Students celebrated the Year of the Ox at Celebrasia, a virtual Lunar New Year event on Saturday hosted by the Chinese Students Association and the Taiwanese American Students Club.

Celebrasia, an annual event, typically features professional and student performances. Since it was moved online this year to accommodate pandemic restrictions, student groups performed in masks or shared pre-recorded and edited videos.

“We’re celebrating the Lunar New Year and bringing Asian American culture to campus,” CSA president and McCormick senior Olivia Cong said. “Asian American representation is really important as well and being able to show these prominent Asian American acts to our community is definitely a big part of celebration.”

This year’s show featured hip-hop dance team Refresh Dance Crew, Typhoon Dance Troupe which highlights East and Southeast Asia dances, K-Pop dance group K-Dance, new dance group Lion Dance Club and NU’s East Asian-interest a capella group the Treblemakers.

Magician Kevin Li, musician Khai Dreams, comedian and actor Jimmy O. Yang and dancer Bailey Sok also performed this year. Cong said CSA and TASC tried to include a diverse range of acts to make the show more interesting.

Li performed magic tricks showcasing his mind-reading abilities, such as predicting the exact objects or words students were thinking of. Khai Dreams performed songs and covers on the ukulele, giving attendees an intimate, at-home concert experience. Yang did a mukbang while answering questions from the event’s panelists about his life and upcoming projects. Sok performed two hip-hop routines and answered questions from students in the Zoom chat.

Norris Technical Services handled the technical aspects of the event. They were in charge of spotlighting people when they needed to be on screen, turning guests’ mics on and switching between the live and pre-recorded portions of the event.

Matthew Lee, a member of Refresh, performed in one of the dance group’s routines. His favorite part of performing last year was the crowd’s energy, but he said he still appreciated the opportunity Celebrasia provided this year to dance beside his friends.

“I missed the feeling of being able to dance as a group,” Lee said. “It feels like you’re coming together as one.”

In addition to student and professional performances, Members of CSA and TASC pre-recorded a skit, which played between acts. The skit’s theme “Among Ox” was based on the popular online game Among Us and incorporated several ox puns throughout the script.

Cong said the virtual format offered allowed the organizers to use funds for transportation for the performance line up.

“We didn’t have to worry about the travel and hotel expenses for our guests, so (the virtual setting) was a plus in that sense because we were able to get a lot bigger names this year,” Cong said.

Communications freshman Ashley Xu, attended the event with a small group of friends. She said the gathering gave her the chance to get to know other students better.

Like Cong, Xu said she appreciated that the event spotlighted Asian American performers.

“I think it’s important for people of all minority groups to see proper representation,” Xu said. “It serves as a reminder that you can succeed regardless of race, gender or other potential barriers.”

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