AUD International Night: Some Rain and Many Great Performances

Cultures, traditions and excitement rocked AUD’s stage last week for the 22nd annual International Night, despite the bad weather conditions.
The Lebanese Cultural Club won the Best Performance award with a colorful “dabke” dance; the Egyptian and Indian Cultural Clubs danced together in “Bollywood” style to be awarded the Best Collaborative Performance awards; and the Afghani Club was awarded the Best Booth award.
Rain, lightning and, thunderstorms engulfed the skies of Dubai which caused delays with booth preparations, and decorations. Student Affairs had to step into action, and help to cover booth rooftops with plastic bags and extend the event by half an hour.
The university managed to coordinate last-minute changes, and moved the event from E-lawn to the auditorium.
“Unfavorable weather conditions caused a lot of inconvenience during the event, specifically with the hard-worked student booths and stage,” said Islam Darwish, Student Activities Coordinator. “It was a loss in terms of money but at the same time we got to see the determination of the students, faculty and the stage production team in handling the situation together.”
“Due to horrible weather conditions, the Egyptian booth pyramid we built unfortunately ended up soaking wet, which smudged all the paint,” said Sherif Maged, President of the Egyptian Cultural Club. “We had to improvise and start hanging flags and decorations over it to cover the mess.”
International Night is an annual event held at the American University in Dubai. It brings together students and faculty members for a night of cultural experience. It consists of dance performances, and booths by each participating cultural club.