Students learn about Vietnam through dancing and fashion
IDS
Eva Chan, center, performs a Vietnamese dance at the Vietnamese Student Association’s Culture Night Saturday evening at the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center. The annual event provides an opportunity to learn about the cultures, lifestyle, and traditions of Vietnam.
By
Elvia Malagon |
IDS
POSTED AT
12:00 AM ON Jan. 28, 2008
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People were still trying to squeeze in as the Vietnamese Student Association was getting ready to start its third annual culture night Saturday in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Cultural Center.
The event, Vietnamese Student Association Culture Night: Regions of Vietnam, was funded by IU Student Association Assisted Inter-organizational Development and aimed to educate students and community members about Vietnamese culture through dancing, singing and fashion.
Most of the performers were from IU, but the organization invited other Vietnamese associations from surrounding states, such as the Illinois Vietnamese Student Union.
Group president Brandon Tran said the event first started to serve as part of the group’s mission.
“Our goal is to promote cultural diversity and the way we do this is through events,” Tran said.
Tran and vice-president John Nguyen said they expected the event would bring in a crowd of about 150 people to the Neal- Marshall Center. However, they estimated that 225 to 250 people showed up.
The event was full of performers and free Vietnamese food, the association incorporated information into the show.
“(Culture Night) was a lot more informative than I expected,” sophomore Greg Solon said.
In between performers, hosts Jeff Capati and Danny Nguyen raffled off prizes to attendees and asked trivia questions about Vietnam.
The group incorporated facts about Vietnam through the clothes in the fashion show. Guest speaker Anh Thu Cung from the national chapter of the Vietnamese Student Association also talked about how to help make a difference in Vietnam through the organization’s future fundraisers.
All of the performances focused on traditional Vietnamese songs and dances.
“I’ve never sang in Vietnamese so it was kind of new to me,” performer and group member Thien Nguyen said.
John Nguyen said the food also made the event stand out. All of the food was traditional Vietnamese food, which is rare since there are no restaurants in Bloomington that serve Vietnamese cuisine, he said.
Overall, he said this year’s culture night was probably the organization’s best yet.
“I liked the fashion show and the dance,” said Scott Nguyen from the University of Illinois in Chicago. “It brought back a memory of Vietnam that I have.”