There was a lot more than eating and studying going on at Redifer Commons last night, as two student groups hosted Diversi-dance, a night of multicultural music and dancing.

The South Halls Residence Association (SHRA) and the South Halls Cultural Lounge ran the event, which was meant to be "an intro to performing arts groups at Penn State" according to fliers distributed to advertise the event.

SHRA diversity chairs Camille Miller (sophomore-supply chain and information systems and Spanish) and Arjun Plakkat (freshman-chemical engineering and philosophy) planned the event.

"Our goal is to let Penn Staters know about diversity, because PSU's pretty homogenous," Plakkat said.

An area of Redifer's food court was cleared so four groups could perform.

first two groups of dancers represented the Penn State Filipino Association (PSFA). The first of these two groups featured girls dressed in traditional Filipino outfits.

The second group consisted of guys whose costumes consisted of coconut shells.

PSFA member and dancer Marisa Nuñez (freshman-psychology) said "This helps us to display our culture and reach a wider demographic."

The next group of dancers was called Bana Ba Africa (meaning "children of Africa" in the tribal language of Douala Cameroon).

The dance group is affiliated with the African Student Association (ASA).

Bana Ba Africa team captain Carine Eyoum (junior-theatre) said her group got involved with Diversi-dance because "we're always looking to promote anything having to do with diversity."

Karnesha Slaughter (freshman-biobehavioral health) said "It's cool that they're showing dances from other countries," and added that she liked the African dancing, but was really interested in seeing the Indian dancers perform.

The Indian dance team, called Ghaamudyas, performed in brightly colored traditional Indian outfits.

Technical difficulties had cut off Bana Ba Africa's last dance, and those difficulties persisted during Ghaamudyas' performance.

Their music was cut off several times.

Dancer Shivani Aghera (sophomore-economics) said "The music turning off made it hard to perform."

Despite that, applause and shouts of "keep going" from audience members encouraged the dancers to continue.

The dancers did Penn State cheers during their dance, which helped them to get the most positive response from the crowd in the commons.

Erica Payne (freshman-business management) hadn't expected to find people dancing when she came to Redifer, but she was impressed by what she found.

"It's nice that they get to showcase their talent and culture," she said.