The Barometer Online

Issue date: 2/19/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Andrew Burton Volunteer audience members at the Gone Global Music Festival try playing different sizes of angklungs, a musical instrument from the Indonesian island of Java.

An audience was invited Saturday night to step out of their comfort zone and into some creative and lively dance lessons.

The evening began with several musical performances that introduced audience members to the beauty of unfamiliar instruments from around the world.

"It's intended to raise awareness of the international instruments and musical talents at OSU," said Caitlin Donlon, employee of the Student Services Administration.

The prized instrument of Trinidad, the steel drum, was featured in the night's opening act. Other acts included Indonesia's angklung, a Celtic fiddle, China's zheng and pipa, as well as a vocal performance of an Indian folksong.

"I sang this song when I was in middle school in India for a school competition," said performer Parvathy Binoy, of the International Students of OSU (ISOSU). "A few other girls and I sang it together and won the competition. It's a good memory."

ISOSU put on the event, titled "Gone Global: The Moves Behind the Music," as their annual winter festival.

"I was interested in learning more Romanian folk dances since I'm Romanian. My dance teacher mentioned her friends Sonia and Cristian who could put on a dance workshop," said Catalina Vlad, ISOSU's co-developement coordinator. "When I brought this idea to [ISOSU], they thought since we are an international [organization], it should be more representative. Ideas for the instrument and other dances progressed from there."

To get the musicians needed to act on all of their proposed ideas, ISOSU went to Gracewinds Music in downtown Corvallis.

"Gracewinds provided us with the names of some great teachers in the community. The performers are from the community and the university," Donlon said.

After the last performer had finished, guests were asked to clear away their chairs to accommodate the dance lessons.

Once the floor was cleared, dance instructors Sonia Dion and Cristian Florescu asked the audience to form a circle. It was not long before the circle of strangers became as warm and spirited as a real family.

Following the Romanian folk dance workshop was a salsa lesson instructed by Santiago Landazuri.

The lively dance was embraced by the audience as a welcome diversion from winter's cold.

"We collaborated with a lot of different groups to make this event possible. ISOSU is trying to step out of the box for international events this year," Binoy said.

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