This article was previously published in print on Dec. 05, 2023.
Dancing, music, colors and smells swirled around the first floor of Anderson during Asian Pacific American Coalition’s (APAC) Desi Night event, which kicked off for the evening just after 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 27.
Desi Night was an inclusive celebration of many South Asian cultures and regions, and featured a performance from the student dance group, Desi Girls. Junior Rekha Gurung, president of APAC, was one of the dancers in Desi Girls, as well as a part of a Nepalese duet earlier in the night.
“I feel like we were more focused on South East and Eastern [Asian] culture, which is already popular, and this year we tried to go out more covering Central Asia, South Asia and all those, and also the Middle East, so we are trying to bring this event during Asian Heritage Night where we have different parts of Asian culture shown,” Gurung said.
An estimated 80 people attended the event and enjoyed the Indian cuisine from Hyderabad Indian Grill Fridley. The event began with a land acknowledgement, and after the APAC board was introduced, the several performances began. There were traditional dancers from a local dance troupe, singers and a fashion show before the food break for the evening. A raffle followed the food break and the evening concluded with a dance from the Desi Girls.
APAC plans to host more events like Desi Night in the future in an effort to bring people together and create more community on campus, especially for students from cultures without many other students of the same, or for folks who want to meet others with their same heritage and do not know where to start.
“I think Hamline is a really small community, so it is hard to find people,” Gurung said. “There is one [person] from one culture sometimes, so we try to be more inclusive, and I think Hamline is very diverse, so we try to bring people in.”
