Asian Fest Roars Back in Epic Fashion

The show featured a serious of dance performances featuring music from all across the Asian continent. *Photo: Deborah Zeleny*

By CHARLOTTE LEE, JOAN HUANG, CHRISTINA LIN and NICOLE ZHANG

Tickets were sold out as the highly anticipated Asian Fest returned live after three years of pandemic precautions. This year’s show was expanded to two days, March 8 and 9, and had a total of six acts, including dances and modeling from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Central Asia.

“I really loved it,” said Subhah Hoque ‘25. “All the different representations were great and it was clear how much effort was put in. It was a super exciting and entertaining experience.”

Over 300 students signed up to be in the event.

“I didn’t participate in Asian Fest the past few years, so I thought I might do it this year to give back to my community,” said senior Winnie Wang. “I just wanted to have fun in my last year.”

On March 8, there was a special opening act by the New Utrecht High School Lion Dance Team. Their performance displayed a phenomenal, rhythmic dance with red and green lion props moving to the beat of a drum and cymbals.

“It was really entertaining to watch,” said Serena Chan ‘25, an audience member. “It reminded me of the dragon dances I saw on the streets of Chinatown during the Chinese New Year.”

The two commissioners this year, Yanhe (Linda) Rong ‘24 and Joanne Zhu ‘24, also added a new concept: cultural stories.

“Cultural stories were for students who didn’t want to perform but still wanted to share their voices with the rest of the community,” said Zhu. There were about six submissions, she said.

There were no guaranteed spots in the show. Performers had to go through evaluations to see if they would be selected to perform or not.

“It was stressful,” said Vicky Zhang ‘24. “We had to practice every week to make sure that we were in sync with each other. If we weren’t up to the commissioner’s expectations, our dance would be cut out.”

After the evaluations, the performers and backstage crew only had a month to practice in the auditorium because the space was also being used for SING!, Midwood’s annual musical theater competition.

“The stage crew only had one full week of actual practice,” said Onstage Leader Richard Lin ‘24. “We had a lot of postponed dates since the auditorium was being painted, but we overcame those obstacles by buckling down during the limited rehearsals we had.”

“The whole show was a test against time,” said Art Crew Director Wendy Wei ‘23. “It was absolute chaos. People were constantly yelling, and last-minute changes were continuously implemented until the show day.”

The attendance rate for the artists painting the flats gradually dropped off, Wei said, “but thankfully we managed to finish the flats one day before the show after dedicating hours and hours on Saturdays and during after-school rehearsals. In the end, it was all worth it.”

East Asia Director Michelle Chen ‘24 said, “I was very anxious about how messy it was during the rehearsals, but the weekend rehearsals were a turning point. People worked so well together and things went through fast and efficiently.”

There were lots of obstacles to overcome. The show included Tinikling, a Philippine folk dance that involves dancers stepping over and between bamboo poles. “Acquiring the bamboo sticks was a great challenge, as those sticks are very expensive,” said Southeast Asia Director Adrian Perez ‘24. “It took a lot of negotiating and reasoning to acquire them.”

The production required quite a commitment, with daily practices from 4 p.m.-6 p.m.

“Every day my co-director and I would have to meet up on Zoom until midnight to plan out all the East Asia Acts to make sure that everything was organized and planned out,” said Michelle Chen ‘24, an East Asia director.

Although the rehearsals may have been stressful and messy, the final production did not fail to impress.

The art crew carefully paints the show flats in Siberia. *Photo: Charlotte Lee*

“Asian Fest was amazing!” said junior Caresse Liang. “Every act, to the little details, was interesting and show-stopping. I felt that there was a lot of Asian representation present in the show and in the audience.”

The show was a rapid-fire spectacle, with many performances only about 30 seconds long.

“I want to see a longer showtime to be honest because two hours really isn't enough to show all the different cultures,” said junior Andy Chen.

There was also a surprise guest, Principal Robert Quinlan, who joined the performers on stage at the end of the show while the speakers blasted PSY’s 2012 hit “Gangnam Style.” Dr. Quinlan has made bringing Midwood’s many fests and live performances back to the stage a priority this year, as the school fully returns to normalcy following Covid-19.

“Learning about the different regions was spectacular,” said Rong. “The energy and unity in the Asian Festival was something I could never forget.”