The incredible audience support was not unnoticed by the performers. “I have to say my favorite part of performing was the excitement of the audience, the pumping up the energy, having the audience get all excited and you get all excited,” said Expressions Dance Company member and performer Marilyn J. Hylton ’06.

For first-time attendee Leah R. Lussier ’07, Cultural Rhythms “showcases diversity, it’s bringing awareness” to a campus that she thinks “is definitely accepting. But the student body, we tend to separate ourselves.”

Joseph Torres-Rangel said he enjoyed bringing his culture as part of the Ballet Folklorico de Aztlan to other students, who would not necessarily be familiar with his heritage from everyday encounters in the classroom.

“I’ve been performing since third grade and so it was really fun to choreograph and do some of the things I’ve grown up with,” he said, “and bring it to the Harvard community where you don’t necessarily talk everyday about what you did at home and how you grew up and traditions like that.”

Anica Law ’06, one of the dancers in the Traditional Chinese Dance Troupe, agreed. “All of us had started dancing since we were really young. The five of us got together and decided that Harvard needed something that’s just strictly Chinese.”

For Torres-Rangel, Cultural Rhythms was a unique event that brought to the surface the diversity that students have become only more eager and proud to display, as Rios observed. “I think that Harvard campus does a lot to promote diversity but I think that shows like this show how much diversity is underneath the radar,” he said. “When you create a space for expression like this, people are more than willing to step up to the plate.”

After the show, a tired but happy Stephanie A. Paiz ’05, an intern for the Harvard Foundation, said, “It’s a lot of work and it’s a lot of long hours, but it’s great to see it pay off in the end.”