"Culture X: Under Construction" was probably one of the more popular and well-attended events during the Festival of the Arts week. This presumption I gathered from the amount of persistant hooting and hollering voiced throughout the three-hour extravaganza Saturday night.Director of the Arts Scott Edmiston opened the show with a short speech, describing the show as "a celebration of the human spirit." Though the message was simple and expected, it triggered a realization that I hadn't considered up until that point-this show is catered to those who lavish on words like "a celebration of the human spirit" and not to those, such as myself, who come simply to watch with no agenda of peace or love. I looked through the program once more and cringed at some of the pieces selected to perform, many of which had no cultural angle other than to overindulge in the sense of community firmly established and reiterated throughout the show.

Having said that, I do not intend to critique acts strictly based on the strength of their performance. In fact, the ways in which some groups highlighted the tongue-and-cheekiness in their routine, such as the Korean Student Organization, who foregrounded their male performers-pouting about with roses in hand-was refreshing. For some of the other acts, however, it seemed that they put themselves on the bill to showcase their talents, but their participation at the cultural event was unjustified and their performance generally lackluster. An exception to the above was the Adagio Dance Ensemble, who implemented no cultural slant to their performance, but who nonetheless had an impressive modern and lyrical dance routine that sufficiently quieted the rambunctious crowd with the skill and eerie quality of their dance.

Some other performance groups who did not have a cultural agenda to push decided instead to work within the tone of the event, picking themes to match the sentiment of "human spirit," though ultimately overdoing the effort. Voices of Soul sang Michael Jackson's "Black and White" and Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," which they described as "two songs that encourage us to embrace meaningful relationships based on who we are beyond our race," blanketing the intention of the event with a trite approach to multiculturalism. However, Healing Note took it a step further, dedicating their performance to AIDS victims and having their rendition of "You Raise Me Up" accompanied by a string of dancers who, needless to say, incorporated plenty of lifts in their routine. But, Richa Sahay '09 and Choon Woo Ha '08 sang particularly well and, at least in their first piece "The Prayer," distracted the audience \from the overwhelming happy-go-lucky humanitarianism of the act.

The cultural performances of the night, while some were better choreographed and executed than others, all lived up to the actual theme of the night by simply introducing the culture behind the routine and were all generally entertaining. Some standout acts were Super Going!, Simply the Hottest, Brown Sugar and Mochila. Super Going!, a band featuring Lok-wah Li '08, Jason Chan '10, Reggie Woo '09, Jimmy Luc '08, Matt Saban '10 and John Johanas '08, performed a powerful Japanese song that brought the crowd to a collective roar despite many not knowing a single word being sung. With such an obviously arrogant title, Simply the Hottest had plenty to live up to and managed to deliver with an enjoyable and inventive piece that blended spoken word, song, interpretive dance and a subtle drum beat. Brown Sugar incorporated hip-hop much like other groups, but setting themselves apart, they developed an Indian bhangra feature to their dance, mixing and matching the two dance forms which provided a new and enthusiastic interpretation to an often-seen style of dance. For me, the groundbreaking moment of the night was Mochila, "a diverse band that combines Arabic music with jazz." The musicianship of the performers was of a professional standard and the complexity of the composition-an original work by Mohammad Kundos '10-was astounding.

Though there were moments that I would have rather not witnessed, details that could have been left out and shout-outs that I wished had been shushed, the night was an impressive survey of the efforts of various cultural groups on campus. The highlights made the night worth attending, and it challenged the notion held by many at Brandeis about the scant diversity on campus.