K-Pop YouTubers and on-campus cultural organizations helped the Binghamton University Asian Student Union (ASU) celebrate its 30th anniversary at their annual Asian Night. This year’s theme, “Bridges and Borders,” showcased the intersections of Asian culture and U.S. culture.
The title for this year’s event came from the complex identity of Asian Americans, according to Katie Lhungay, co-events coordinator for ASU and a senior majoring in political science.
”What this title embodies is the struggle of identity that Asian Americans living in the U.S. face,” Lhungay wrote in an email. “Asian Americans act as ‘bridges’ between Asian and American culture, being able to understand and experience parts of both, while simultaneously acting as ‘borders,’ as they are never truly considered Asian nor American.”
In collaboration with other BU organizations, including Asian Outlook, the Chinese American Student Union (CASU) and the Korean American Student Association, Asian Night was filled with traditional celebrations of Asian culture, along with aspects of U.S. culture, demonstrated through song, dance, poetry and skits. The event, which took place in the Anderson Center’s Osterhout Concert Theater on Saturday night, had over 350 people in attendance.
CASU performed a traditional Chinese fan dance that originated in the Han Dynasty. The Taiwanese American Student Coalition’s ribbon dance aimed to show powerful emotions while demonstrating tranquility through a flurry of red and blue ribbons. The Philippine-American League’s dance utilized bamboo sticks that performers smashed against the ground, while dancers skipped along the stage — a traditional Philippine tinikling dance.
Philip Mo, a sophomore majoring biology, said that communicating Asian culture is very important to him.
“This concert, this play expresses the Asian voice,” Mo said. “[Asians are typically] very internal, they normally don’t express themselves so, I guess, like, having a play where everyone can see it and understand how Asian history is important.”
One of the most captivating moments of the night was when YouTube sensation the JRodTwins performed a set of K-Pop (Korean Pop), V-Pop (Vietnamese Pop) and U.S. songs. Brothers Jason and Justin Rodjanapanyakul wooed the crowd with acoustic covers in four languages, and they closed out their performance with arguably the song of the summer: “Despacito” by Luis Fonsi, Daddy Yankee and Justin Bieber. When the instrumentals cut out, the twins did an impromptu salsa while the crowd sang along with the lyrics.
Within the tributes to traditional Asian cultures, U.S. culture was represented through the interspersion of hip-hop dances set to mainstream songs like Kanye West’s “Stronger,” 50 Cent’s “Candy Shop” and Zedd and Alessia Cara’s “Stay.”
The BU Japanese Association and Chanbara, a martial arts group, captured the audience’s attention as well when they put on a multimedia display of the Suwa people of central Japan rising up against their corrupt rulers. Videos projected onto the stage provided the background for a choreographed number inspired by the people fighting back against their government. These students were dressed in traditional clothing and held long sticks substituting for swords.
In between the Asian and American cultural presentations were several skits involving students discussing what it means to be Asian and American and how the two cultures shape their identities. The first skit involved students eating dinner, pretending to be a family with a daughter home from college for a break. She expresses that she wants to be more American and to eat IHOP for dinner. The skits follow the daughter as she returns to school and talks with her friends about what it means to be Asian and American and the conflict between the two identities.
In the final skit, the students decide their Asian American background doesn’t need to be two conflicting personas, but instead they can coexist. This sentiment was summarized by Lily Do, a senior majoring in graphic design.
“We don’t have to choose whether we’re American or Asian, we can be both,” Do said.
A similar feeling was expressed by Christine Liang, a junior majoring in mathematics. Liang said that what struck her about Asian Night was the diverse representations of all types of cultures. She said that there is a place for every culture.
“Just to understand everyone’s differences is important,” Liang said.
Mike Messina, an intern for ASU and a freshman majoring in political science, performed spoken word at Saturday’s event and said the experience connected him to other students.
“Performing in Asian Night gave me chills,” he wrote in an email. “Contributing a small piece to an incredible event and standing beside other members of the community is an amazing feeling.”