The MIT community came out in full force Saturday for a spirited festival celebrating the Institute’s diverse cultures.
A stage show at the Johnson Athletics Center drew an audience of more than 1,600, including many families, for 17 student performances showcasing dance, music, poetry, and costumes from around the world.
MIT President L. Rafael Reif posed for a selfie with partygoers at the OneWorld @ MIT Multicultural Festival and Dance Parties on April 29.
Photo: Jake Belcher
Approximately 9,000 people, comprising MIT students, faculty, staff, and friends, got their groove on in four tent dance parties on campus. Dance teams Mocha Moves and MIT Bhangra made special guest appearances.
Photo: Jake Belcher
The OneWorld @ MIT Festival Stage Show at the Johnson Athletics Center drew an audience of more than 1,600, including many families, for student performances showcasing dance, music, poetry, and costumes from around the world.
Photo: Jake Belcher
Exploding onto the stage with a high-precision hip hop performance, the Asian Dance Team kicked off the stage show. The dancers presented their adaptation of a medley of songs by the K-pop group Seventeen, and in a subsequent piece they depicted the strength of harmony between yin and yang.
Photo: Jake Belcher
Sakata Afrique, a dance group infused with the rhythms of Africa, was created to help MIT students of African origin preserve their cultural heritage through music and dance, and to introduce African dance to the MIT community.
Photo: Jake Belcher
The MIT Ohms a cappella group utilizes sounds from all kinds of South Asian music, occasionally mixing Western pop with Bollywood pop, grafting the songs to classical roots, and growing their own modern music.
Photo: Jake Belcher
The MIT Lion Dance Team incorporates traditional stunts with modern skits in their performances. The MIT lions are made of aluminum, plastic, and cloth — and weigh about 15 pounds each.
Photo: Jake Belcher
The “campus night club” dance party on Killian Court featured club music, as remixed around the world.
Photo: Jake Belcher
Palestine @ MIT performed Dabke, a dance performed at weddings, special occasions, and family gatherings in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Legend says that when the mud on people’s houses cracked due to weather changes, members of their family or community would come to help patch it by joining hands, and stomping the mud into place, as evoked in the dance.
Photo: Jake Belcher
All the performers took the stage for the grand finale and danced, with the audience singing along, to K’naan’s “Wavin’ Flag.”
Photo: Jake Belcher
The program’s hosts, sophomore Bruke Mesfin Kifle, junior Sravya Bhamidipati, and seniors Alberto Hernandez and Pragya Tooteja, kept the packed program running like clockwork, as artists took the stage to perform acrobatic capoeira, a gliding tango, traditional dances of Ethiopia and Eritrea, a tribute to an iconic Scottish poet, and much more.
Later in the evening, approximately 9,000 people comprising MIT students, faculty, staff, and friends got their groove on in four tent dance parties on campus. The dancing, music, and food centered around four themes: A World of Music: Middle East/K-pop/Hip-hop/India; Campus Night Club; Caribbean Rhythms and African Beats; and Country Two-Step to Salsa. Dance teams Mocha Moves and MIT Bhangra made special guest appearances.
The OneWorld @ MIT Multicultural Festival and Dance Parties event was presented by members of the MIT student body and the One World@MIT planning group, which is led by Raul Radovitzky, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics.
