VSA practices for MAYS

By Nghi Nguyen

VSA (Vietnamese Student Association) practices their performances for MAYS (Mid Autmun Youth Festival) which happened last Saturday at Mount Pleasant High School. As mentioned in October’s issue, VietAYA (Viet-American Youth Association) hosts the festival every year for VSAs from high schools in the East Side Union High School district to bond and compete through various activities.

“We are having a ribbon fan and a regular fan dance. The ribbon fan dance is typically for officers and the fan dance is for members,” says VSA President Maggie Nguyen.

The ribbon fan dance is influenced by the song “Như Hoa Mùa Xuân” sung by Hồ Ngọc Hà, Thủy Tiên, Minh Hằng, while the fan dance is guided by the song “Em Trong Mắt Tôi” by Nguyễn Đức Cường. Both of these songs are able to represent commonly played songs in the Vietnamese community.

“It’s me and Isabella’s first year as choreographers for MAYS, so the way we created our dances has a different vibe formt the past choreographers. We’re going for an upbeat and fast kind of vibe. We also want to showcase traditional Vietnamese dances and all the hard work that was put into our dances,” states Co-Cultural Chair Carolyn Le.

These dance performances provide snippets of what traditional Vietnamese dances are, while still showing VSA’s own unique flare. Through their hardworking performances, VSA hopes others are able to have a greater appreciation for Vietnamese culture.

“We’re excited about being able to bond with each other through this experience because performing is such an amazing thing, and the thrill of being on stage is breathtaking. We want VSA to grow as a club, and we’re hoping to be more connected to each other,” comments Club Representative Christine Do.