Belly dancers will perform at the Wall at Rand during lunch to advertise the Middle Eastern Student Association's Thursday event.

MESA Night, to be held Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Life Center, will include entertainment, food, games and prizes.

Last year the event was "so successful," according to MESA President Jeanine Mansour, that it "maxed out capacity at the Student Life Center."

Despite the proximity of this year's event to spring break, Mansour said she remains optimistic the night will be a success.

The event will feature Middle Eastern food such as warak anab, falafel and hummus catered by Tarboosh, a belly dance performance, participants' names written in Arabic, a co-ed belly dance contest, Debke show, and trivia game, amongst a multitude of other activities.

"In comparison to Debke, belly dancing is more of a feminine sensual dance, whereas the Debke dance is more of a traditional masculine dance originating in the northern Middle East," said junior Mohammed AlNahayan, a member of MESA.

Senior Thamer Alsaegh will perform an Egyptian style of drumming.

"The piece is a very old song called ‘Alf Lilah Wa Lilah' and the performance will feature a professional belly dancer as well," Alsaegh said.

Posters featuring facts about the Middle East will line the room and provide information for the trivia game later in the night.

There will be multiple opportunities to participate and win prizes, as well as activities including hookahs, coin hip scarves for women and traditional headdresses for men. Also, free t-shirts will be distributed on a first come, first served basis.

MESA was formed in 1999 and continues to host a variety of campus activities dedicated to educating the Vanderbilt and Nashville community about the Middle East.