A celebratory and informative webinar for Muslim and Non-Muslim members of the University of Bristol was a huge success . The event was a joint effort between the Global Lounge, Student Inclusion Team, and the BME Success programme, with support from BRISOC and the Multifaith Chaplaincy.
Blog
Global Carnival 2020
An evening of entertainment and activities from across the globe for students and staff!
On Wednesday 11 March, over two hundred students and staff gathered to enjoy an annual showcase of dance and music performances, organised by the Global Lounge in collaboration with Bristol Students’ Union and International Students’ Network.
Trying something new
There was something for everyone to enjoy with a range of craft and activity stalls followed by a diverse programme of performances from across the globe.
Visitors could try their hand at origami making, solve Palestinian folklore riddles and see beautiful examples of traditional outfits from the Friends of Palestine society. There were also Lebanese food samples to taste and food samples and games from the Mexican Culture Society. The delicious vegan Thai curry was a hit – served to all guests as part of the festivities!
Fantastic performances
The show started off with the Lion Dance Troop who made a spectacular entrance into the Anson Rooms, getting up close to the seated audience.
The all-male group, Academy A Capella, impressed everyone with their rendition of Toxic by Britney Spears. They reached the UK finals last year and are focusing their efforts on releasing a debut album.
First-year Economics and Politics student Siddarth Sreekanth kept things upbeat with some fantastic Indian drumming. Originally from Bangalore, he performed on an instrument called the Mridangam (muh-ruh-dang-um), which is a percussion instrument used in Carnatic Music, which is a form of Indian classical music.
Changing things up, the next act on stage was a collaboration between PakSoc and BanglaSoc – a fashion show which gave the audience a taste of their culture’s traditional clothing combined with popular music straight from Pakistan and Bangladesh. The lively performance featured beautiful outfits such as shalwar kamiz, longi and shervani with the models showing off the outfits whilst making fun poses and dancing along to their favourite songs!
The Gospel Choir were up next – a group of individuals who enjoy singing and praising God together. Their beautiful vocals and harmonies impressed all who were in the room.
Hosts, Roy and Lara broke things up with an interactive quiz, asking members of the audience to tell everyone what things they like about their own culture and also what they enjoy about others. There was great participation with many raising their hands to give their answers – most of which revolved around food!
The evening was rounded off with a Qawwali performance, which uses semi-classical Asian singing techniques and rhythmic clapping. This group is the UK’s first university-born qawwali group, called Virsa Qawwali.
A Glimpse into the World of Indian Dance
University of Bristol staff and students came together for the first big Global Lounge event of 2020; a Glimpse into the World of Indian Dance.
Attendees enjoyed classical dance performances and a delicious meal, organised by the Global Lounge in collaboration with students Aditya Sharma and Deepa Lakshmi.
Showtime
Just under 200 people attended the Indian dance event, held in Anson Rooms in the Richmond Building on Thursday 6 Febraury. A free delicious, authentic Indian meal and refreshments were provided after the show which many stayed on to enjoy whilst socialising and chatting to the performers.
Aditya and Deepa showcased two very distinct and popular forms of Indian dance: Kathak and Bharatanatyam. Their performances were accompanied by their stories, which explained each dance and its cultural significance, presenting a modern, fresh and personal take on the traditional roots of Indian choreography.
Meet Deepa and Aditya
Aditya Sharma approached the Global Lounge to hold this event and, along with Deepa Lakshmi, curated their performances especially for the Global Lounge, putting much time and effort into the event.
Aditya Sharma is a senior Kathak dancer with eight years of experience. He is the founder and artistic director of Yatra Dance productions, a classical dance choreography unit in Bangalore. He is currently pursuing a Master’s in Management (Marketing).
Deepa Lakshmi is a senior Bharatanatyam artist from Chennai. She has been training in the discipline since the age of four and has received many accolades. Deepa is currently pursuing a Master’s in Law.
The elaborate performances and beautiful outfits made it an immersive and entertaining experience for the audience. The dancers carefully curated their technique and style to showcase the art form in a modern and exciting way, while maintaining the roots and traditions of the choreography, music and performances.
Speaking of the success of the event, Deepa and Aditya said:
“We did not expect this kind of reaction. We were very nervous; thinking, how are [the audience] going to bounce back to us, would they be able to relate to it – we didn’t know whether they would know the history about it or not. But it just shows that art, music, dance; you don’t need a lot of commonalities to understand it. If you have the music, your feet are going to start tapping, and you start dancing – so you don’t need to know the background to enjoy anything.”
A Glimpse into the World of Indian Dance from Global Lounge on Vimeo.