By Carrie Reierson, Guest Writer
Students crowded The Cave as a diverse showcase of performances unfolded on stage at this year’s Global Getdown last Friday evening.
with an event in The Cave featuring live performances by various on-campus organizations.
The PLU Diversity Center sponsored the event, and it featured song, dance, poetry, spoken word and various other acts that span the globe, highlighting all kinds of cultural traditions.
The night started with an energetic performance by PLU’s step team, Lute Nation, and ended with a rendition of Beyonce’s “Love On Top,” which Queen Bee, senior David Leon’s drag queen persona, sang.
Sandwiched in between these two acts was a wide variety of performances, including a martial arts demonstration, a Native American shawl dance, the musical genres of gospel, jazz, folk and J-pop as well as the Scandinavian Club’s lip-synced performance of Ylvis’s “The Fox (What Does the Fox Say?).”
In total, 22 different performances spanned two hours. The crowd stayed upbeat, positive and loud from beginning to end.
Junior Lauren Mendez emceed the event and played a major role in putting it all together, along with help from the Diversity Center staff and student volunteers.
“One of my favorite moments was looking out and seeing a full house of support. It meant a lot to both the performers and myself,” Mendez said. “I hope the students experienced something new and were interested in learning more about their own cultural background and others’ cultural backgrounds.”
At the close of Global Getdown, organizers asked attendees to stack up their chairs outside of The Cave to make way for Hong International Hall’s all campus event, Hong Discoteca.
This dance continued the night’s theme of diversity by playing music from all corners of the world, creating what sophomore Caitlin Dawes, the social justice director of Hong Hall, referred to as “a more mature feel, like a 21-plus club.”
This was the second time Global Getdown and Hong Hall’s Discoteca combined into one event, the first being two years ago. Dawes said Hong’s Residence Hall Council hoped to draw a bigger crowd by connecting the Discoteca to Global Getdown.
