Williamsville East’s much anticipated Unity in Diversity show will be returning on Friday, March 7th. Considered East’s alternative to the typical talent show, Unity in Diversity puts a new spin on a high school classic. The club’s mission is to bring together all of East’s different cultures and ethnicities in a show that highlights the uniqueness of each through dance, music, and song. It typically holds two shows during school in order to let every student experience all that East’s diversity has to offer. This year features performances from Chinese traditional dance, British EDM/hula-hooping, Middle Eastern belly-dancing, Korea pop (K-Pop), Japanese pop (J-Pop), traditional and contemporary Indian dance, and a couple surprises. A Unity show really does bring you across the world and gives East students a taste of the beauty in diversity and culture.
The club is led by Co-Presidents Nisha Divan and James Jiang, Vice President Haneul Park, Secretary Avneet Nagra, and Treasurer Kevin Xiang. These officers can tell you that a Unity show is truly a student production, with all club members organizing themselves into groups by country and using their own time to meet together, practice, and learn different dances. And the club, like its name suggests, is incredibly welcoming to new members. There is no restriction on who can join or what “country” group you can perform in. In fact, it’s encouraged that you branch out and join different countries’ performances. But staying close to your own culture is great as well. Unity is an opportunity for students to share their own cultures with the rest of the East population and discover the beauty of other nations at the same time.
Senior Haneul Park, the current VP, started in Unity last year as as a part of the Korea girls group. She says, “My favorite thing about Unity was definitely just dancing, even though it was nerve wracking- the thought of performing in front of the entire school, you know? But the teamwork we had in my group made it a lot more bearable, and it was just loads of fun. I got to know a lot more people better. The show is definitely stressful, but at the same time, it’s a good stress for me because it’s my culture, after all. I just love it to death!”
The Unity in Diversity club has worked incredibly hard over the past few months to bring you this show. Look forward to March 7th and a break from school in order to experience all the culture that East has to offer.
