Gannon University held its 4th Multicultural Dance Night at the Erie Playhouse on Friday evening.

Organizers said the event highlighted local dancers representing cultures from all over the world, including Chinese, Syrian, Irish and more.

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“We are together in Erie from so many different parts of the world, and tonight we are celebrating the coming together, the human connection, the tune that binds us together on stage in celebration of the unity that we have and the diversity in Erie,” said Kaustav Mukherjee, an assistant professor at Gannon University.

Each performance brought energy from different cultures to the stage, giving the community a chance to share their cultures and experience something new together.

“It shows everybody like you don’t have to like come from the same like culture, background, but you can all like be able to like share it, like, have fun with it,” said Amari Ash, one of the performers.

“The culture is so important for the whole world, through the culture, we can express our beautiful emotion, love, spread the love to the whole world,” Linda Peng, another performer.

With this year’s focus representing the melting pot of cultures right here in Erie, dancers had the opportunity to share their traditions through what organizers call a universal language.

“Music is a universal language, right, and humanity is a universal language too. Human connection is universal, that’s why we are celebrating tonight. We are celebrating music, we are celebrating dance, and we are celebrating the human connection that makes Erie happen,” said Mukherjee.

“We can speak a different language, but arts are the same language; everyone can appreciate that,” said Liu Cao, a performer. ” I think that it’s what brings people together because of dancing and the arts in general.”

Organizers said events like this continue to bring the community together through the expression of the arts.

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