The screens featured a video of a candle burning to set the mood for this one: a history of the conflict through the eyes of twelve different individuals, each telling their own story. This emphasized the range of difficulties the war created. Ended with stories of hope, and a hope for more to come.
“The Schwiffs”: Up next was an a capella performance of James Taylor’s “Lighthouse” by the all-female group, with the imagery of ocean waves and sunsets to accompany the warm vocal performance.
“Dos Sevillanas”: After a skit about music as a healing power, that included mentions of lip synching à la Britney and Ashlee Simpson, as well as Paris Hilton’s recent efforts. After that came a strong upbeat dance performed by Tremana White ’11 and Alexander Dana ’10.
“JHOOM”: Another dance, this time Bollywood-inspired, featuring a diverse cast, lots of energy, and bright lights.
“I Rise”: The next act was a powerful poetry reading of Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise,” translated into eight different languages, then spoken in English. As my friend Alex DeShields ’12 put it, “So many sexy languages spoken at once.”
“Middle Eastern Shimmy”: The ’62 room heat up during this one. Bellydancing, choreographed by Justine O’Sullivan ’13.
“Decale Gwada”: The finale, preceded by a skit bringing the show together, was about how wonderful it would be to have all of these cultural performances and talents in one place together, so that we could enjoy it all—which is what I-Nite was.
The show concluded with its most energetic number, a nine-person Afro-Caribbean dance to the popular Jessy Matador song “Décalé Gwada”.
This happened to be my first attendance at an ATLAS show, and it most surely will not be my last. This was one of many recent events on campus with all funds going to Haiti relief efforts, and one where you definitely got your money’s worth.
Junior Will Brown’s testament spoke for all after the show when he said, “That was invigorating.”
