There was free food, arts and crafts and a piñata, but it was the free tango lessons that were the biggest hit at the Multicultural Bazaar, organized by the IRHA Thursday night in the Oak Room.
In all, approximately 100 people attended the event and 30-35 people stayed for the entire time.
Dancers Josh Cardozo and Michelle Princi came from Ballroom Sport, their dance studio in Southport, to teach an eager group of Fairfield students how to dance the tango. For the most part, Cardozo thought it was a success.
“They all did well,” he said. “More often then not when it came time to dance with me they would tell me they didn’t know what they were doing, but would then perform perfectly.”
The dance lessons started just 15 minutes after the event began and lasted nearly an hour. Ashley Downing ’08, one of the people responsible for putting the event together, said that it seemed like everyone who went out and danced was having a lot of fun.
Josh Shettle ’09 agreed, “It was a lot of fun. I liked the tango and there was good food, but the tango was definitely the high point of the night.”
The Sodexho food for the event consisted of different offerings from various countries around the world including steak wrapped in cheese and peppers, spinach quiche, an Italian antipasto and a variety desserts among other things.
In addition to the food and dancing, there were a variety of arts and crafts stations which were set up to teach people to make gimp, origami and god’s eyes, which is a type of string decoration.
“We just tried to do little stuff to bring people together,” said Jessica Lew, who helped organize the event with Downing.
The festivities culminated in the hitting of a piñata, which fell after just the third person hit it. After the piñata and dancing, the tired party goers found themselves chatting and focusing on arts and crafts.
“For a multicultural event, I think we had a pretty good turnout,” said Downing.
While that may seem like a good turnout to Downing, some workers thought more could be done.
“I think it’s something that should be expanded upon in the future,” Kim Grzybala ’09 said. “We have more diversity amongst the population and now have an expanded Center for Multicultural Relations, so more could be done.”
Most of the people attending thought this year’s event, which was done in association with the FUSA Around the World in 7 Days program, was very successful.
Leave a Reply