By Matthew McEvoy
This week’s Global Festival was kicked off earlier today with several events celebrating cultural diversity within Kingston University.
The idea behind the week was inspired by this year’s Olympics and is a homage to all things international.
Activities during the week will be held at both Penryhn Road and Kingston Hill campuses and will include artistic performances, film screenings and culturally themed food and drink events.
A Capoeira (a Brazilian martial art) demonstration in the John Galsworthy courtyard was the focal point of today’s festivities and was ran by the Kingston University Capoeira club, who were promoting the freedom of expression.
Freedom of expression
Capoeira instructor Marcus Cabeça helped coordinate the event with the student union in order to stress the importance of self-expression.
He said: “After several events shaped the end of last year, we decided to set ‘freedom’ as a theme for 2012.
“We are using Capoeira to celebrate our freedom and show how it can bring people together.
“We wanted people to participate in expressing their freedom and participate in making history.”
Engaging performance
An engaging demonstration of the martial art (a combination of Brazilian dance and music) aside, the Kingston Capoeira club set up a workshop for students to take part in. As the theme was ‘freedom’, there were activities – including Lego building, public speaking and writing – that were designed to explore what freedom means to the 21st century student.
Mr Cabeça added: “Freedom is an important thing to discuss and explore – without harmony, there is no music.”
For a full programme of KU Global Festival events, visit: http://www.kusu.co.uk/content/821253/global_festival/