Heritage Night, one of the most anticipated and highly attended events of the year, took place last Saturday, but the matinee show, originally set for 2pm, was canceled due to low ticket sales, leaving only the 6pm show.
“I was disappointed about the show being cut but also, I was worried about [the logistics of] two shows and our performers being exhausted [after both],” Leadership Teacher and Heritage Night coordinator Selvana Ayoub said. “I was a little relieved [after we decided to cancel it] because that meant our performers got to come in a littler later and have energy for our evening show,” she added.
Due to high ticket demand in the past, Leadership had planned the two Saturday shows this year to relieve some of the seating chaos and make the audience experience more enjoyable.
Several factors may have contributed to the low demand for matinee ticket sales, including splitting the Just World Festival and Heritage night across two different days.
“I would have preferred to keep it on Friday but when we were planning on having two shows, doing it Saturday was necessary, but I think combining it with Just World would’ve been nice,” senior and Leadership Co-President Sage Nagle said.
Ayoub also pointed to the forecasted snow storm and traditional hype of the evening show as potential causes of lower demand. Additionally, this year’s new time cap of five minutes per group led Ethiopia and Eritrea, who usually dance multiple numbers, to opt out of performing, perhaps driving down audience numbers.
Unfortunately, the elimination of the afternoon show removed the possibility for some to attend Heritage Night entirely.
“I was really looking forward to Heritage Night this year, but unfortunately, I couldn’t make it, especially since the afternoon show got canceled and all the tickets were sold out,” junior Saara Farahmand said.
However, the cancellation of the matinee did make the day easier on performers.
Sophomore Riya Vlcan, who represented India, said “It gave me time to actually get sleep and physically and mentally prepare as well as not having to rush getting ready.”
Overall, the changes made this year by leadership, including the introduction of assigned seating, led to a more organized show for performers and Leadership, for whom the event counts as a summative assignment.
“I believe the show was incredibly successful. The show ran so smoothly due to our incredible leadership students, our amazing performers. sponsors, admin, security and Security Resource Officers,” Ayoub said.
However, the question remains whether the show will have the same format next year and garner enough demand to fill two performances.
