Cultures combine

The new Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center was host to the Asian American Association's ninth annual "Taste of Asia" on Saturday. The event allowed visitors to witness not only the distinct cultural characteristics of India, Thailand, the Philippines, Hong Kong and Vietnam, but to also see an idea of "fusion" among multiple organizations. \nThe evening began at 7:30 p.m. with a show at the Jordan Avenue parking lot. The second part of the evening began a little after 8 p.m. with Asian food and drink inside the culture center.\nOpening the night was a performance of the Lion Dance, a ceremony for good fortune, by two members of the Lambda Alpha Phi fraternity. \nFusion was a theme carried out by the two final acts of the performance part of Taste of Asia. First were four women of the Indian Student Association, who performed a piece called "East Meets West Fusion." It blended elements of traditional Indian dance with modern hip-hop styles set to contemporary Indian song.\nRounding out the evening were eight members of the Filipino Student Association. Beginning their set with a traditional Filipino dance set to spoken-word narration, the performance soon escalated to a modern piece, mixing American hip-hop with spoken-word narration and fast-paced music.\nFor Asian American Association (AAA) President Chris Sinclair, who also participated in the Filipino Student Association piece, the performance was important in its education about Asians and Asian Americans.\n"One of the purposes of the AAA and the 19 organizations belonging to it is the education of people about Asians and the Asian Americans," Sinclair said. "While we wanted to show the diversity of Asian cultures, it was really important for us to show the blending of the cultures in the students' normal lives." \nSophomore Katie Kaczor said she was enthralled by Saturday's performances.\n"The costumes were amazing," she said. "The pieces were incredible. I think everybody who performed did an outstanding job despite this freezing weather."\nFive Asian Student Associations offered spectators the chance to sample up to five different dishes. The variety of foods allowed those who attended the festivities to savor their experience.\nAAA Historian Farah Jaliwala, a junior, said the event has been in planning stages since last year.\n"This is an annual event, so we have been planning it since last year, but when classes started up in January, that's when our work really began," Jaliwala said. \nSinclair was pleased with the culmination of the year of work.\n"Even though it was such a headache, when you get to share all of this, it's just great," Sinclair said. "It's just neat to have people care enough to sit down and want to watch the performances. The racial diversity here (Saturday night) really makes me proud to know they wanted to learn about Asians and Asian Americans"