VSAB Celebrates the Year of the Monkey
By JOE NGUYEN, staff writer
February 21, 2004

On February 7th, the Vietnamese Student Association at Boulder (VSAB) held their annual new year's celebration at the Glenn Miller Ballroom on the CU campus. The students worked for months to create this show which is a tribute to their cultural heritage.

Spencer Nguyen, Ke Zhao and Huy Pham in the middle of a dance.

The evening started off with a banquet for the students and their parents. The seven officers of the group each gave a small speech, predominately in English, to show the parents what they had accomplished throughout the course of the year. Each member who participated received a certificate of recognition from the officers.

After dinner, the show, appropriately titled When Spring Arrives, began to a packed audience that continued to file in as the night rolled on. First, a moment of silence for the fallen soldiers in Iraq was held, followed by renditions of the American anthem (by your truly) and the Vietnamese anthem.

The show featured many elements that were traditional including Vietnamese songs and a candle dance performed by the students. A staple of New Year's, a Lion Dance was performed by Dong Tay Hoa, a local martial arts school. One of the traditional skits was the Kitchen God. Culturally, the kitchen god returns to heaven on the 24th day of the last lunar month to report about the good and the bad of the past year. In this year's skit, the kitchen god had to lay off all his workers due to economic problems.

The cast of "Viet Idol"

There was a good amount of modern elements including urban street dancing and several skits including spoofs of Iron Chef and American Idol. The skits brought much laughter from the audience.

The show ended with a fashion show of 'ao dai' - a traditional Vietnamese gown - and a closing observance on New Year's that's similar to "A Christmas Carol." Afterward, a dance followed with popular Vietnamese singer Thanh Truc performing.

Despite the technical problems that lingered throughout, it was still a fun show. The students on stage looked like they enjoyed it the most as their hard work paid off in presenting their culture for everyone to see.

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