It is a long way from the streets of Philadelphia to the corner of Cambridge and Quincy Streets. But that is the journey actor Denzel Washington will make when he hosts the 11th annual Cultural Rhythms festival this Saturday.

The festival, organized by the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, consists of two main parts, a cultural show and a food festival.

Washington will serve as master of ceremonies for the Cultural Show, set to take place in Sanders Theater from 3:00 to 5:30 p.m.

Tickets are on sale at the Sanders Theater box office for four dollars for students and five dollars for all others. Half of the 1,000 tickets have been sold already.

According to a press release, Washington will receive a Foundation Award for his "outstanding contributions to American performing arts and intercultural relations."

The actor, noted for parts in movies ranging from Philadelphia to Crimson Tide, won an Oscar in 1989 for his portrayal of "Trip" in Glory and garnered NAACP Image Awards for his leading roles in Malcolm X and Mississippi Masala.

"In addition to being one of the greatest actors of our time, Denzel Washington is an excellent symbol of dignity and decency for people of all races," Foundation Director S. Allen Counter said in the press release. "We are thrilled and honored to have him here at Harvard as our Cultural Artist of the Year."

Washington will preside over a show set to include approximately two dozen cultural groups who will perform ethnic songs and dances.

"The presentations that they do are representative of their ethnic heritages," said Michelle Elwazir, student activities coordinator of the Foundation.

Performances will run the gamut from gospel singing to a wedding dance.

The Asian American Dance group will perform a ribbon dance had fan dance. The ribbon dance is usually performed for the New Year, while the fan dance is a court dance, according to dancer Cecilia Chan '98.

From a slightly different cultural background, representatives from Hillel said they will dance two modern Israeli dances, the ma and nisharli, as well as two variations of the hora.

"The dances may not be the ones that are done at Bar Mitzvahs, but the songs are the same," Rebecca J. Slotnick '99 said.

Among other groups, a dozen dancers from the South Asian Dance Association will perform the bhangra, a traditional dance from the Indian state of Punjab.

According to Co-director Pratima Gupta '96, the group has been practicing eight hours a week for the past month.

Unfortunately, all the hours one group has practiced may be for naught.

Faustino G. Ramos '96, co-director of the Ballet Folklorico de Aztlan, said that his troupe may not be able to perform because the hard shoes worn by its members damage the stage at Sanders Theater.

Ramos said that the director of the Memorial Hall and Lowell Lecture Hall complex, Eric C. Engel, could solve this problem by buying a portable stage. The group faced the situation last year, but was allowed to perform.

"They have to come up with a solution for the good of all student performance groups," he said.

The other major event of the weekend, the Food Festival, will be held in the Science Center from 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. There, students can purchase one-dollar food tickets which they may redeem at tables serving different ethnic foods.

Foods will range from hamentaschen, a cookie traditionally served during the Jewish holiday of Purim, to Chinese dumplings, student leaders said