"At first, I listened to Rock and Roll, but I couldn't understand it, so I switched to Country," he said, bursting into song with, 'You are always on my mind.' "This way, when I see a pretty girl, I know what to say: 'You are always on my mind...'"

At the start of the event, however, Chan seemed nervous about his English. He said he didn't want to make "too many speeches----I'm just smiling for the whole day." Chan did much more than sit and smile, however, and joined in several of the student performances.

After a Fuerza Latina salsa, one dancer grabbed Chan and tried to show him some moves. He proved more dexterous than she thought: he took her by surprise when he ended the impromtu dance by dipping her, to shrieks of audience members.

"What I most liked about the show was its range, which highlighted the diversity of the student body," said audience member Firas H. Alkhatib '04. "The performances were very interesting."

Most of the performers said they had started practicing sometime around intersession, with varying levels of proficiency within each group.

"I've known the dance for a long time, because it's very traditional in the Philippines, but there were all levels," said Mindy M. Chan '02, of an intricate Philippine Forum dance. It had people holding two long poles near the ground, clapping them together in rhythm, as dancers jump inside and outside the closing space.

"The new people were scared of getting struck, but it looks harder than it is," Chan added.