The Ethnos Culture Show will be premiered a the Town and Country Drive In at 7 p.m. This year the Ethnos Culture Show theme is “Awaking,” focusing on taking students on a trip around the world. Tickets can be purchased with cash at the gate if preferred. All of the students performances including the performances from outside of ACU were prerecorded.
Veronica Summers, international student services specialist, said “We are trying to find ways to expand Ethnos and make it bigger but also to not only showcase the diversity that we have here on campus but in the Abilene community as well.”
The Ethnos Culture Show showcases different cultures around Abilene while also letting students explore these different cultures and it is performed every fall semester. The ISA has put on the Ethnos Culture Show since 1992.
“The Ethnos culture show is a fun way to learn about different culture without going on a mission trip,” Summers said. “It is also a great way to expose yourself to people that are from those countries and learning how dances and songs relate to different countries.”
The Ethnos culture show also partnered with a non profit organization called Cultura Local ABI. This organization promotes the diversity and culture in the Abilene community. The group will have different acts from around Abilene to showcase as well as student acts.
Takuma Tsuneki, vice president of the ISA and senior English education major and bible minor from Tokyo, Japan said, “Ethnos has always been a celebration of culture where people from different countries represent different dances and songs from their culture.”
In 2020 there will be different dances ranging from an African act to dances from Asia. There will also be a new line dancing group. This year students can see culture from outside and inside of the states. The International Students Association (ISA) behind the annual Ethnos Culture Show had to get creative due to COVID-19 restrictions.
“This experience may look very different to some but it is a great oppturnity to learn about the community of ISA and the diverse community of ACU,” said Tsuneki.