Taste of Asia brings more than cuisine to IU

Bollywood-style dancing, singing with guitar accompaniment, break-dancing and spoken word characterized the 17th Annual Taste of Asia performance Friday at the IU Auditorium. The Asian American Association sponsored the show and featured acts with culture stemming from different countries such as India and China.

Co-Culture chair for the AAA, freshman Gloria Chan, said the idea behind the performance was to show Asian culture and to provide a satisfying meal afterward.
“They’ll get a dash of Asian culture, a step outside the box,” Chan said.

She said before the show that she wanted a big audience turnout because of all the work that was put into the event.

Backstage, girls from the Bindi-ana South Asian Girls’ Club sashayed playfully with their sequin-clad and brightly colored saris.

Veera Shah, 9, said she felt good about her upcoming performance but she had stage fright. She said she had one hope for the evening:

“That we become famous,” Shah said.

The performance was part of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, and emcees Scottie Alora and Sherry Lu helped entertain the audience between acts. The Bindi-Ana Girls Club began the show with a Bollywood-style dance, which featured synchronized movements.

A spoken-word performance followed the dance. Sophomore Clay Spencer read a poem called “Searching for Diversity,” which expressed the idea that culture is blended through more than just race.

Several singing acts followed. Freshman Justin Zheng played the guitar and sang “I Will Follow You Into The Dark” by Death Cab For Cutie, and sophomore Lindsay Smith, who was selling her own CDs after the show, played the guitar and sang.

The emcees entertained the audience with jokes after every act. Alora showed the audience his version of “jerk” dance, told them he didn’t want to marry performer Smith “just yet,” and offered performer Sung Won Chung, who sang “She Was Mine” by AJ Rafael, to the singles ladies in the audience.  

Alora had trouble pronouncing some of the performers’ names, and this displeased audience member and freshman Lauren Bridges.

“The emcees were a little offensive to the culture,” she said.

Taste of Asia ended with a performance by a break-dancing organization. The group provoked laughs from the audience when they performed tricks that included leaping into each other’s arms and doing a lift, similar to what would happen in a ballet performance.

Subsequent to the show, audience members were invited to the Auditorium lobby to taste foods such as satay chicken, crab rangoon and dumplings from
different local Asian restaurants. 

Freshman Mae Ling Strang, an audience member, said she was looking forward to the food but really enjoyed the show.  

“I loved it,” she said. “I’m in the break-dancing club, and they were awesome as usual.”
Strang said because she knew people participating, it made her experience even better.

“The performer who sang ‘She Was Mine,’ the guy had an incredible voice — there are all these people I knew who were performing,” she said.