A mix of food, dance, clothing and music brought students, staff and Ames residents together for a night of entertainment in the Gallery Room of the Memorial Union Thursday evening.

Penny Rice, director of Margaret Sloss Women’s Center, said the event was an early celebration of International Women’s Day, which is Saturday. The evening was planned by the Women’s History Month Planning Committee.

Rice said the celebration was a chance to get a better sense of different cultures and enjoy free food and entertainment.

“Not every one of us has the opportunity to get out of the country and try international food and participate on a social level with different cultures,” Rice said.

She said the Memorial Union staff made all the food. Rice said the staff is good at making suggestions and have a collection of a variety of recipes from previous events at the Memorial Union. She encouraged everyone to try each food option. There were about 10 dishes from 10 different countries.

“The best part about doing events like this is that I don’t have to cook or clean up,” Rice said.

She said this was the second year they have done this kind of event. In the past, smaller groups have celebrated International Women’s Day at the same time but in different places. This allows them to come together in one place, she said.

Angie Dickinson, junior in family and consumer sciences and Rachel Pfannkuch, senior in family and consumer sciences, were there for their International Perspectives FCS 421 class.

“I think it’s better that I don’t know what I’m eating,” Dickinson said.

Pfannkuch said, “the lemonade is really spicy. The quesadilla was the best, but really spicy too.”

Two dancers from the Russian Club were there to perform a swing dance and a Russian dance.

Dmitriy Dvornikov, freshman in pre-law, and Olga Kirsanova, senior in French, are both from Russia. Both are also in the ISU Ballroom Dance Club.

“We’re representing Russian culture and Russian music. We want people to see the Russian style of dance,” Dvornikov said. “Since we’re in the Ballroom Dance Club, we wanted to show both an American style of dance and a Russian style.”

Kirsanova has been at Iowa State for three years and said she has always loved to dance. She began dancing in Russia when she was young and wanted to get back into it here.

Neha Kothari, junior in chemical engineering, said she has always liked to dance and wanted to give people the chance to see something new by watching her Indian dance.

“I’ve been dancing with my friends since I was young. Our moms used to choreograph dances for us,” Kothari said.

Rice said the event, which last from 6 to 9 p.m., was an “opportunity to take a trip around the world without leaving the union.”