Celebration of Vietnamese New Year features taste of Southeast Asia
By Daily Bruin Staff
Feb. 1, 2001 9:00 p.m.
Photos by ALISA STOUDT Hoa Chau, a first-year
student, uses a hat during a dance practice for UCLA’s 7th Annual
Tet Festival, running from 6-11 p.m. this Sunday in Ackerman Grand
Ballroom.
By Michelle Baran
Daily Bruin Contributor
If the millennium hurrah didn’t do the trick,
there’s still another chance to celebrate the New Year
““ Tet, the Vietnamese New Year.
Student groups Vietnamese Student Union and VNLC are inviting
anyone interested in live entertainment, games and food with a
Southeast Asian twist, to come participate in UCLA’s 7th
Annual Tet Festival.
Guests are welcome to slither in free of cost to help celebrate
the Year of the Snake.
“This year we want to make a whole enactment of the
storefront scene in Vietnam,” said Anh Nguyen, second-year
student and VSU Tet coordinator. “Try to make the people feel
like they’re actually in Vietnam instead of just watching a
show.”
In the seven years since the Vietnamese Tet Festival has been
celebrated at UCLA, there has been a spirit of cultural heritage
through contemporary interpretation. Many of the songs and dances
being performed are based on Vietnamese folklore combined with
modern-day innovations. In the past, UCLA students and alumni have
choreographed dances based on the framework of such well-known
traditions as the dragon/lion dance and the Vietnamese love
songs.
“The lion dance wards off evils for the new year,”
said Hoang Pham, fourth-year student, VNLC director and lion dance
choreographer. “It’s very physical. At one point we
build a human pyramid.”
Thien Huong Ninh dances with her scarf during a
practice for the Vietnamese New Year Celebration. The festival will
also include a Miss Tet Pageant, a three-regions dance and a
love-story dance as well as several singing numbers. The
three-regions dance will expose the audience to different style of
dress from all three regions of Vietnam ““ North, South, and
Central.
Traditional Vietnamese New Year treats, such as dried fruits,
will be on hand to tantalize the palate. The Tet Festival will
allow guests to gamble with fake money, as gambling is a Vietnamese
New Year’s tradition.
“Gambling is usually done on all three days of New Year
between relatives,” said Amy Chang, second-year student and
Tet coordinator. “It represents the luck in the New
Year.”
Tet is an important time for Vietnamese Americans to look back
on their heritage, organizers said. The celebration helps to
preserve customs that might otherwise be lost.
“This year our theme will be looking back at the
culture,” said Elysabeth Nguyen, UCLA alumna and Tet
choreographer. “The songs will be more traditional, things
our parents might have heard. A lot of Vietnamese songs tell
stories kind of like the American blues.”
Mixing the old and new in musical medleys will perhaps be most
apparent in the three-regions dance, which will be an integral
component of the program’s Miss Tet pageant.
“For the pageant dance, we have three different costumes
that represent the three regions and what they wear,” said
Dzi Tran, second-year student and VNLC Tet coordinator.
Traditional Vietnamese dresses, called Ao Dai, vary in style and
color according to specific regions. Miss Tet 2001 will be chosen
on the basis of regional fashion and dance presentation.
“It’s not about beauty, per se,” Nguyen said.
“It’s about how beautiful you portray the traditional
dress.”
Nguyen emphasized that there will be plenty to see and do
whether or not attendees speak Vietnamese. The silent skit
won’t require much more of the audience than to sit back and
relax. The lion dance will ask a little more, as dancers interact
with the audience via small red envelopes filled with small amounts
of money.
Each performance will be explained by the MC in both English and
Vietnamese to keep the audience up to speed. Everyone should be
able to understand and leave with the sensation of having escaped
to Vietnam for a few hours.
Tran explained that it will be another opportunity to celebrate
good luck and fortune for the New Year. According to tradition,
this new year should bring special fortune to those born in 1981,
the year of the chicken.
“It’s the year of the Snake!” Tran said.
“It’s a good luck year for a chicken, which means most
second-year students here at UCLA.”
EVENT: UCLA’s 7th Annual Tet Festival
will run from 6-11 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 4 in Ackerman Grand
Ballroom. Admission is free.
