The Cross Center came alive on Tuesday afternoon with the sights and sounds of two-dozen cultures.

The International Student Alliance hosted its annual holiday greetings and performances, an MHS tradition celebrating community and showcasing the many talents of our amazing students. In all, more than forty students performed, offering dances and music, often in traditional clothing, and the event culminated weeks of work under the leadership of ISA Advisor Tanya Kalischer.

The event was paired with traditional foods served during lunch and dinner in the Dining Room. Throughout the week, Chef Russ and the MHS Culinary Services Team have spiced up the MHS menu with recipes contributed by students and featuring some of their favorite foods from home — wherever that may be!

ISA co-Heads Ada Liu ’23, Iva Knezevic ’24, Fernanda Morais Laroca ’23, and Phuong Tran ’22 opened the event by welcoming guests and performers to a socially distanced Thatcher Family Gymnasium. Students from twenty-four countries — and carrying their flags — then took center stage to offer holiday greetings and/or New Year’s wishes in the language of their home country. Then… the show began!

Christina Zheng ’22 kicked things off with a mesmerizing performance on a traditional Chinese instrument called a guzheng, which is a zither, and playing the song, “Chinese Fisherman.” Isa Bretthauer ’22 and Fernanda Morais Laroca ’23 followed by singing the Brazilian song, Velha Infância; Jena Alam ’23 and Aurora Rahman ’23, from Bangladesh, performed a traditional dance; and Shirley Dong ’23 (vocals) and Fei Yang ’22 (drums) performed a Chinese song called “Open,” to a piano accompaniment recorded by Belle He ’23.

Next, Viola Quiles ’23 and Welmerly Maria ’24, representing the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, performed traditional and pop culture LatinX dances, followed by four students — Mai Le ’22, Kathleen Nguyen ’22, Kelly Pham ’22, and Phuong Tran ’22 — who sang a Vietnamese song called, “Cu Chill Thoi.” Najma Yusuf ’24 then performed a traditional Somali dance, followed by Ivy He ’23 and Belle He ’23, who performed a Chinese dance called “The Sphinx.”

The upbeat Fliegerlied, a German song and dance by Henrike Fuhs ’24, Carolin Forssman ’24, and Katie Kamphues ’23 got guests up and dancing, followed by seven seniors from China — Elin Chen, Julianna Jia, Dorothy Shi, Fei Yang, Sammie Yu, Christina Zheng, and Ivy Zhou — who reflected on their years at MHS and sang a song that means “memory.” The MHS Step Team — Ollie Walter ’23, Sam Dean ’22, Sam Kangethe ’22, Ruby McDonald ’22, and Kali Sears ’23 — delivered a show-stopping performance. The show’s final performance featured Alice Ho ’23, Anna Ho ’22, Truc Hoang ’22, Mai Le ’22, Thi Nguyen ’22, Vy Nguyen ’23, Kelly Pham ’22, and Hannie Truong ’22 performing a Vietnamese dance to the song, “Ao Dai.”

The show ended with each of the seventy(!) greeters and performers taking to the stage again for a final bow. What a great way to head into the Winter Break!