Graceful dancers twirled pink ribbons and martial arts students performed impressive feats on stage for more than 400 people at Northwestern’s annual CelebrASIA show on Saturday night in Ryan Family Auditorium inside the Technological Institute.
Co-sponsored by the Chinese Students Association and the Taiwanese American Students Club to celebrate the coming of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Tuesday, the show featured a colorful blend of traditional dances, skits and music as well as a fashion show, hip-hop dancing and celebrity jeopardy.
The Chinese Wushu martial arts demonstration, the event’s highlight, showcased students from the Championship Martial Arts Academy in Chicago as well as professional performers who starred in movies such as “Mortal Kombat” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.”
Martial arts performers fought each other on stage using spears, swords, and chain weapons. The high-intensity fighting and twisting of daggers and swords contrasted with the slow, delicate movements of a group of students performing tai chi.
NU students said they were impressed by the demonstration, which was followed by food from Evanston’s Asian restaurants.
“The best part was definitely the martial arts. I’ve never seen anything like it except in movies or on television, and it was really cool to see it up front,” said Nicole Yoon, an Education sophomore. “It looks just as real as it does on screen.”
But while Yoon was entertained by the martial arts and ribbon dancers, she said she was offended by the presentation of Asian women in some of the comical skits. Some members of society already have a stereotypical view of Asian women, she said, and that image should not have been reinforced in the show.
“They were portrayed as Asian sex toys,” Yoon said. “In one of the opening skits, there was an Asian girlfriend who was wearing a really short skirt and she was being really flirty.”
Other students, however, said they found the skits to be humorous.
“I thought it was really funny. There were a lot of Asian stereotypes throughout, but I thought it was a good idea that they joked about those stereotypes and made it light,” said Christina Park, a Medill freshman who also is a copy editor for The Daily.
Park said her favorite act was Destiny’s Chopsticks, a comical rendition of the music group Destiny’s Child with changed lyrics to poke fun at Asian Americans.
Dawen Wang, who presented the show with Education junior Serena Li, said the event took about three months to prepare. He said the show was more organized than in the past because separate committees planned different portions of the performance.
“We really got a head start compared to last year,” said Wang, a Weinberg junior. “There was a lot more student participation in the last month or so. It’s really about getting the Northwestern Asian community together to accomplish our goal.”
