Student Art Event

The line in front of the ticket booth wraps around the building. The building has posters up, advertising the event the students are all purchasing tickets for. The students all talk in excited, hushed tones. The players, meanwhile, warm up in preparation for the big game ahead of them. They are just as excited to show the students how their hard work has paid off as the students are to see it. The students all file in to the stadium, waving signs and pom poms to show their support for their fellow students and school. The seats are almost all filled. People with painted stomachs scream cheers for Lehigh and shout insults about Lafayette. Such was the atmosphere of the basketball game last weekend that Lehigh played against Lafayette. The game begins and the athletes play their best. The audience watches in anticipation, celebrating when the players score and groaning when the players miss. At the end, Lehigh wins, which ends in celebration amongst all the students, athletes, and adults.

This is not the scene at any of the theatre or other performance related events that I’ve been to, including the play I went to last semester and the Leela dance performance that I went to on Sunday, February 26. Both of these events involved student participation and were as full of as many triumphs as any sports game could be.

And yet, the scene at the dance performance wasn’t nearly the same as that of the basketball game. There was no line at the ticket booth because the event was free. There are no posters anywhere. In fact, there was no advertisement at all. There were no announcements in the daily emails, no posting on any calendar, and no flyers. I only knew about it because a few of my friends are members of the dance team.  I walk in to Lamberton, where the performance was supposed to be and wonder if I’m in the right place. There is a small cluster of people, most of which are the dancers, standing awkwardly in the back of the room. There is a table filled with Indian cuisine located to the right where a few other students are standing. This wasn’t just a random dance performance, it was supposed to be a showcase of Indian culture. And yet, most of the people there appear to be Indian themselves. As college students, we claim that our ultimate goal is to explore and learn about other people and cultures. Then how come more people attend American sports games than attend a showcase of a foreign culture?

And it’s not because the dancing was bad. The dance combined modern and old music with the traditional dances to appeal to a wide variety of audience while still maintaining the integrity of the dancing style. The dancers are all smiling students, obviously doing something they enjoy, as it is an extracurricular activity. The few audiences members there laugh when parts of the dance are meant to be funny, cheer when the dancers perform difficult moves, and cringe when one of the dancers’ long pants slide over her feet and she almost falls. The audience involvement isn’t as vocal, but it’s just as real as any sports team.

This dance event was only a brief preview of greater things to come. At the end of the performance, the dances come up to the audience and encourage them to attend Dance Fest, a dance showcase where all the dance groups will perform, including Leela. This show with no marketing is expected to market for a larger dance show that charges for tickets? I’m excited to see more at Dance Fest, but I’m a little worried about how the turn out will be. A few posters in Rauch (that I saw yesterday) and a preview with only 10 audience members don’t bode well for the future event.