Cabaret numbers in Spanish, German, Japanese, French and francophone African languages share the stage at the sixth annual Language Festival to be held at Sonoma State University from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 18.
New this year is the International Disko, which will take place the evening of the Festival. The Disko is a chance for students on campus who enjoyed the entertainment of the Cabaret to continue dancing into the night.
In the first hour, the Disko will have a professional dance instructor teaching multicultural dances from many different countries. The organizers hope the success of this dance will be an impetus for the Disko to become a permanent event of the Language Festival.
Spoken language is a also big part of the day, as local middle school and high school students compete in language contests with the encouragement and support of SSU students and faculty. These contests include poetry, diction, public speaking, singing, theater and short film competitions in French, German and Spanish.
SSU students will serve as greeters, judges, and language-specific tour guides for this portion of the event. In addition, representatives from the Goethe Institute, the American Association of Teachers of German, the French Consulate and the Alliance Française de Santa Rosa will be in attendance.
"It's fabulous for local students to have the opportunity to compete for prizes using their academic language skills," says French professor Suzanne Toczyski. "The Language Festival gives students of all levels a place to show off all that they've learned and to engage with their fellow language speakers in a fun setting."
"Our annual Language Festival gets bigger and bigger, which is exciting," says German professor Michaela Grobbel. "It not only attracts more high school students now who are proud of displaying their language skills at a university, but our event has expanded as well."
"Because of student interest, our Festival now includes a world dance party in the evening, preceded by free dance instruction. I guess studying another language not only opens your mind, but gets your body moving, too!"
After a short brown-bag lunch, SSU students, high school students, and faculty will join together for a cabaret extravaganza at 2 p.m. in the Cooperage, including musical and dramatic performances in French, German, Spanish and more. In between the various numbers, the audience will be entertained by the Noam Lemish Trio, led by Lemish, an SSU alum and local musical celebrity.
For further information, contact Suzanne Toczyski, (707) 664-4177.
