A girl wearing a full-length, long sleeved white dress with her hair covered by purple scarves hustled behind the Great Hall stage as she prepared to showcase her culture at International Night.

Students from different countries showed off traditional clothing while performing cultural dances for the grand finale of International Week at International Night on the night of Nov. 20, which took place in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

A Korean flute, called a Danso, played as the Asian Pacific American Awareness Coalition and Cyclone Breakers opened up the show with hip hop dancing. Other performing countries included: Sri Lanka, China, Malaysia, Ukraine and India.

James Dorsett, the director of the International Students and Scholars, welcomed the audience to International Night and talked a bit about why it’s important to the university.

“International week is a great opportunity for Iowa State University to showcase international cultures,” Dorsett said. “And this makes people want to learn more about the rest of the world.”

Allen Erika Robles, the Association of International Student Organizations coordinator and freshman in kinesiology and health, said about 300 to 400 people attend the event each year.

“Tonight’s event is the gathering and final show for the International Week. I really hope people can enjoy tonight’s show,” she said, “I think it’s a great time for people to feel different cultures.”

Savannah Putnam, the executive secretary of International Student Council and senior in biology, said she thought this year was successful.

“This year’s International Week is the most successful among the past few years,” Putnam said. “The purpose to hold these events is to get more people evolved to share their national cultures.”

The show was free to attend and about 30 people waited outside of the Great Hall before the show even started.

Mengwei Xue, a junior in advertising from China, was welcomed to the event by the International Student Council.

“This is my first year joining the International Week. I cannot wait to see the show and have a fun time talking to people from other countries,” Xue said before the show started.

Performers had been practicing for weeks to prepare for their performances.

Lakshmi Attigala, a graduate student from Sri Lanka, majoring in ecology, evolution and organismal biology, said she was excited to perform.

“The dance that we are going to perform is a traditional dance from Sri Lanka. We have two male performers and two female performers. It’s been great to have these two male dancers practicing with us,” she said. “They are professional dancers who have learned how to dance more than 15 years.”

The classical dance by Sri Lankan Student Association was called “Kandyan,” a show dedicated to admiring elephants. The women wore headdresses and the men wore Wes Thattuwa, another type of headdress.

The Malaysian Student Association performed a dance called “Nirmala.”

“This dance was different than the one we did for last year, this one has the most traditional songs and mixed with modern and traditional cultural,” said Hajar Ghafar, a junior in hospitality management from Malaysia. “I like both year’s dances, and I hope my audiences will like it too. I grew up in Malay cultures. We have very open mind of dancing.”

Another performance was a Guang Hwa Lion Dance, a dance believed to bring good fortune and prosperity while chasing away evil spirits, from the Association of Malaysian Students. Motion Sickness also performed a blend of hip-hop, jazz and modern dance.

Students also had the opportunity to pie an adviser from the International Students and Scholars Office.

The night ended on an international fashion show showcasing traditional cultural backgrounds from different organizations.