People joined hands and clapped while the band fronted by singer Emad Batayeh led the celebration. The dabke, a traditional Arab line dance, was in full swing, and Grand Valley State University students rushed to join those already dancing at last week’s Arabian Night.

“(My favorite part was) easily when the band started playing the dabke,” said Mohammed Ghannam, one of the event’s organizers. “That’s just the whole environment. That kind of vibe is a hard thing to find on campus (because) it’s rare to find with the small Arab population (in West Michigan). When you have a chance to party like this, you get community members attending, and that is when students can interact with community members.”

Arabian Night, put on by the GVSU Arab Culture Club, gave GVSU students a chance to meet Arab community members in a casual setting. The event was co-sponsored by the music department, the International Student Organization, the Office of Multicultural Affairs, Modern Languages and Literatures, the GVSU Women’s Center and the Padnos International Center.

The night featured student poets, Arabic student-made films, a variety of Middle Eastern cuisine, live music and dancing. The event was meant to show off the diversity of the Arab community.

“The Arab world is not just one country; it consists of an entire region,” Ghannam said. “A good number of attendees will be community members. This gives Grand Valley students an opportunity for one-on-one interaction with actual Arabs. There isn’t one kind (of Arab).”

The Arab Culture Club annually hosts the Taste of the Arab World each winter semester and was inspired to plan an event for this year’s fall semester. Planning for the event was in the works for two months. To advertise in the community, club members reached out to Masjid At-Tawheed, the mosque of Grand Rapids, and to Arab churches such as the St. Nicholas Church of Grand Rapids.

“(These are) multicultural communities, and Arabian Night gives a chance for students to interact with them,” Ghannam said. “That’s why the Padnos International Center is sponsoring us. Arab women (are often) stereotyped as being suppressed; that’s why the Women’s Center is sponsoring us. It’s a multi-faceted event that combines a lot of fields.”

Through interaction with Arab community members, the event was aimed to fight stereotypes.

“As a Muslim, people assume that you can’t have fun,” Ghannam said. “(They think) I can’t smile or live life, but this event will show most of us letting loose like you’ve never seen.”

Once the night was in full swing, the Grand River Room was at capacity, drawing 200 attendees. After several opening student performances, attendees enjoyed traditional Middle Eastern food such as hummus and falafel. Live music then began, with the drummer of Emad Batayeh’s band leading the dabke. Emad Batayeh’s music featured synthesized instrumentation of traditional Arabic instruments, characteristic melismatic singing and the drummer, who beat a traditional bass drum on the floor, even standing on a table at one point.

“We hope that (after attending the event) students will explore, take classes in the Middle Eastern studies department,” Ghannam said. “We encourage students to take Arabic 101. It’s in an incredibly important language to learn.”

Club members said Arabic is an applicable language to many career fields. From pursuing careers in medicine to working at an embassy, knowing Arabic can be crucial. Erin Knochenhauer, one of the night’s attendees, previously studied abroad in France and found being aware of Arabic culture to be fundamental there.

“There was actually quite (a large Arabic immigrant) population where I was living in France,” Knochenhauer said. “There are still tendencies for people to discriminate. It’s important to be exposed to (Arabic) culture before going there.”

One of the night’s features included performances by belly dancer Daniela Mularoni. Mularoni, a GVSU student, appears as a professional belly dancer at downtown Grand Rapids’ Sahara Hookah Lounge. Ghannam asked her to appear at Arabian Night after seeing her perform.

“The dabke was a lot of fun and relaxed,” said Mularoni, who danced on top of the bass drum as it rested on the floor during the dabke. “I’m not just being watched. I like getting people up and around me, getting them excited.”

Mularoni has been exposed to belly dancing since she was young, when she would attend Arab weddings with her mother.

“(Arabian Night) opens up a different viewpoint to the Arab culture,” she said. “Since 9/11, people assume that since you’re Arabic, you’re evil. There’s good and evil in Arabic culture just like in any other culture. (People walking by the event) can hear the music and think, ‘That sounds like fun in there.’”