The Center for the Arts will play host to two major campus cultural events this weekend - Arab Night on Saturday and China Night on Sunday.
The Organization of Arab Students has been preparing for its third-annual Arab Night all year. The event will include Arabic food, dance, singing and comedy.
"The OAS represents 22 countries, and we will be able to showcase the talents of students from these countries, as well as local talent," said Mazin Kased, president of the OAS.
The free event begins at 6 p.m. with traditional Arabic cuisine, and at 7 p.m. there is a show including belly dancing, short skits, comedy, a fashion show, a mix of traditional and modern dancing, and singing.
"We really have reached out to the local Arabic community this year," Kased said. "We will have a dance troupe from the West Side of Buffalo that incorporates both modern and traditional cultural dance. We are also having a professional belly dancer from Buffalo perform."
Club members said they hope the event will help inform UB about Arabic culture.
"We want to educate the community about our club and our culture, because many people know very little about Arabic culture," Kased said.
Following Arab Night, the Center for the Arts will come alive for the second night in a row for Chinese SA's 40th annual China Night. The theme of this year's China Night is "A New Dawn," and will celebrate Chinese culture, traditional food, dance and dress.
According to Linda Huang, president of Chinese SA, the event will be filled with all new fresh acts.
"Since this is the 40th year, we wanted to do something special," Huang said. "No acts are going to be repeated from previous years."
Danny Tung, vice president of the Chinese SA, said the best part about the show is its variety.
"Our performers are UB students, from the Buffalo Chinese School, and from a Syracuse Chinese school," Tung said. "It will be a great show because there is such a great variety of groups in the whole show: professional to students."
Huang said in addition to being entertained, funds from the event would go towards charity.
"This year we decided to donate 50 percent of the proceeds from the event to the Tsunami Disaster Relief Fund," Huang said.
China Night is the Chinese SA's biggest yearly event, and organizers said they hope people who come to the show enjoy it.
"We have been preparing for this since September," Huang said. "We have been recruiting performers since then, and Sunday will be a culmination of all our hard work."
Tung said although China Night is inherently based on Chinese culture, he wants to make sure it's an event that all people can enjoy.
"The show will include Chinese tradition dance to Westernized dance," Tung said. "It will have more of the traditional ones because they are the ones that bring out the Chinese culture. Yet, we want to show that we are all the same, fully assimilate the melting pots of the United States."
Tickets for China Night can be purchased at the Sub-Board I ticket office, the Center for the Arts ticket office and from ticketmaster.com. The tickets are $9 in advance and $10 at the door.
The OAS is also hosting an after-party Saturday night at Evolution, a nightclub on Transit Road. The party starts at 11 p.m. and costs $6 for men and $5 for women.
