Global grooving

Organised by the Delft International Student Society (DISS) and the Central International Office, the multicultural event was preceded by an awards ceremony for the winning teams of new students.

32 student societies set up stalls to inform and recruit new students, workshop areas were created on the ground floor where students could get a quick lesson in dancing or a demo of martial arts. Food, from wok to croquets and beer on tap, was served on two floors. The first floor had the main stage area, where the main performances of the evening took place. A traditional Chinese dance, fusion Indian performance and Greek choreography were among the performances of the evening. One of the funniest shows of the evening was ‘Roleplay’, a short skit enacted to highlight some typical Dutch sights, such as people dressed in crazy orange clothes on King’s Day!

“The committee set up for the event took about three months to set it all up. About 10 people from our team worked on it full time,” says Ran Qedar, the chairperson of DISS. This year was the first time DISS took on the responsibility of organising the event. “Being the first time, it was all a big challenge. The lack of time was probably the biggest one. The location of the event was set late as the older venue was undergoing renovations. We only had two months in the summer within which to contact student societies and organise the layout and schedule,” he adds.

Despite the challenges, the event seemed to go off without a hiccup. “I think it was a great idea to let organisations set up stalls here. It gave us exposure and students a chance to see that there is something for everyone’s interest. We had about 200 people come up to us with queries about volunteering,” says Molly Quell, PR and Media Coordinator of TEDxDelft.

Around 20:30, a DJ took to the console and changed the tempo of the evening. Rumour had it the after party moved into the city centre.