This year's Culture X, "Fire- works! A Colorful Explosion" erupted with vibrancy and life in Levin Ballroom on Saturday night as hundreds of students took breaks from studying to watch their peers perform in 19 different multicultural acts.

The show's opening video was modeled after a dramatic reality competition show. An automated, monotonic woman voiced-over the video-explaining the "competition." Performers talked about their pieces, rehearsals and even joked about quarrels and tiffs that they were theoretically having with other performers or choreographers in their individual interviews. The audience laughed, cheered and called out as their friends en????????gaged with the tongue-in-cheek interviews.

Stop Motion, a newly formed dance group on campus, performed "Channel Surfing," an upbeat, visually energetic and exciting dance. Four friends (Matt Yan '17, Yoon Jae Lee '17, Alex Suk '17 and Young- jai Kim '17) founded the group just this February but they are already very polished.

The program notes that Stop Motion aims to mix break-dancing and popping within the hip-hop style. In the spirit of Culture X, Stop Motion danced to songs from places such as Germany, the Balkan Pen- insula, South Korea and the United States. When they danced to Jason Derulo's hit song "Talk Dirty," the audience erupted in cheers.

Another audience favorite was the ballroom dance performance titled "International Style Formation Dance." The female students in glittering gold, flapper-style dresses and male students in tuxedos performed a cha-cha, rumba, salsa and jive-showing off a variety of cultural dances. The team performed the routine at Harvard University's Ballroom Competition, which ran from March 23 through 24.

Kaos Kids performed a never- before-seen piece: "The Legend of Kaos," that retold the story of Avatar: The Last Airbender, in which a kid named Aang saves the world from the evil fire nation. Each nation in the film was represented in the dance: water, earth, fire and air. The pounding music kept the audience nodding their heads to the beat as Kaos Kids impressed yet again in an incredibly synchronized routine.

Hooked on Tap performed a '20s-inspired dance that included a dance-off between the males and females as they performed classic flapper-style moves. Fergie's "A Little Party Never Killed Nobody" was especially a hit with the crowd. The program stated that as a "commonly overlooked cultural dance style," tap dance can be found all over the world in places ranging from Ireland to New York.

"Lotus: Thousand Hand Bodhisattva" was an awe-inspiring dance in which performers moved together in perfect synchronization and harmony to form images of lotus flowers. The program notes that the dance "showcases the oriental mystical art depicted in the murals along the silk-road grottoes." The dancers' golden costumes, which included headdresses and long, sparkling finger extensions, shimmered as they moved in perfect co- ordination.
The audience clapped through- out as they were constantly amazed by the beauty of the dance and the seemingly inhuman perfection of the coordination.

The last performance by the Women of Color Alliance focused on the theme of female empowerment. Wearing pink masks, the performers danced to Beyonce's "Flawless." The masks gave the impression that whatever your race or color, there is an inherent bond between females that surpasses any differences. At one point in the show, a male student came onstage looking extremely frightened as the women menacingly circled him; the audience burst into laughter.

Culture X was a success yet again this year. There are many large cultural shows throughout the year, but Culture X is unique in the fact that it presents many different cultures in one single performance- showing similarities between cultures but also the differences that make each one distinct.

Editor's note: Marissa Ditkowsky performed in Culture X and is a Justice Editor.