Girls perform to celebrate colourful world
A Japanese dance that depicts ocean waves and fishermen dragging nets and pulling ropes was a crowd favourite at the Nelson College for Girls annual cultural diversity day.
Students performed the sea shanty, known in Japan as Soran Bushi, by singing and dancing while dressed in traditional costume to honour their culture amid loud cheering from their fellow students.
Teacher Rebecca Baird said that the event, organised by the social studies department, was the school’s way of recognising the recent Race Unity Day and students who performed chose to be involved and represent their culture.
‘‘In the first term, we look at identity and how we have diversity within our school, within Nelson and within New Zealand,’’ said Baird.
She said the annual event was a much anticipated feature on the school calendar and students had the chance to sample different foods from around the world for lunch, followed by performances from a number of cultural groups.
Alongside the Japanese group, those celebrating the Maori, Pacific Island, Vietnamese and Nepalese cultures also sang and performed traditional dances.
Jenny Faanu, 16, was part of the Pasifika group and said she was nervous before she went on stage but was fine once she got up there, with the support of her friends and classmates cheering the group on.
Girls from the Chin State performed a traditional harvest dance and the Korean group danced to a medley of K-Pop songs, much to the delight of the other students.
The performances were split up with cultural quiz questions and were followed by loud applause and cheering from students in the hall.