Clark Diaries

6th Apr, 2009

If All you want is everything, All you need is Gala!

Hey Everyone,So it finally came and went. The Gala is officially over and it was a huge success. We had seating for 1800 people but we had over 2000 people attend. We were actually forced to close the door to prevent more people from coming as it would have been a fire hazard. The international Gala is a show where students volunteer to do performances from different regions of the world. This year we had over 31 performances representing over 50 different countries and regions of the world. They were traditional dances, mixed with more contemporary music. We also had shorts skits, live irish folk band and singing. At the end of every Gala we have the infamous flag ceremony where students from different countries come on stage with their flags and say something in their native tongue before waving their flag proudly for all to see. Gala was pretty crazy this year with last minute glitches. Cha, the president of ISA twisted his knee the day before Gala during practices, he was in three dances and had to drop out of one of them last minute. Luckily we found a back dancer the day of gala to fill his spot in the dance. We also had issues with editing the making of the Gala video that plays during intermission. I was in the editing room all day with Dan, a very awesome volunteer editor, trying to fix it and burn it onto a DVD in time. We only got it done at 7:30pm, roughly half an hour into the gala! We were both very relieved when it finally played on the huge jumbo screens. So between not having enough seating for everyone, DVD issues and our president being injured day before Gala, it was a huge relief when it was over and everything went well. I danced for Germany, Pakistan and Southern Africa and though all three dances went every well. But there was more…. THE GALA AFTER-PARTY. We set up the cafeteria in the university centre club-style complete with glow sticks and lights. We barely advertised for it but by midnight we had reached capacity because it felt like everyone was there. It was a lot of fun, we stayed up late at night and woke up early in the morning to set up the stages and then break it down. There was a lot of bonding going on between everyone involved in Gala, proving that it is never too late to make new friends, and that Clark is never too small of a place that you won’t meet new people even after you have been here for three years. Many people put up pictures of the Gala and our wonderful costumes and such. I took some pictures of Gala set and and clean up! See the hard work we put into getting it all done. SPREE DAY is coming up soon which is a day all classes are cancelled and we have carnival type day on the green. Maybe that is why I can’t get back into the studying-frame of mind. Between Gala and Spree Day there just been way too much fun going on at Clark, that a break from work load is very much needed!See ya �