Culture displayed in Heritage Night

     After an opening address from Principal John Ponton, the sixth annual Heritage Night got underway in the AHS auditorium. Groups representing countries from every corner of the world were present in the nearly three hour long show.

    Nineteen groups performed including Men’s Choral and the Atoms Step Team. The crowd gave standing ovations for each performance.  There were about 130 performers, 17 teachers who sponsored the teams, and over 50 teachers, Leadership students and administrators who worked diligently to make the show to success.

    The show included dances from Africa, Asia, and South America. One of the most popular performances was the Egyptian Belly Dancing which captivated the audience. In addition, this year’s Heritage Night was different from last year’s because of the addition of a light show that was put on by one of the performing groups.  Despite the increase in ticket costs, the audience was still as large as previous years.

    “I think it was great and we really pulled it off,” said senior Edward Mewborn. “I thought it was good, even though we stumbled on some parts but the reaction of the crowd was good.” Even though this was his first time performing, Mewborn felt that the response from the crowd was overwhelmingly positive.

    “[My performance was] a mixture of martial arts, like Taekwondo, and Hykido,” said Mewborn. “We have been practicing for about a month now, but we knew the basics, and we performed it because it had the most respect for all individual care for each person.” All of the groups practiced for at least two months prior to the show.

    “It felt good, how we were able to represent every culture, and many people got involved in the making of Heritage Night,” said senior Betty Granados.
Planning the event was not an easy task. For Granados, who was a stage manager, the event was a great display of diverse cultures. She felt good about every group that performed.

    “It took us about two months to get every single group together for the show,” said Granados. “It is because we tried to have an interesting show rather than long and boring, we also thought about people who have to come to school the next day so we decided to make it shorter,” said Granados. This year’s show ended earlier than it did in pervious years.

    “Heritage Night had been going on for six years, and this year lost one of its main administrators, Patrick Watlington, who is no longer at AHS.
    
    “I held auditions, and brought in outside judges from performing groups around the D.C. area. That way I did not have to decided who made it, and who did not,” said Tomisato.

    Last year Tomisato had not seem the show, working with students in the green room before they went on stage. This year she was sure to catch it.  
“I thought that the performers stepped it up, and everyone did a good job. There was a sense of professionalism,” said Tomisato. From the crowd’s reaction, it seemed as if many enjoyed the show.

    “This [event] is the big bang before we graduate, especially me and Miyako,” said Mewborn.

    “I have been directing shows since I was in high school, right now, I dance and perform Hula, a Hawaiian dance. I love the arts so this gave me great satisfaction to be able to work with so many exciting cultures,” said Tomisato.


Click here to view the Heritage Night Specials Page, with all your favorite acts.