Asian Celebration Show celebrates heritage
BY KELTON HOLSEN, STAFF WRITER
The Augsburg Asian Student Association (AASA), showed off their student talent with the Asian Celebration variety show last Friday, March 24 in the Hoversten Chapel. This was the third year the Asian Celebration Show was performed at Augsburg.
The show featured many difFerent Asian-American students performing traditional and modern music from Asian cultures, as well as a short skit. The theme of the show this year was “We are H.O.P.E. (Honoring Our Past Experiences)”. The show was emceed by Augsburg students Jenifer Lee, Kathy Moua, Henderson Sisavath and Yee Vue.
The show began with a fashion show, in which AASA members modeled traditional outfits from their countries of origin. The fashion show was directed by Kalina Vang and featured a wide variety of clothing. Musical acts included Bobby Yang and Kalia Vang singing a duet of the traditional Hmong song “Nraug Hmoob Ntsuab,” Lili Lee performing Chinese flute piece “Trial of the Angels” and Nancy Lor and Thomas Le singing Adele’s “One and Only.” There were also dance performances, including Johnny Nguyen and Thomas Xiong performing K-pop dances and a Bollywood dance group who performed to the song “Nagada Sang Dhol.”
The centerpiece of the show was a skit created by Keith Thao, Cooper Vang, and Zena Vue. The skit featured a young man who spends his summer visiting his grandmother after the death of her husband. The performance focused on the idea of heritage and the importance of family. The celebration was part of a week long series of events put on by AASA called Pan-Asian Week. According to AASA, the week is meant to “educate [their] members and the Augs- burg community about socials issues in the Asian community.”
During Pan-Asian Week, AASA also held a spoken word performance, a book club and a public discussion on Asians in media. After the show, AASA put on an after-party where the audience could discuss the show and partake in various activities that focused on the idea of “heritage.” One such activity involved audience members putting pins in a map to mark their national origin, place of birth and any other places that they considered part of their heritage.
AASA has been a student organization at Augsburg since 2004. Their mission statement states that “The Augsburg Asian Student Association recognizes, engages and supports the Asian American community through culturally inclusive programs guided by the Augsburg College mission.”
This article first appeared in the Friday, March 31, 2017, Edition of The Echo.