Arts

Asian Arts Presents Beats and Garbs From Every Quarter of Asia

Audience members of the Asian Arts Talent and Fashion Show this year were treated with a mix of traditional and modern acts that represented a wide range of Asian cultures.

The show began with a laugh when MCs Seyoung Lee ’12 and Andrew Cho ’11 had a “secret” conversation about who they were most excited to see perform that night.

The MCs introduced Yurika Ueno, one of eight students visiting from the Doshisha Kori High School in Osaka, Japan, who gave a presentation about the earthquake in Japan.

The audience listened in respectful silence as Ueno shared stories of sadness and generosity, concluding on a hopeful note with the words, “Let’s all be ready to help each other and overcome whatever life brings.”

The atmosphere of the room shifted completely when Sky Yoo ’11, Dominic Chang ’11 and, as a last minute addition, Jeb Roberts ’11 of the Peasekeepers took the stage to perform the Japanese song “Chiisana koi no Uta.”

The audience exploded into surprised cheers and laughter when Yuto Watanabe ’11 jumped onto the stage partway through the song wearing sunglasses, singing into two microphones, and still carrying his camera over his shoulder.

After the burst of loud electric guitars, drums and singing, Jenny Zeng ’13 performed on the Gu Zheng, a Chinese string instrument that, according to the MCs, was traditionally used to test the intelligence of cows.

The audience members proved themselves to be at least as smart as cows by enthusiastically applauding her performance.

Nneka Anunkor ’11, Sheya Jabouin ’11, Ijeoma Ejiogu ’11 and Unwana Abasi ’13 brought everyone back to modern times by dancing to “Fire” by 2NE1, a Korean band. Their choreography and synchronization amazed the audience.

In the next performance, Jinzi Zhang ’11 made anyone sitting in the front row a little nervous as she fiercely kicked and punched her way across the stage.

Partway through, she picked up a staff taller than she was and began whipping and spinning it into a blur.

Anna Stacy ’13 on the guitar and Sierra Jamir ’14 on the Bandurria, a traditional instrument from the Philippines, calmed the room down with a charming love song.

Then as a surprise bonus, they shifted into a more lively song that got the audience clapping.

The spirited mood continued as Supriya Jain ’12, Jenny Zhou ’11 and Sophie Gould ’11 took the stage.

At the start of their performance, the dancers crouched so low that they became invisible to those in the back rows, but they quickly leaped up in their pink, blue and orange saris as Bollywood music began to play.

“The dancing was my favorite!” said Seina Iguchi, one of the visiting students from Japan.

Rose Wang ’13 then performed “Spring Arrives at Lasa” on the Di, a Chinese flute whose sound was probably very new to many audience members. She performed every note flawlessly.

Although the following act, a K-pop dance by Nalyn Yim ’13, was a complete departure from Wang’s performance, Yim’s effortless dancing to “Swings” was equally flawless.

Sirus Han ’13 impressed everyone with trick after trick on the Chinese yo-yo. He tossed the yo-yo around his legs, arms and even head, finishing the act by tossing the yo-yo out in front of him and then snagging it out of the air again before it could fall.

Students from the Dishosha Kori High School took the stage again to perform Nawatobi, a Japanese jump rope game, to Michael Jackson’s “Bad.”

The tricks became increasingly impressive throughout the performance. At the end, the group came together to pose in the middle of the stage as Michael Jackson sang out a final time “Who’s bad?”

The final performance of the talent show had everyone excited as Kishan Patel ’11, Janki Patel ’11, Nikhil Dixit ’12 and Rhea Lewis ’13 began to dance.

An unfortunate problem with the music forced the group to cut short what was probably an excellent finale
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Disappointed groans from the audience were quickly replaced by enthusiastic cheering as fashion show MCs Yuni Sumawijaya ’12 and Katie McLean ’12 ran onto the stage to introduce the models.

Students and some adorable faculty children, walked, skipped and danced down the aisles and across the stage to showcase clothing from countries all over Asia, ranging from Nepal to Sri Lanka.

“[The show] was phenomenal,” said Associate Head of School Rebecca Sykes. “I always love the fashion show because it gets everybody involved.”

Even after the end of the performance, audience members buzzed with excitement as they ran up on stage to sing along to the music and try out the Chinese yo-yo.

Seyoung Lee ’12, Talent Show MC and Food Bazaar Coordinator, credited this year’s success to the dedication of everyone organizing the festival. “From literally nine o’clock in the morning today we were setting up for Kemper and GW…we have a really great board this year and that made it really fun,” said Lee.

Aya Murata, advisor for the Asian Arts Festival, hoped that the audience not only learned something new about Asia, but also about their fellow students.

“I hope that people got to see their classmates or dormmates doing something they maybe had no idea they could do, like Rose playing the flute…and hopefully just had a nice, fun evening,” said Murata.