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International Fest draws big crowd
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Nearly 500 people packed the Jordan Ballroom Saturday night for the 23rd annual International Food, Song and Dance Festival.
The International Student Association sponsored the event that boasted Boise State’s diverse world community.
First on the itinerary was the dinner portion of the program, which showcased a global fusion of cuisine. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough food to feed all of the ticket-holders.
The menu featured a traditional masala dish from India, Thai-style yellow curry, tortilla de patata, an egg and potato pie from Spain, Vietnamese chicken salad and a tropical fruit dessert from Costa Rica.
After most of the appetites were satiated, then came the parade of flags, presented by the ISA. Australia, Brazil, China, Germany, Guatemala, Iran and Japan were just some of the nations represented in a moveable flag pavilion.
Next, masters of ceremony Guatemala’s Antonio Teruel-Matheu and Bulgaria’s Milena Ivanova started off the festivities. Both Teruel-Matheu and Ivanova are international business students.
The Vietnamese Student Association then presented a traditional dragon dance. As the dragon warmed up, it flirted with the large audience by batting its eyelashes at them, yielding many laughs. The two-person dragon suit then exploded in a flourish of color to the beat of a single drum.
“I didn’t intend for it to mean anything in particular. I was just trying to fill the space, but it definitely has meaning,” Rambhatla said.
Next on stage was the Shatakshi Goyal family from India. The five-piece musical family enchanted the crowd with traditional Indian music and dance. The men wore stark, white mrudangs, which are long linen shirts and the women wore ornate silk dresses. One of the women did a solo dance celebrating the harmony of nature, dating back several thousand years.
Cuba’s Ivan Garcia, a sophomore criminal justice major who was working the spotlight, said he was excited to be apart of the festival.
“This is a great event. It shows how diverse our campus really is. It’s cool.”
Garcia was one of the many international representatives assisting at the event. Tam Dinh, director of the Multi-Cultural Center, was her usual busy self and recent master’s degree graduate Fatima Mohammadi, of Iranian descent, helped serve the food.
Mladi Behar, a Bosnian dance troupe, then performed “Young Blossom,” which depicted the playful interaction between men and women. The company of 14 dancers wore the customary celebration garb of Bosnia-Herzegovina. Their program was steeped heavily in rich Slavic folklore.
After a short break, classical guitar player Tracey Raybourn, a freshman music student with a performance emphasis, told the crowd about an envelope that his girlfriend gave him earlier in the day. She told him not to open the package until 20 minutes before his performance. Inside was a romantic untitled poem about a guitar player’s fingers that danced gracefully across a fret board. Raybourn read the poem to the crowd, and then played four Spanish classical arrangements.
“I started taking the guitar seriously about two years ago. Before that, I basically just piddle-paddled around,” Raybourn said after his performance.
The Drum Central Community Drummers finished the night with a bombardment of African drumming and Australian didgeridoo playing. A woman in traditional African wear also danced onstage to the rhythm of the world beat sound. Whenever the drum tempo quickened, a audience member with a catcall like Charo, rattled a high-pitched wail in great approval.
J. Patrick Kelly
