The Association of Residence Hall Students (ARHS) held its first Multicultural Dance Show Friday night in conjunction with LateNight Penn State.

Although students could come and go as they pleased, the show drew a crowd of about 150, said Jen Crawford (senior-biology and philosophy), diversity chairwoman for ARHS.

Crawford said the event was planned to not only promote awareness of diversity on campus, but to give students a chance to show off their talents.

"Diversity is already here, we just need to have a forum for students to show off their skills," Crawford said.

The show featured four acts, plus opening and closing performances.

Each group was different in its skills and genre of performance.

Lidz, a group of students originally from Altoona, gave drum lines a whole new meaning by drumming on trashcans. They performed numbers at both the beginning and the end.

Members of the International Dance Ensemble, a club of Penn State students, performed a belly dance and a salsa/merengue number.

Also, NOMMA members performed an African dance routine, including a traditional community circle with members of the audience.

The group's name is a West African word for seed, which can loosely be translated to planting the seed of knowledge about African culture here at Penn State.

The Silent Praise Dance ministry performed two interpretative gospel dance selections, which received a standing ovation from many audience members.

Crawford and Jacob Dixon (junior-special education), vice president of ARHS, hosted the event.

Although the Multicultural Dance Show was initially planned to begin at 9 p.m., it was changed to 10 p.m. to coordinate with the previously scheduled LateNight Penn State programming.

"The time change didn't seem to matter," Crawford said. "If anything, it may have helped because people who ordinarily would have shown up late, got to see most of it."

She also said the turnout was encouraging because it showed how many people on campus really do care about diversity and the talents of their fellow students.

Based on the event's success, Crawford said she thinks ARHS will plan another similar dance. She said some students asked her to plan another for the spring semester.

"Since it went so well, we'd love to make it an annual event," Crawford said. "I'd consider planning another one next semester since people were asking for it, although we'd like to branch out a little with our events."