By Mike Devine
Blackman Auditorium was a center for culture and choreography Saturday night when the Pan Asian American Council (PAAC) presented the second annual Celebr(ASIAN).
The event was “a showcase of Northeastern University’s Asian American student organizations through the customs, arts, social institutions and achievements of a particular nation or people,” according to organizers. The night featured an array of performing acts by Northeastern student groups like Delta Phi Omega and NU Barkada and outside acts including spoken word artist Giles Li and singer-songwriter Mari’eacute; Digby.
The show kicked off with a fast-paced performance by Odaiko, a New England-based Taiko drums troupe. The 19-person ensemble included three drummers who sat cross-legged while the remaining drummers stood at much larger drums. The 10-minute performance included vocal “battle cries” between the drummers.
Li followed the opening act, cracking a joke about an automated voiceover that served as the show’s announcer by calling it “one of the whitest voices” he had ever heard.
Li performed poems with subject matter including the statistics involved in US wars (“Mathematics”) and a call to focus on helping people in need during this election year (“Obama Mania”).
Following his set, Li served as emcee for the rest of the show, providing comedic relief between acts.
Choreography played a role in the event. Northeastern’s South Asian Student Organization, called UTSAV, and Kappa Phi Lambda performed fusion dances that combined traditional and modern dance.
A few student groups performed via video, like the Asian Student Union (ASU) and the Korean American Student Association (KASA). ASU made a music video for the fictional boy band Seasoned Rice, while KASA displayed a drama that centered on nerds and popular kids switching roles, modeled after a Korean soap opera.
Delta Phi Omega integrated both video and a live performance in which they spoofed “American Idol” and the Spice Girls. The video documented the auditioning process to find the newest member of the “Spicy Girls” after member Curry quit because she wasn’t spicy enough.
The act then segued into a live performance, as the girls performed their first concert in the United States set to the Spice Girls’ “Spice Up Your Life” and Lil’ Mama’s “Shawty Get Loose.”
In addition to the live performances, group members participated in three fashion shows that featured both traditional and contemporary clothing.
The first fashion show featured outfits made out of the free T-shirts that were handed out to ticket holders. It was followed by graphic art clothing from Equal Art and JSS Graphic Services. The last show featured traditional garments from Asian nations like China, Burma and India.
Some of the most raucous applause was saved for NU Barkada, a Filipino-American student group. The groups’ performance, which featured roughly 30 of its members, began with a traditional Singkil dance, which involved stepping in between a criss-cross of bamboo poles, and ended with a unified set by the act’s members to Kanye West’s “Stronger.”
Jean Marie Carroll, a senior Spanish major, said the group spent two to three weeks planning the performance, and that its overall message is the importance of family.
“I think the main idea of our performance is togetherness, and the acceptance of everyone,” she said as her group waited to take the stage to rehearse the day before the show.
The show closed with recording artist and YouTube sensation Digby, who performed a five-song set that included her cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”
Digby said Celebr(ASIAN) was her first performance in Boston, and told the audience of her journey from dropping out of University of California Berkeley after her freshman year to finding music stardom via the Internet.
“I think there’s something great about abandoning what is safe and pursuing your dreams,” she said.
Franco Solleza, a sophomore economics major, said Celebr(ASIAN) started as a PAAC idea to help unite the many Asian-American student groups on campus.
Solleza, who co-chairs PAAC with senior nursing major Angelia Ly, said Kappa Phi Lambda member Sarah Artha came up with the idea in November 2006, and everything progressed from there.
“For the first one, we didn’t really know what we were doing,” he said. “We held it in the [Curry Student Center] West End, and it sold out with 300 seats.”
Ly said that up until last year, Northeastern was the only local school without an event that united the separate Asian student groups.
Svenja Sanders, a middler international business major, said she liked the diversity among the acts.
“There were a lot of different aspects that I liked, especially Barkada,” she said.
Uyen Nguyen, a senior general science major, said she liked how organized the show was.
“It was very well done,” she said. “It’s nice to see people working together with their talents.”
At the end of the show, Solleza and Ly asked all the performers to join them on stage to be recognized for their work.
“This is the work of all these people,” Solleza said. “Let’s make Celebr(ASIAN) 2009 even better.”
