From bright red and orange traditional Indian skirts to casual sweaters and stylish overcoats, the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center’s Cultural Catwalk highlighted Mississippi State’s diverse cultures Wednesday.
The event, showcased on a stage decorated with flags from more than 30 countries, featured a milieu of clothing and dance styles from India, Africa, China, America and other world cultures. The organizations that participated in the fifth annual catwalk were the Little Swan Dancers, the African Student Association, NACH, the Indian Student Association and the MSU Fashion Board.
“We don’t know enough about each other, so this is one of the programs we use to kind of show that we may be different but we’re not that different,” said Maria White, director of the HCDC. “We’re more alike than we realize.” Peer Counselors and Ambassadors, a group of students in the HCDC who support minority students, were in charge of bringing the event together.
The group’s president, Jeremy Steele, said the purpose of the catwalk was to display talent in other cultures.
“For us in American society, we just get so caught up in being everything about us; we get so caught up in being our own,” Steele said.
He said intercultural events like the catwalk help people understand and respect each other.
HCDC assistant director Shaz Akram said it was important to select a diverse range of organizations for the show in order to represent a country full of immigrants, “a tapestry of different colors.” She said the catwalk is a “physical Facebook” that not only connects students but also brings them into the same environment.
“When you go to bigger cities like New York or D.C. or San Francisco, you see that melting pot, but in Mississippi, you don’t see it that much,” Akram said. “We’re showing them a representation of what real life in America is all about.”
Akram said the HCDC exists “to show integration, to merge cultures, to merge people.”
HCDC Program Coordinator JoQue Moody, who advises Peer Counselors and Ambassadors, said he decided to make this year’s catwalk shorter than those in years past.
Moody said he thought the dances impacted people the most.
“Anybody can experience different cultures, but anybody can’t experience different dance styles,” Moody said. “So that’s what the Cultural Catwalk’s all about – different dance styles, different clothes, different cultures.”
The program featured traditional dances from India and an Indian catwalk that compared both the older and more modern Indian clothing styles.
Janit Kapil, a graduate student and model for the Indian Student Association, said his fashion team tried to illustrate India’s new and old generations that are still connected by similar values and traditions.
Kapil, who came to the U.S. in August, said he has developed intimate relationships in the ISA.
“It’s like our home from far from our home,” he said.
The catwalk also featured a Chinese New Year dance performed by the children of the Little Swan Dancers.
Dongping Jiang, the mother of one of the Little Swan Dancers, said the dance her daughter performed represents the Chinese people at a time of happiness and jubilation.
“It’s fun, and I get to exercise,” Jiang’s daughter, Gloria, said.
Freshman biological engineering major Jefflyn Wallace said she enjoyed the entertainment.
“I think it accurately displays the diversity at the MSU campus,” she said.