The Eastern Michigan University organization International Student Association (ISA) held the 20th annual Colors in Harmony March 16 at the Student Center Auditorium. 

Students, family, friends and EMU alumni filled majority of the seats and waited for the performances of students representing their country and culture from all over the world. 

Everyone around the room had a welcoming energy towards the hosts, the performers and each other. The various hosts also kept the energy high with their comedic acts. Each performance also had multicolor lights showing behind them, creating a great mood as the attendees followed along to the performance.

Colors in Harmony’s message brings a strong sense of unity and respect to everyone’s culture and to where they’re from. That sense of unity brought joy to everyone in the audience as well as the performers.

G.E.M.Z., a dance group who performed for the first time at the event thanks to an email sent from their eboard members, loved the diversity brought.

“I was a little nervous, but I loved the event,” one member of G.E.M.Z said. “It was really nice. I was so excited to do it because it was really diverse, and you don’t get to see that in other people’s background and dance.” 

“I was only nervous because it was a different event than what we’re used to performing at,” another member of the dance group shared with The Echo.

When asked by The Echo if there was anything left to say, one member added, “Support cultural events, they’re really important to this campus and follow us on Instagram @emu.gemz.”

G.E.M.Z was not the only performances to bring diversity to the stage but also another group who switches up the new normal by dancing swing and ballroom.

The EMU Ballroom Dance Club/Swing Society has been on campus for about four to five years and encourages anyone who loves to dance, or if you have no experience, to join and be a part of something. 

Member Ezekiel Butcher has been a part of the group for two years and loves it.

“Dancing is a lot of fun, especially with swing because you get to dance with a partner, so the whole time it was Alysia and I having fun instead of just performing,” Butcher said.

If you wish to learn ballroom, swing dance and all types of lifts, you can follow this organization on OrgSync. The organization meets Tuesday nights at 8 p.m., Room 212 in the REC/IM on campus.

It takes time to plan such a big event and Dawood Safi, president of ISA, shared the entire process with us.

“The process starts the beginning of the semester. We send out a google doc asking people if they want to perform and to register. After the registration is done we go into the audition phase. This time we got more than 30 applications for different kinds of performances and then we did a small audition and selected based on diversity. They are all talented, but our selection was based on the time slot that we had and how much diversity we could get from different parts of the world.” 

Just when the audience thought the performances came to an end, they were proven wrong. Singing, dancing and even stand-up comedy had everyone in excitement. Those at the event shared constant love, light comedy and encouragement throughout the entire night. At the end, the international fashion show had everyone in awe as they got to experience the clothing from different countries and celebrate the diverse beauty in America together. 

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