While their annual showcase celebrating Asian culture and the Lunar New Year couldn’t happen in person this year in Edison Theatre at Washington University in St. Louis due to the pandemic, members of the Lunar New Year Festival refused to give up. Instead, they pivoted to create their first virtual show. The production premiered live on YouTube March 27 and remains available to view online.
The theme for this year’s show is “Unwavering,” a testament to the countless hours of work that the executive board, choreographers, performers, videographers and editors put into this year’s performance.
“LNYF is such a special part of the community at WashU,” said Lucy Chen, a senior and choreographer for the Fusion performance. “I think, without being able to have those social interactions and interactions between people to help put together something, for me, that would be missing out on a big part of life at WashU. And I’m sure it would be the same for many other people as well.”
“I think especially with this year’s theme, ‘Unwavering,’ it shows that not only LNYF, but the Asian American community as a whole is unwavering in this pandemic,” said Zachary Zhao, a junior and co-choreographer for Samulnori, a traditional Korean percussion music. “And we still take pride in our cultures, in our traditions.”
Jaz Choi, a sophomore and the other co-choreographer for Samulnori, added, “The fact that the show is still able to go on really says that, ‘Hey, even though things are hard right now, we’re in the middle of a pandemic, there is still community here for each of us. And we’re still here to represent each other.’”
