By Anna Patrick, Editor

West Liberty’s International Club, SPICES, will be hosting an International Extravaganza Night.

The culture show was held on Wednesday, April 25 at 6 p.m. in the Kelly Theater. The event was free to the public, but donations were welcomed.

Dipti Guragain, co-organizer of the event, said, “I have had this idea ever since I came here.”

Guragain explained that when she was growing up in Nepal her school would always host an annual talent show for students to showcase their performance skills. As a dancer, Guragain was always one of the students to perform.

When she arrived on campus in the fall of 2010, she noticed that West Liberty lacked an arena for students from a variety of countries and cultures to showcase their talent. After talking with friends who are attending other universities in the United States, Guragain learned that other schools host an annual culture show “where different people from different countries perform.”

She hoped that this year’s International Night will be the first of many more extravaganzas to come.

Guragain said, “If this is a success it will be one of the big events like the food festival.” In the fall, an international week is held to inform about the international students’ home countries; a food festival in the fall also features food from around the world.

Considering that this is the first year for the event it has not been without struggles. Guragain explained that it was an issue to get enough international students to perform. The event was originally planned for the fall semester and more students were willing to perform then.

Another large issue that the group has faced is securing a performance location.  Guragain said they were originally hoping to use College Hall, but because the hall was entirely booked up they turned their focus to the Kelly Theater. Fortunately, the Kelly Theater had some available dates for the group to use; unfortunately, the group has to work around the set of “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940.”

The beginning of the show was an introduction round with the performers wearing tradition dress from their home countries.

The International Extravaganza featured songs, dances and comedic skits performed by Guragain, Shristi Khati, Shreni Rajbhandari, Manish Ojha, Chen Song, Yidan Xiong, Suchiraya Inpuan, Ojaswi Ghimire and Patrick Ball. Maha AlHosni, from Oman, also provided temporary Henna tattoos for $1.

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