Justice High School’s Inter­na­tional Night took place on March 21^st at 7 pm, where students show­cased diver­sity at Justice High School. There were perfor­mances, tradi­tional fash­ion displays from coun­tries all over the world, and food trucks. With free admis­sion and a packed audi­to­rium, the night was a success.

This year’s Inter­na­tional Night had a setting deco­rated to make it look like the inside of one’s home. There was décor that filled the stage. The purpose of this was to create a family tapes­try with a wide vari­ety of cultures that are displayed at Justice.

The plan­ner of this event, Eliz­a­beth Buffen­barger, explains that “we are taking a jour­ney to every­one’s home in their coun­try and adding a piece of their culture to our tapes­try. The final result will be the creation of a master­piece, our Justice family tapes­try, our home!”

Start­ing off the night’s perfor­mances were the Ethiopian and Eritrean perfor­mances. They began with a fash­ion show where they showed off the types of dresses worn in Ethiopia and Eritrea. They performed seven differ­ent tribal dances, which were all capti­vat­ing. In between the tribes, they had a couple of wardrobe changes where they wore cloth­ing that is respec­tive to each tribe and its dance.

The night contin­ued with a fash­ion show from Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India. Each of these coun­tries showed off the vibrant and impres­sive pieces of cloth­ing worn in their coun­tries. The fash­ion display ended with a perfor­mance from Bangladesh. They had two differ­ent Bolly­wood perfor­mances and one Bengali song. The combi­na­tion of music and fash­ion was incred­i­bly compelling.

The next coun­try’s appear­ance, France, took us to the city of lights and love in Paris. There was a fash­ion display of the current every­day Parisian style that was modeled by Sopho­more Camryn Cough­lin. France performed a ballet done by Sophia Harvey, a French Christ­mas carol that goes by the name of Pata­pan, and lastly, a beau­ti­ful song by a Belgium singer and performer, Stromae.

More­over, the next coun­tries had such inter­est­ing fash­ion and enter­tain­ing dances. Their displays of fash­ion and perfor­mances took us to parts of South Amer­ica and Central Amer­ica. Bolivia performed two dances that are known as the Capo­rales and Tinkus. The third dance they performed was a mix of Boli­vian-Latin dances that were mesmeric.

Senior Aileen Mendi­eta Villar­roel had worn cloth­ing that repre­sented a tradi­tional dance called Tinku. It was made with bold colors that symbol­ize power and strength. Perform­ing for your coun­try can be an empow­er­ing expe­ri­ence. “I felt people needed to see because my country’s passion is to repre­sent our culture by danc­ing in festi­vals. I was really moti­vated to perform when I came back from Bolivia a few weeks ago after seeing my family danc­ing with a big heart to show how beau­ti­ful our culture is,” said Mendi­eta Villarroel.

Bolivi­a’s perfor­mance was followed by a fash­ion show from Mexico and El Salvador. The display of fash­ion from Mexico was followed by a wonder­ful La Wepa perfor­mance which is a tradi­tional Mexi­can dance. El Salvador had shown tradi­tional dresses that are based on the colors of the flag which are blue and white.

The follow­ing perfor­mance was highly antic­i­pated by many. Morocco performed such a hypnotic perfor­mance. They performed to a song by chaabi, and a reggada. The women wore a gandora, kiftan. The men wore a djellaba which has long sleeves and a hood. For their perfor­mance, they performed a reggada, and danced to a song by a chaabi.

The next coun­tries left the audi­ence buzzing with excite­ment. Mauri­ta­nia began with a fash­ion display. Model senior Moham­mad El Hadj Sidi wore a daraa which was white and had orange embroi­dery along the front. Their display was followed by an engag­ing perfor­mance from Soma­lia. Soma­li­a’s perfor­mance consisted of Buraan­bur, Saliy­aci, and Dhaanto. The songs chosen for these perfor­mances had the audi­ence singing along­side the performers.

Afghanistan contin­ued the night with a perfor­mance as they sang the Afghan national anthem followed by two dances called attan and qarsak. Their repre­sen­ta­tion of their coun­try had left the crowd cheer­ing for more.

The next series of perfor­mances were filled with such fasci­nat­ing repre­sen­ta­tions. Nubia, Sudan, and Egypt had all gone above and beyond with their displays of fash­ion. For the perfor­mance, Nubia’s and Sudan’s music was used for a series of cultural dances. All of which had members of the audi­ence partic­i­pat­ing in their seats or singing along.

The follow­ing coun­tries took us straight to the conti­nent of Asia. Myan­mar, Viet­nam, Korea, and the Philip­pines all show­cased the beau­ti­ful and vibrant tradi­tional cloth­ing worn in their coun­tries. There was a perfor­mance with beau­ti­ful South Korean music, better known as K‑pop. The Filipino Student Asso­ci­a­tion repre­sented their coun­try with a series of cultural dances.

The night ended with perfor­mances from Russia, the Black Student Asso­ci­a­tion, and a perfor­mance from the Justice dance club. Over­all each perfor­mance had been success­ful in repre­sent­ing its coun­try glamorously.

This night brought together the students and staff at Justice in such a remark­able way. Each perfor­mance was planned with such detail and care. Each coun­try contributed to the success of this night. The impor­tance of repre­sen­ta­tion of one’s coun­try was shown on this night. Sopho­more Zewdy Adhanom partic­i­pated in the fash­ion show for Eritrea and felt so proud to see her coun­try repre­sented, “not a lot of people know about my coun­try [Eritrea], and it made me glad that it got acknowledged.”