I’m just going to be honest here and say that in my memory, February was completely consumed by I-nite. My school has built-in time for clubs and extracurricular activities during our 8th period because people live so far away. As a result, we have tons of different clubs and student associations including culture clubs, language societies, etc.
Namaste, the Indian culture club, is in charge of this huge production every year called International Night. Basically a ton of clubs put together different acts related to their respective cultures. It got to be such a big deal that we actually have it across two nights, and all 1,000 tickets for both shows sold out in 8 minutes this year. We also had to sign forms pledging not to scalp I-nite tickets…
I’m on the swing dance team and like many other clubs, we had a crazy practice schedule the week before the shows. Everyone wants their acts to live up to the hype of I-nite, so a lot of work is put into making sure everything runs smoothly. Almost the entire production is student-run, from the Namaste officers to the club officers and choreographers to the performers who work so hard to pull it off.
One of the I-nite traditions is the Namaste Senior Girls dance, a mix of bollywood, bhangra, and classical dance. Any senior girl who wants to can participate, and it’s like a rite of passage to be in it. There were sniffles after it was all over, and repeated proclamations of “I don’t know what to do with my life now that I-nite is over!”
To go with the senior girls dance, we also wear saris to school on the day of I-nite. Everyone else is encouraged to wear traditional clothing from their own cultures, but since so many people are in one of Namaste’s many performances, almost everyone ends up in Indian clothes whether they’re Indian or not 🙂 I’ve got to say I have newfound respect for women who wear saris every day because going to the bathroom in that thing was a struggle.
I-nite is always amazing, but this year tops them all. We had hilarious MC’s (masters of ceremony culture) and an incredibly dedicated group of performers. There were way too many acts for me to post pictures from all of them, but here are some great shots of the night(s). (If you are one of the photographers and would like me to credit your photo in another way, please let me know!)
I-nite never fails to leave me in awe of the talent in our student body; it’s definitely the one thing I’m going to miss most about this school when I graduate. So thank you TJ, for an unforgettable last I-nite!
Oh, here’s a non-I-nite related picture from February:
I was in the same room as Jeremy Lin. I mean, it may have been the (sold-out) Verizon Center, but it’s still pretty significant! The game didn’t get exciting until the end and the Wizards and Rockets were neck and neck, but in the end the Wizards narrowly won by 2 points.