On a rainy Friday night, 250 Iowa State students, staff and faculty and nine multicultural student organizations filled the Great Hall of the Memorial Union to celebrate diversity.

The 13th annual Global Gala gave Iowa State’s multicultural student organizations a platform to showcase their heritage and culture through traditional dance, song and a fashion show.

Tyrell Erb, junior in event management and multicultural awareness co-director for the Student Union Board, said the Global Gala’s main purpose is to show students and community members the diversity of Iowa State.

“We are one of the most diverse colleges in Iowa,” Erb said. “The Global Gala is able to showcase that to our students and show that we are accepting.”

Cory Bock, junior in event management and multicultural awareness co-director for SUB, said the Global Gala also provides an opportunity for organizations that don’t have their own cultural nights to demonstrate their unique traditions and culture.

Students from the Arab Students Association opened the night with Dabke dance. Dabke is a Levantine folk dance, meaning it originated from a region in the Middle East that includes the countries of Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria.

Live! Yoga, Live! Green did interactive musical meditation known as Kirtan with the audience. They sang along to ancient Sanskrit chants.

After the Persian dance performed by the Iranian Students’ and Scholars’ Association, the event’s host Raghul Ethiraj, graduate student in business administration, introduced a couple cultural fun facts to the audience. He informed the crowd that Russia bans emo culture and in France, an individual can marry a dead person.

Next on the stage, Mariachi Los Amigos de ISU performed three classic Mariachi songs followed by the ISU Bhangra dancers stunning the audience with their Punjabi folk dance, a popular Indian form.

A couple of students from Descarga Latin Dance danced Bachata, a performance originated from the Dominican Republic.

Three Brazilian Student Organization members played Bossa Nova songs “The Girl From Ipanema” on guitar while singing. Bossa Nova is a Brazilian genre of music lending itself to jazz, samba and blues.

Pakistan Student Association presented a fashion walk displaying attires from various regions of Pakistan and followed by the performance on one of the four popular tragic romances of Punjab named “Sohni Mahiwal.”

Motion Sickness Dance Team ended the night with a high note. The group performed various upbeat and high-energy dance forms, such as hip-hop and jazz.

Sally Carullo, graduate student in natural resource ecology and management, came to the gala with the intention to support her friend who performed, but ended up enjoying all the cultural performances. Carullo is from Philadelphia and has experienced a lot of diversity in her hometown. Carullo said she thinks it’s important for people from Iowa to get in touch with diversity.

“It’s nice to see diversity in a state like Iowa,” Carullo said. “And It’s nice to see where your classmates are coming from. A lot of people from Iowa are close-minded, and it’s nice to see a bigger picture, and we live in a bigger world.”

After the event, Erb and Bock said this year’s Gala was a big success.

“It was such an amazing experience,” Erb said. “To see this many people showed up on a Friday night, and [It’s] raining. They showed their support for diversify, and it’s fantastic.”