I-House’s 13th International Show

Maya Sasaki-George ’28

Staff Writer

Trinity’s International House (I-House) put on its 13th annual International Show on April 11, 2025, showcasing talents from around the globe. As always with the I-House’s highly-anticipated events, the Washington Room was packed to the brim with excited performers and audience members, international and domestic alike. Emceeing the show were the I-House presidents Francesco Castagna ’25 and Nini Tsikhistavi ’25, wrapping up their final year at Trinity with this time-honored tradition. This show brought students from all over the world together and clearly demonstrated the necessity of such an organization on campus. 

The I-Show kicked off with a flag parade. On either side of the audience came dozens of I-House members, all proudly displaying the flags of their origin countries on their shoulders or waving them high in the air. Some flags were proudly waved by large groups of students; some had only one representative. No matter how many people were present for each country, every participant in the parade wore a glowing grin on their face. 

After the flag parade, the individual performances began, opening with a number by the members of a course specifically dedicated to African dance. The music for this performance, a lively, rhythmic drumming that kept the dancers in synch. Next came a Filipino song sung by CJ Limjap ’28 entitled “Imposible,” originally by KZ Tandingan. Following that was a lovely dance by Fariba Nazanin ’28 and Maha Yamagami ’28, blending Bangla and Japanese styles and ending in a heartwarming hug between the two. Next came a poem read by Sarah Dajani ’26, “Passport” by Mahmoud Darwish. This performance struck on a far more serious note than the others, commenting on the loss of Palestinian identity under occupation, but received one of the biggest audience applause of the night. The fifth performance was by Diarra Sadji ’25, singing two songs beautifully. The latter, “Love Me JeJe” by Tems, invited audience participation and had everyone singing along by its conclusion. Next was a fun Peruvian dance number involving an anaconda, performed by Sofia Acevedo ’28, Mafer Vacca ’27, Juan Marcano ’28, Valeria Boyd ’28 and Alejandra Gutierrez ’28. Following that was another favorite of the night, a Bollywood mashup performed by Shivanshu Dwivedi ’26, Airitra ’25, Kriish Bendre ’28 and Shash Sunkum ’25. The final three performances were passionate and entertaining group numbers: a Hawaiian dance performed by Fiona Cunningham ’28, Alicia Grande ’25, Adriana Aquino ’27, Maile Fowler ’27 and Siena Wood ’25; an Armenian dance by Masha Hakobyan ’28, Lili Davtyan ’25, Dzima Bartosh ’25, Armen Nanayan ’25, Juan Marcado and Sofia Acevedo; and lastly an upbeat Soca dance performed by Sienna Stephens ’26, Valeria Boyd, Irem Insel ’28 and Shreyasi Oli ’26.