Coordinated dancers and skilled musicians dominated Asian Night on Saturday through their vivid expression of culture. The performances included a mixture of traditional and modern Asian entertainment. The show included vocal songs, K-Pop dances, Chinese fan dance, piano songs, Chinese ribbon dance, and the lion dance. The Asian Cultural Club, advised by Dr. Cheng and Ms. Chung, planned this night since the beginning of the year.

Sadly, the seniors performed for their first and last time at Asian Cultural Night. “All of us made a lot of preparations and took the time to practice our respective acts for Asian Cultural Night. For my last year at North, it was really fun to bond with my peers and underclassmen through dance practices and amidst the chaos during rehearsals. It’s been three years since we’ve been able to properly perform on stage and we wanted to try to revive the same energy that Asian Night had before…and we did it!” said senior Winnie Chen.

“Asian Night was so much fun. I loved seeing everyone beautifully represent our culture and all the hard work we put in. We started back in the beginning of the school year to put together acts, and from then on everyone began practicing and preparing regularly. The preparation coming close to the show was a bit messy because COVID-19 had left the current seniors and juniors inexperienced, but everyone put in so much effort that we were able to pull it off! My favorite dance was definitely boys KT because I was able to see how all the dancers improved, and I enjoyed putting together the songs and teaching the choreography,” expressed junior secretary of Asian Cultural Club, Kristina Feng.

Viewers clearly enjoyed the dance performances, with the audience singing along to the K-Pop songs. Junior Jacqueline Park agreed, saying, “Boys and Girls KT did very well and got the audience going a few times, and the dances were just cool to watch overall.”

The stage crew stated that there were a few technical difficulties. However, the audience could not tell due to the quick-thinking of the stage crew and MCs. “The night was very chaotic but it all worked out in the end. The show was amazing and so much fun. Everyone worked so hard and put in so much of their time,” said junior MC Hailey Wong. The inclusion of comedic banter between the MCs in between each act kept the audience laughing the whole night.

Similarly, Park stated, “As chaotic as it was, it definitely came together in the end and I’m proud of the people who stepped up for the club to have the performance look as good as it did!”

Junior publicist of Asian Cultural Club Allyson Lam said, “I’m really glad that the night was successful, especially because we were kind of rushed to organize everything due to conflicting school events. I’m proud that all the acts worked hard and we were able to pull it off since this is the first [Asian Cultural Night] since pre-pandemic. The officers are also super grateful to our advisors for making it happen and guiding us along the way!”

“When it came to organizing the event, the stage crew, the teachers, and lighting team worked together to figure out specifically what each act wanted certain things during their performance. At first it was a lot at once trying to get perfect timing with a multitude of things but once we got to do a couple of run throughs, it got easier,” sophomore Izzy Ku stated.

“Asian Night was extremely fun because of the varied acts and dances that took place. Each group had individual practices, including the hosts, and we took a lot of time getting ready for the final night. It was very well organized and I believe that the show couldn’t have been better. Personally, my favorite dance was boys KT because of the improvement I saw from them from the beginning to the final performance,” junior MC David Choi says.

Park performed Burn, a song from Hamilton the musical, in Korean. Park said, “The night was just really fun, and it went a lot better than I had expected. The turnout of people was a lot more than I thought as well. I had joined to become a performer pretty late in the game so I don’t entirely know how it was prepared, but the week before and the night of the performance, the majority of the show was organized by the students. I know a lot of my friends worked super hard to get this thing put together and with the help of our advisors the organization was made a little easier.”

Junior Michelle Kui, stage crew, said, “I thought the show went really well, and I’m so proud of the hard work everyone put into it. This was the first time we’ve done this in years and it really went above and beyond expectations.”

Asian Cultural Night ended with the endearing Chinese Lion Dance. The red and yellow lions walked throughout the auditorium seat aisles with the exciting drum beating in the background. The dance finished with the lion eating a cabbage and throwing it to the audience to bless them with wealth and prosperity.

“I thought it was really great to see Asian culture being showcased at our school. From the many dances to the short comedic skits, you could tell that all of the performers were into the show and put in a lot of effort,” said junior Zach Hyman.

“My favorite part about it was being able to hang out with friends the entire night. Seeing them happy while performing and being backstage to talk about it with them were some of my favorite moments. The new relationships along the way is also one thing that I’m great full and extremely happy for,” said Ku.