A Feast of High Fortune

The aroma of fried rice, soy sauce and other area Asian delicacies permeated the IU Auditorium Friday evening as IU's Asian American Association celebrated the 12th annual Taste of Asia Celebration.\nNine student performances, including a magic show and a hip-hop dance choreographed to 50 Cent's "Candy Shop" lit up the stage at about 5:45 p.m., and entertained a crowd of almost 400 students and Bloomington residents. \nAlthough the proposed headlining act, comedian Daniel Nainan of NBC's "Last Comic Standing," was absent because he missed his flight, the show was a success, said Asian American Association President Sung Ahn.\nThe master of ceremonies of the event, master's student and Asian American Association membership chairman Tony Truong, kept the show moving and the crowd amused with his quirky sense of humor between acts. At one point, he asked the crowd if any "japanophiles" were present, alluding to people fixated on anime and Japanese pop culture.\nBut the event did not begin with a typical welcome. Instead, senior Tonya Vachirasomboon and senior Rose Wongsarnpigoon entered the stage and performed Fon Pootai, a traditional dance of Thailand. The students wore silky black dresses with stoplight-red sashes. From their fingertips long silver nails with red orbs attached to the end protruded out, traditional Thai dance accessories that stood out as their hands gyrated to the fast-paced music.\nNext up were female members of the Asian American Association performing a hip-hop dance to Destiny's Child's "Lose My Breath" and 50 Cent's "Candy Shop." The crowd whistled as the dancers drew pink Chinese fans from their belts as part of their performance. \nThe pace of the show slowed when Japanese Student Association members sophomore Mari Sakamoto and junior Shunfuke Dada sang a song called "Flower" from Okinawa, an island of Japan. Dada played acoustic guitar and wore a blue kimono while perched on a stool next to Sakamoto. The two sang harmoniously in front of the stage curtain, which was stained pink and purple from overhead lights.\nAfter the song, the mood turned somber as Truong introduced a slide show commemorating the tsunami disaster of last December. The show, a series of pictures compiled by the Asian Cultural Center and the Asian American Association, was set to The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony."\nPictures of squashed homes, mangled cars and orphaned children with dirty, tear-streaked faces appeared on the screen before the audience. After the moving slide show, Truong announced that donations would be accepted in support of disaster relief in the foyer after the presentations. \n"The most important thing is not to forget," he said.\nTo lighten the mood, Chinese yo-yo performers were featured next. In one of the longer performances of the evening, six IU students executed a series of tricks with wooden yo-yos. The yo-yos consisted of two pieces, one in the shape of a small dumbbell, which was balanced by the performers on a rope tied between two small poles. \nThe performers flipped their yo-yos in the air, once almost 50 feet up, and caught them perfectly on the thin piece of wire. Bustop's hit "Kung Foo Fighting" blasted in the background as they flipped their yo-yos around the stage, even passing them off to one another. \nSenior Andy Huang followed with a magic show. Audience members chuckled as Huang pulled a basketball from a suitcase and snatched playing cards from thin air.\nAfter Huang's performance, Truong informed the audience of Nainan's absence from the show. In good humor, the audience applauded as Truong attempted reassurance. \n"We don't need him," he told the audience. "We've got me up here making an idiot of myself."\nAhn said Nainan's absence stemmed from miscommunication and a missed flight. But despite initial disappointment, Ahn was still enthusiastic about the show. \n"This event is bigger than one person," he said.\nFour more performances took the stage, including the rhythmic beats of the IU Korean Salmunori percussion group, a traditional and a hip-hop dance by the Filipino Student Association, one more Japanese song promoting peace sung by Sakamoto and Dada and finally a traditional south Indian dance by Shoman Brawn, which was a last-minute insertion in the program.\nWhen all the acts were complete, audience members were urged to "get grubbin'" by Ahn. \nTen tables arranged in a half-circle, neat with white tablecloths, held Asian cuisine from area restaurants like Chow Bar, Sobon, Siam House, Anatolia and China Buffet. \nTwo friends, freshmen Rachelle Bennett and Riyako Nakajima, also a Japanese Student Association member, stood in the lobby eating and chatting. Bennett's plate held a tofu dish, something novel to her taste buds.\n"It's interesting," she said. "I don't know what I'm eating right now, but I like it."\n-- Contact Staff Writer Michelle Manchir at mmanchir@indiana.edu.