With dances and songs represented by many different countries, Cultural Night is an exciting tradition at BYU-Idaho.
The dance groups have students from all over the world who showcase their culture through the performances. Many wear traditional costumes, so to participate, the groups face some expenses.
“I would say especially when it comes to cultural dances, the costumes are so much more specific,” said Catherine Purushottam, founder of Pangaea, which performs Indian and hip-hop dances. “You can't just randomly ask people to wear skirts and tops and stuff like that. Usually, it's somewhere around a thousand dollars.”
Rather than requiring each member to purchase their own costumes, Pangaea participates in fundraisers related to the Indian culture.
“It's basically representing the culture that is performing,” Purushottam said. “In our fundraisers, we are selling Indian food. We're selling some Indian jewelry, and we also did henna tattoos. We want to raise funds also give an opportunity for others to experience the culture apart from a performance.”
It isn’t uncommon for the dance groups to choose fundraising to supply their costumes. Valery Chávez from the Peruvian Association says her dance group faces similar challenges affording costumes.
“We need different costumes, depending on what dance we're going to do,” Chávez said. “And we can't get it here in Rexburg, so we have to go to Utah to rent them. We just sell Peruvian food. We have our group of the people that are dancing, so we ask them for a little bit of money so we can get the ingredients for the food and then we sell the food and then we have the money for our costumes.”
While the costumes are expensive, the groups are excited to show their cultures to the community. Cultural night is Saturday at 8 p.m. in the Hart Auditorium on campus.
“I got to know more about other cultures, and to represent mine felt really good. This is my first semester teaching the dance to my group, so I’m excited to see the results and the effort,” Chávez said.
You can find tickets for Cultural Night at tickets.byui.edu.