It was multiculturalism come to life: a group of Indian American kids in traditional dress, dancing on stage to a Bollywood song, followed by “Uptown Funk” and then the Korean pop smash “Gangnam Style.”

That was just one of dozens of performances at India Fest, a free daylong annual event held Saturday at the Virginia Beach Convention Center.

The festival, sponsored by the nonprofit Asian Indians of Hampton Roads, was expected to draw 8,000 to 10,000 people. It started 20 years ago with about 500 people, said Himangshu Dey, president of AIHR.

Though the clothes, food and vibe were Indian, the crowd was diverse. Dey said close to half the attendees were expected to be non-Indian.

“The goal is to spread the cultural heritage of India into mainstream America,” he said.

India Fest raises money for charities and disaster relief.

Rosy Bhardwaj, a restaurant owner whose son and daughter both performed onstage, said it’s also a great way to expose non-Indian Americans to Indian culture.

“Nobody knows Bollywood – everyone knows Hollywood,” she said, speaking of most Americans. “We know both.”

Bhardwaj said she’d spent months taking her 8-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son to dance classes every weekend.

Some things are universal, and the biggest draw here was the same as at any festival in any culture: food.

A long row of tables sold Indian meals and treats including goat biryani, deep-fried fritters called vegetable pakoras and mango lassi, a drink made with yogurt.

Monique Johnson, who was in town from Georgia, came to the festival “just to do something different” and tried Indian food for the first time.

After trying the chicken tikka bhuna, she announced: “Pretty good – spicy. But I like spicy, so it’s OK.”

Conveniently, there was a chocolate festival in the hall next door, so one could have a delicious Indian lunch and then get dessert.

On stage, group after group of kids – some as young as 5 – danced while wearing traditional outfits or sparkly ones of yellow, red or blue. Some of the dresses took an hour to put on.

Parents stood on a riser, holding up cameras and cellphones to record the routines their kids had practiced for months.

“I don’t think they can do anything better than this in Mumbai!” an emcee said after one performance.

Booths sold colorful silk saris, kurtis (shirts), pashmina shawls, silk scarves and jewelry.

And there was a demonstration of yoga, something a lot of Americans could probably benefit from after the past week.

People ages 5 to 95 followed along with yoga therapist Dr. Dilip Sarkar in techniques including cobra pose, mountain pose and tree pose, though one tiny participant stumbled a bit on the last of those, which requires standing on one leg.

Afterward, Sarkar told the crowd about the health benefits of yoga and added: “If you have two lungs and a skeleton, you can do yoga.”