DAO Culture Night

Yesterday was DAO Culture Night (DAO stands for Dartmouth Asian Organization). Many cultural groups on campus have annual performances – the Dartmouth Chinese Culture Society has "Legacies," the Korean Student Association has Korean Culture Night, and so on. The best thing is that you don’t have to be part of the organizations in order to participate in the performances. Auditions are held and everybody takes a shot at getting a role or helping out backstage. Some of my friends were performing, so my friends and I got there a bit early to get in line for the tickets (the good seats fill up fast!). For a five-dollar entrance fee, we not only got to watch the show but we were also served Indian and Chinese food from local restaurants.

After filling our hungry stomachs with delicious catered food, it was time for the performance. It was a play that explored the many different facets of the Asian American experience. It was really cool because it was a completely student written. It showed the many happenings of an interracial relationship between an Asian girl and a Caucasian guy, like having separate groups of friends or disapproving parents. It also touched on topics like Asian fetishes, political correctness and stereotypical portrayals of race in the media. The issues were discussed in a very honest, frank way, and it was set in the context of the Dartmouth campus (things took place in familiar looking dorm rooms, libraries and fraternity houses.) Of course, it wasn’t all seriousness – the issues were discussed in a witty and light way and in between the sets, there were hip hop, Indian and Chinese dance performances. In the end, the couple worked against the odds and everybody was happy, which made me glad because I was really getting into the play!

At the end of the performance when the cast and crew came on stage to take a bow, I could tell that the people involved had a lot of fun working together for the show. Korean Culture Night is coming up for spring term, so maybe I’ll get involved with that! It was an interesting performance to attend with my friends, eat good food, get some laughs and also, address some issues that are relevant and current in our Dartmouth lives.